［航空］Why I love the sound of cryi

D7

日航选座竟能避开婴儿！你怎么看？

卫报

When I hear a child start to wail just as the plane takes off, I’m still so relieved it’s not mine that I smile. Japan Airlines has launched a new feature for passengers wishing to avoid crying infants on flights: its online booking tool indicates where babies are already seated, so you can pick a spot as far away from them as possible.

Online opinion regarding JAL’s innovation isn’t so much divided as segregated. People generally know which side of the issue they are supposed to be on – comments urging compassion for parents far outstrip the ones suggesting children should be banned from flying – but the middle ground is largely unoccupied.

I have my own cure for the scourge of babies on planes: get a baby, and take it on a couple of long-haul flights with you. There are few things more exhausting, stressful, embarrassing and thankless, but it will forever inoculate you against the sound of a crying infant that isn’t in your care. I haven’t had to take a baby on a plane for 20 years, but when I hear a child in the seat behind me start to wail just as the plane leaves the runway, I’m still so relieved it’s not mine that I smile. I find it soothing.

All that said, I have no real objection to JAL’s new booking facility. If it helps to put a few rows between crying babies and those who are intolerant of them, that’s probably better for everyone.