A foreign airline has introduced what I think is a brilliant idea - seats in designated quiet zones with no under 12´s allowed! Now before you raise you arms and shout in disgust, I have children myself so feel entitled to say that! "Scoot" - the budget arm of Singapore Airlines is offering passengers the option to upgrade for a 10 GBP fee to a seat in one of the first seven rows -  wonder if any European airlines will be brave enough to do the same. I have often said that there should be child free flights. Scoot is not the first airline to introduce this either - both Malaysian Airlines and AsiaAir have similar options.

There have been some high profile incidents involving children on flights - some years back a lawsuit was taken out against Quantas by a woman who claimed she suffered hearing loss sitting next to a screaming 3 year old - was settled by the airline and an entire family were removed from a AirTran flight after the young daughter began hitting her mother and refused to take her seat!

I reminds me of days gone by when smoking was allowed on planes - the back few rows were always allocated for smokers. Many a time passengers are subjected to a child continually kicking the back of your seat and using your headrest to play with - yes I have experienced this. I normally turn around and speak to both the child and parent - often with varying reactions. Parents need to take responsibility for their children´s behaviour  - the exception being babies who cry due to cabin pressure etc.

Adult only hotel - one of many in Benidorm

With plenty of adult only hotels in existence already it is not such a silly idea. Benidorm has quite a few in the resort were they do not allow under 16´s, which are very popular. With regard to flights, yes you will obviously still hear them - just like you could smell the cigarette smoke all the way down the plane, but you would not have them sitting right next to you. Keep all the children together and let them keep each other and the parents amused!

Extra charges on airlines are notorious, especially the luggage charges of some of the so called budget airlines. Ryanair for example increase the tariffs by 10 euros per 15kg bag for flights in the high summer period which they classify as June to September and also over Christmas. So if you flew to Alicante now you would be charged 25 euros each way for a 15kg case or 35 euros for a 20kg case - that would most likely end up costing more than the seats if you were travelling as a family with luggage! Mind you Mr O´Leary has made no secret of the fact that he wants to discourage customers from taking on hold luggage therefore charging the amount he does - apparently only 20% of his customers do and with those charges hardly surprising! Jet2 and British Airways have got the most generous luggage allowances on flights to Alicante - 22kg and 23kg.
How many times have you waited in the check in queue and prayed that you don´t get stuck sitting next to the precocious noisy children standing in front of you .... be honest now - I would certainly be happy to pay!