Is an Adults-Only Flight Worth the Money? - East Idaho News
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Is an Adults-Only Flight Worth the Money?

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Getty 071212 FamilyAirTravel?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1344029327306Photodisc/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) —  What is it, exactly, that the traveling public seems to have against kids? After all, we were all kids at some point. But in the latest online, unscientific survey on whether people would pay extra for adult-only flights, one-third responded they would.

The latest stat comes from TripAdvisor UK, and was a survey of 2,000 Brits. But the results closely reflect a recent survey by ABC News (also online and unscientific). One-third said they would be willing to shell out money for a flight guaranteed to be free of children.

Kids are such a problem in flight, it seems, that an entire company has been created to help keep them quiet. NannyintheClouds.com was created to help flying parents keep their kids in check while in-flight.

But the question no one seems to be asking: Exactly how much would a person be willing to pay? How much is the guarantee worth? Now this is something airline executives would want to know. If they believed there was actually a market for this service, they would find a way to monetize it.

Only one airline, Malaysia Airlines, has a child-free seating zone, and it’s just on one route, from Kuala Lumpur to London. And they don’t charge for it.  Families who are traveling with children under 12 are automatically directed to seats in the lower all-economy deck.

While many appreciate a quiet flying environment, it’s easy to opt for pay for kid-free flights when asked in a survey. One could bet, however, that the number of people who actually would pay for the service, if it were even offered, would come in at far less than 30 percent.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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