Despite there currently being no commercial airlines offering child-free flights, many travellers have sparked a debate over whether this should change. One man, in particular, shared his experience on a 29-hour flight.
A gruelling 29 hours
Irritated passenger Henry Beasley posted a video on TikTok detailing his ordeal on a long flight from New Zealand to Berlin, which has since gathered over 12 million views and 2.5 million likes since it was uploaded on October 4th. The flier, who also happens to be half of the musical duo ‘Balu Brigada’, filmed himself sitting on the plane whilst the child can be heard screaming in the background. In the video, Beasley adds the captions “Rate my 29-hour flight to Berlin”, and a string of sarcastic comments, including “the kid’s got some lungs,” before comparing the noise to the sound of a kettle being boiled. The musician then rounds off the video, writing, “stellar performance, incredible stamina. 10/10.”
@balubrigada/video/7150532356502260994" data-video-id="7150532356502260994" data-embed-from="oembed" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" >@balubrigada" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@balubrigada?refer=embed">@balubrigada Hey babe, how was your flight?
A popular opinion
Despite being able to make light of the situation, Beasley’s ordeal seems to have struck a chord with many of the public as thousands of viewers flocked to the comments. Amongst some humorous suggestions, one commenter said, “Honestly there should be kid free flights and kid flights…” and another, which racked up over 80,000 likes, read “I would pay EXTRA for kids free flights.” One person also suggested, “they shouldn’t let kids on flights longer than 4 hours.” However, a few comments offered support for parents dealing with children on flights. One TikTok user commented, “If I have my hands free, I always offer to help if I see a parent struggling. Don’t for a moment think the parent is having a fun time.” This brings forth the debate of whether child-free flights are something that should be introduced in the future, at least for flights lasting longer than 4 or 5 hours.
Are parents to blame?
Beasley’s video also comes two months after one woman posted a similar clip in which she requested that parents “please stop bringing your crying babies on flights”. The lady, named Steph, who had been on a 10-hour flight that had been disrupted by a child’s cries also received a lot of comments in agreement with her.
Although some airlines, such as AirAsia offer a “Quiet Zone” or ban babies from first-class like Malaysia Airlines, a 2017 Airfarewatchdog’s Annual State of Travel Survey results suggest that more needs to be done to ensure that passengers have a peaceful flight. Over 50% of the 4,000 travellers polled felt that families with children younger than ten years old should be put in a separate part of the plane.
Could this be the future of flying?
What are your opinions on child-free flights? Let us know in the comments!
