Yet Another Way for Airlines to Make Money

April 8, 2009 | Uncategorized

I’ve just read a survey and I now have a much better understanding of just how abusive American parents are to their children on vacation. 

No, really, this is not a joke. If you look at the statistics from the latest TripAdvisor survey you’ll understand.

Don’t believe me? Consider this…

In the latest TripAdvisor survey people rated New York City, along with Orlando and Washington, DC, as a place they plan to visit with their children in the next 12 months. In the same survey they also rated New York City (along with Las Vegas and Paris) as one of the three least family-friendly destinations.

Of course, like any concerned parent this made me wonder just what is going on during those trips to the Big Apple so I read more of TripAdvisor’s report. And guess what — 66% of those surveyed said that parents with young children shouldn’t go to bars and pubs when they’re on vacation.

A-ha! Obviously, people wouldn’t say things like this if they actually hadn’t seen kids in bars and pubs while they were on vacation. Which made me read even further…

According to TripAdvisor 82% of people also get frustrated (either “very” or “somewhat”) with children while traveling. The most common child annoyance, according to 53% of the people who took the survey, are kids kicking the back of your seat on an airplane.

Well, as I see it — and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or flight attendant to figure this one out — since 35% of these same people also admitted they often would rather take a vacation without the children, it’s apparent that Mom and Dad are heavily into the Bloody Marys and beers before the plane has even left the gate, and are not properly supervising their children. Obviously, these are the same people doing pub crawls with their kids on New York’s Upper West Side.

Most likely this is the reason why 69% of people would like to see child-free zones on airplanes. And if you thought those extra charges for checked luggage, food and pillows was something, just think what the airlines can charge for this once they have figured out the seating configuration.

But, according to TripAdvisor, it seems the kids aren’t the real issue. 42% also said that while on vacation their spouse complains as much as the children, and 21% said he/she actually complains more than the kids.

As a marketer it makes me wonder if the airlines aren’t now contemplating spouse-free zones. Now there’s a way to make some real money.

Jim Ferri