Portlanders have little to complain about when it comes to traveling. Not only does our city boast the nation’s best airport, we have a slew of nonstop flights to choose from. There is, however, one thing we don’t have a choice about: our seatmates in the sky.

We raised the question about child-free zones on flights 10 years ago, and since then the same two airlines are cashing in on child-free zones, neither of them American. Scoot Airlines, a budget Singaporean airline has a ‘Scoot-in-Silence’ cabin in which “only travelers aged 12 years and above can book seats in this section where you’ll have fewer distractions.” And AirAsia X, whose Quiet Zone is dedicated to long haul flights and open to travelers ages 10 and up.

We recently found out that Portlanders lack the extrovert trait altogether, so we asked whether child-free flights are something they even want.

On X, we polled the following question: should airlines begin offering child-free flights? Of the votes received, 28.9 percent responded “Yes! And I’d pay extra,” 32.2 percent responded “No. Are you serious?,” and 38.9 percent responded “I don’t really care.”

Should airlines begin offering child-free flights?

— Portland Monthly (@PoMoMagazine) November 7, 2023

We posed the same question on Facebook, and here are a few of the responses:

“Nope. This is a city bus in the sky. If you’re above dealing with the public, then fly private, I guess. I’d rather tune out an obnoxious child or crying baby than languish through an interaction with some adults. But I’m just a peasant and I think it’s discriminatory to exclude certain members of the public from certain flights.” —Meghan Murphy

“Yes. I would be happy to pay for this, just like any other service. Although, I agree with Meghan that some children are better behaved than some adults.” —Pamela Michalowski

Yes, passenger incidents involving bad behavior on airplanes are up by 47 percent since 2021, according to the International Air Transport Association, reminding us that perhaps these days, children are the least of our problems.

What do you think? Give us a shout with your response on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or IG!