Would you like to see adult-only flights?

A PRESS RELEASE I saw today suggested that 74% of 1,000 business travellers polled consider children the most annoying thing about business-class travel. The idea that, having paid top dollar for better seating and food, their comfort should be compromised by fidgeting, chatting and even crying youngsters is enough to make some flyers blanche.

Is this a problem that needs a solution? If so, one answer is adults-only services; another is adults-only sections of regular services. Carriers operating Boeing 747s could, for instance, easily reserve the upper-floor business-class seats for adults, keeping the mewlers and the pukers downstairs with hoi polloi.

But while all travellers would agree with the appeal of a quiet flight, it's a big step to ban certain passengers from certain parts of a plane. I'd rather sit next to a well-behaved five-year-old than an adult with bad body odour, but I don't think smelly people should be herded to the back of the plane. Easier, I think, for airlines to continue to treat everyone equally, and do everything in their power to ensure that passengers throughout the plane are given all the help they need to rest.