Airline Logic
Snakes on a plane OK; babies banned from first class
Courtesy photo
Horror stories about air travel in the vicinity of small children are like awkward first date tales: Everyone's got at least one.
So many people have them, apparently, that Malaysia Airlines has decided that it will extend its ban on infants (defined as anyone below the age of two) traveling in First Class cabins when the company takes the delivery of its newest fleet of Airbus A380 super jumbos next year.
Based in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia Airlines operates flights under the ban to Sydney, London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and other international destinations.
During a 2003 revamp of Malaysia Air's 747s, bassinets were removed as an option in the First Class cabin to afford passengers more legroom and increase cabin space. These remodeled 747s — which also contain an intermediate Business Class cabin before the Economy Class cabin — have been flown in the airline's network since November of 2004, and will likely be replaced by the new A380s.
Tengku Azmil, Malaysia Airlines CEO and managing director, took to Twitter Wednesday morning to address confusion surrounding the ban. "Lots of discussion on babies in 1st class," he tweeted, "Our policy has been in place since 2004, when the current 1st class configuration was in place."
Later, he added that the airline already hands out noise-canceling headphones to passengers in the First Class cabin, which can only do so much to dampen the wails of agitated infants.
The ban is the first to be put in place by a major airline, and many are wondering if others will follow suit.
Do you think this should be a new trend in air travel? Would you pay more to fly in a temper-tantrum-free zone in and out of IAH?
Smitty is a sizeable famous figure in Smithville.Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce - Facebook