As summer approaches and travel chaos resumes, are you ready to take to the skies with kids in tow, or, like the East London pub prohibiting youngsters, should children be banned from flying? 

You’ve booked time off work, planned the dream trip, packed your bags, boarded the plane, and perhaps you’ve settled in to a movie with a cheeky glass of something naughty. All utter perfection… then the kicking starts. That incessant, tiny yet inexplicably irritating thud. Again and again. You clench your jaw, breathe deeply, conjuring up any remnant of calm. What do you do? Say something? Glare ominously? Grin and bear it? After all, it is simply a small, pink-cheeked toddler over-excited and consumed with uncontrollable sensory overload. Most of us have been there.

You’ve booked time off work, planned the dream trip, packed your bags, boarded the plane, and perhaps you’ve settled in to a movie with a cheeky glass of something naughty. All utter perfection… then the kicking starts.

Ashling, Contributing Style & Interiors Editor

Ashling’s two daughters love their holidays and will not be kicking your seat

My experience

As a mum of two girls, now teenagers who thankfully don’t kick other passengers’ seats, I can see all perspectives. Parents themselves are exhausted, nervously dreaming of recuperation in a far-flung destination, probably to recover from the flight alone, never mind the daily grind of tantrums and tears. They’re both terrified and drowning in irrational shame, possibly pre-empting those pointed glares from fellow passengers, and that’s before their kid has even kicked, cried or uttered an angst-laden word. You see, unless you are blessed with tiny angels, travelling with children can be a lot. For everyone involved.

I first flew with my eldest when she was a mere six weeks old. Heading back home to Ireland to present this minuscule ball of perfection, so only an hour flight. Easy, right? She screamed so much that I was ushered into a separate departure lounge. Unsurprisingly, the relief of this tactical move was much greater than the embarrassment. And in that moment of reprieve, my stress levels dropped. I calmed, despite the looks of distaste and pity through the glass walls that separated me from the hordes. And funnily enough, so did my tiny Gracie. Happy mum, happy baby. She slept the entire flight home, only for one man to comment. ‘Well, she won’t be sleeping tonight.’ I promise I’m not an aggressive person, but seriously…

I’m apparently not alone. Sienna Miller, appearing on The Tonight Show just three weeks after giving birth to her third child, described a transatlantic flight with a toddler and newborn as ‘an absolute disaster.‘ ‘There’s no negotiating,’ she told Jimmy Fallon. ‘And then the looks people give you on the flight… The baby’s screaming, she’s screaming… I got to the immigration line and just broke down.’ If it can reduce Sienna Miller to tears in an immigration queue, well, I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or hopeless.

The baby’s screaming, she’s screaming… I got to the immigration line and just broke down. – Sienna Miller.

A case for the kid-free

And yet, I have full appreciation for the business traveller keen to arrive on form and functional, even the mother who has left behind her kids for a weekend of peace, or perhaps the nervous flyer, the honeymoon couple, or anyone who has parted with their well-earned cash for a break. Is it too much to ask for quiet? A gin and tonic that doesn’t risk being shaken into seat 24B? Hearing wails from an infant that is not your own can create an internal battle you’re not prepared to have. But it’s not the eye-roller I feel bad for – sorry, but who does that help? – It’s anyone who politely could do without a blaring iPad replaying the Peppa Pig theme tune. 

My friend and colleague, TV Presenter and Podcaster, Chloe Everton, thinks an adults-only plane could be an option. “As a Mum of two highly active feral little seat-kickers aged two and four, I dread boarding the plane for fear of what others think. I’d happily put families on one plane and child-free adults on another. Call it emotional baggage separation, it would save a lot of disgruntled passengers!” And you know, I see her point. The freedom to breathe knowing that your child will not rip your pride and sanity to pieces. You will make it to your destination, weary yet free from onboard confrontations.

Dig a little deeper, though, and this could open up a new debate. Because what bothers people more is not the kids, but often other adults… drunk, noisy, obnoxious, maybe even smelly. It is often the gaggle of folk who’d downed one too many in the airport bar that causes more issues than any fraught child. So one might argue that introducing an adults-only plane is a gateway to chaos in the sky. Perhaps flying together keeps the equilibrium. Society as it should be. Mixed. Diverse. And often complicated.

Family zones

So what about a family zone? With flashbacks to bouncing my own toddler up and down the aisles, I fear this could be comparable to a sweaty Saturday afternoon in a soft play centre. Please, god, no. But some parents would welcome being sectioned off, not because they’re ashamed of their children, but because it removes the social anxiety of feeling judged. A family zone could potentially liberate travelling parents. Personally, I still believe it would unleash mayhem, like a Pizza Express on a Friday afternoon at 32,000 feet. If you know, you know. Maximum overstimulation and a gallon of rosé. 

Airlines have tried to help

Interestingly, several airlines explored this concept in practice. Corendon Airlines launched its Only Adult Zone with considerable fanfare in November 2023, promising to expand the concept to more routes if the Amsterdam–Curaçao trial proved successful and demand was sufficient. The zone still exists, but two years on, it remains confined to a single Caribbean holiday route, hardly the revolution that was promised. I’d be inclined to think they made too much of a fuss about it and, in doing so, alienated their audience. Meanwhile, Scoot and AirAsia X have run quiet zones for over a decade with minimal pomp because they framed them as seat upgrades rather than social statements. Other airlines, such as British Airways, simply suggest selecting seats further forward in the cabin, away from galleys and lavatories, to ensure a quieter flight. 

Children belong

Ultimately, kids aren’t the problem. It’s how we deal with a situation; how we adapt our private needs in a shared public space. Lack of empathy is really at the root of the issue. Look, having your seat kicked like someone’s gearing up for a fight isn’t fun. But in most cases (admittedly not all), there’s a parent quietly dying inside as their toddler rages a war on your seat. A passive-aggressive grunt will do nothing to help your situation. In fact, you’ll only exacerbate it.

Children are a part of this world. They remind us to see the excitement and fun in even the smallest of adventures. It’s we as adults who lose that sparkle, lose the ability to acknowledge what others may be going through, whether that’s a father oblivious to the businessman his son is cheerfully terrorising or a disgruntled woman oozing disdain for a frazzled mum. Let’s all have that glass of something naughty and let the holidays begin.


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