Airline’s New Seat Map Shows Where Infants Will Sit On Planes

Japan Airlines (JAL) has brought in a new feature on its booking system which indicates where young children are sat in flight. This feature is part of Japan Airline’s “Smile Support” Travel Service to inform other passengers if there is a child and where they would be.

The baby seat map shows an icon if a seat has been reserved for a child aged between 8 days and 2 years old.

While the booking system is new for JAL, the airline isn’t the first to implement it. A spokeswoman for JAL advised the baby seat map isn’t a novel feature and has been around “for a while”; Nippon Airlines has this function when booking. Furthermore, JAL was quick to note that this booking system did not guarantee you would be completely unable to hear crying from infants.

Not everyone agrees a baby seat map is necessary

A Twitter user has drawn attention to JAL’s baby seat map by praising its ability of “warning me about where babies plan to scream and yell during a 13 hour trip”.

Rahat Ahmed, a venture capitalist, also proposed that this feature be implemented and should be “mandatory across the board”. However, his tweet has drawn mixed reactions across internet denizens. 

Some Twitter users praised Rahat’s Tweet and rallied behind the idea that parents who bring children on airlines are inconsiderate.

On the other hand, many Twitter users were quick to point out that babies don’t intend to cry, and adults should be more tolerant.

Image source: Twitter (@timmiyhillier)

Some people have suggested using noise-cancelling headphones.

While others reminded Twitter users who were critical of crying children on airplanes that we were babies as well at one time.

Someone even humorously suggested an additional feature be added to JAL’s booking system.

One woman even praised the new feature and planned to use it to help families with small infants.

So, what do you think about this feature, parents? Tell us in our poll!