Having a quiet and uneventful flight is what most travellers hope for but it can easily be shattered by the presence of a noisy child nearby.

Although being seated near to a noisy child is a risk that travellers face when they buy their flight tickets, some international airlines, including Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Scoot Airlines and IndiGo, offer a solution to the problem by introducing ‘kid-free’ zones.

This demand for separate sections for families with children aged 10 and below is on the rise as half of the respondents in a 2017 survey by air travel site Airfarewatchdog shared this view and this idea has been gaining traction online.

However, not all airlines will cater to the growing demand for child-only or child-free seating sections to manage the situation as Business Insider reports that it is highly unlikely for US airlines to adopt the same measure because of the backlash that they would receive from the public.

“It’s probably hard for parents to be super objective for this stuff. Whenever this comes up, people get so upset about it.

“It would be great if an American carrier would give it a shot, but I would be surprised if anyone takes it on,” Tracy Stewart, content editor of Airfarewatchdog, told Business Insider.

Stewart added that even contemplating child-free seating will create controversy, and thus a PR nightmare for the airlines, even though the current system causes stress to both the parents and those who are sitting around them as parents would not realise how disruptive their child’s behaviour would be.

Luckily for us Malaysians, we have the choice of avoiding this situation as our national carrier and low-cost carrier have listened to our travelling woes.

-mD