Japan Airlines introduces new seat map to help avoid screaming babies

A child icon will be displayed to alert passengers to where a baby is seated.

Japan Airlines has introduced a feature on its booking system that allows customers to see where young children are seated.

When selecting your seats on the airline’s website, it now shows a “child” icon appear when a passenger is travelling with children aged under two years.

The carrier did not advertise the new feature, but was instead discovered by a customer took a picture of the baby map and thanked the airline on Twitter.

Thank you, @JAL_Official_jp for warnings me about where babies plan to scream and yell during a 13 hour trip. This really ought to be mandatory across the board.

Please take note, @qatarairways: I had 3 screaming babies next to me on my JFK-DOH flight two weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/kQYQFIqqCD

— Rahat Ahmed (@dequinix) September 24, 2019

“This really ought to be mandatory across the board,” he wrote.

JAL have pointed out that the new feature does not guarantee that passengers would be out of earshot of a screaming baby.

There are also several situations in which the child icon may not display.

If a ticket is purchased through an OTA (Online Travel Agent) or is part of a tour or awards program, the icon may not display.

According to a rival carrier, Japan Airlines were not the first to offer the tool.

A spokeswoman for All Nippon Airways said its seat maps have shown where children are sitting “for a while”.