There should be no more noise or shouting in the first twelve rows of seats on an aircraft - not even from small children.
The Dutch-Turkish airline Corendon is causing a stir with a special idea for its winter holiday flights from Amsterdam to Curaçao: The front section of the A350 aircraft is to become an Adults-Only area - a total of 93 standard seats and nine seats with greater spacing. It is a partitioning concept that has long been established in the holiday hotel industry with family hostels and Adults-Only houses - but not yet on flights. Corendon founder Atilay Uslu explained the new offer by saying that they always strive to "cater to the different needs of our customers".
With the adults-only section, they want to "meet the needs of travellers who are looking for a little more peace and quiet during the flight". From Uslu's point of view, this is a sensible division; parents with small children can then also "enjoy the flight without having to worry if their children make a bit more noise".
But these words did not prevent a sharp discussion in online forums. On one side are frequent flyers who report how an infant kept the entire business class on a long-haul flight awake with screaming. On the other side are those who complain about an increasingly child-hostile society, in between those who see it as profiteering: The airline is merely creating a new reason to collect surcharges.
The reservation of an adult seat is supposed to cost 45 euros, a seat with more space for the legs even 100 euros. Uslu advertises that Corendon is only "the first Dutch airline" with this idea. But it is not the first airline in the world. Malaysia Airlines once closed the upper deck of an A380 aircraft to children on some routes, and other providers in Asia also tried different areas on board. However, these concepts were not successful in the long term.
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