How to Avoid Sitting Near a Baby on Your Flight

Many frequent flyers go to a lot of effort to secure the perfect seat on each flight.

There are a lot of tools and tricks that can help with this. For example, aeroLOPA can show you highly detailed airline seat maps. Some airlines, such as Iberia, even offer 3D virtual cabin tours to help you decide. And the “T-80” trick can help you to get the front row on Qantas flights.

But all of that hard work can come undone if you accidentally happen to choose a seat next to a screaming baby.

Of course, some infants are very well-behaved – and unfortunately, some adults behave like children. So it’s never a sure thing that sitting beside a baby means bad news. But if you’d rather not take your chances, there is one way to see in advance where the toddlers on your flight are sitting.

The Japan Airlines website shows infants on its seat maps

Most airline seat maps only indicate whether or not a seat is available. Specialised tools like ExpertFlyer can provide a bit more detail, such as whether an unavailable seat is in fact occupied or just “blocked”.

But, as elanshin pointed out on the AFF forum, the Japan Airlines website has the unique feature of marking seats occupied by passengers with lap infants. This is shown with a “baby” icon. A lap infant is a child aged below two years old who does not occupy their own seat.

If you have an upcoming booking that includes a Japan Airlines flight, you can simply enter your booking reference into the “Manage Flight Booking” portal on the Japan Airlines website to bring up the seat map and change your seat. However, this only works if at least one flight on your ticket is a Japan Airlines flight with a “JL” flight number.

If there are multiple airlines on your itinerary, including at least one Japan Airlines flight, you can also view the seat maps for the partner airline flights. The JAL website shows infants on seat maps for partner airline services too.

As it happens, the Japan Airlines website also has a great Oneworld award availability search feature.

What if you’re not flying with Japan Airlines?

Even if you’re not flying with Japan Airlines, it’s still possible to view seat maps for some flights operated by partner airlines including Qantas. This works best for Qantas domestic and trans-Tasman flights.

The trick is to search for routes where the Japan Airlines website will offer up connections on Qantas. For example, if you wanted to view the seat map for a Perth-Sydney flight on Qantas, you could search for flights from Perth to Tokyo. Among other options, Japan Airlines will offer you a Qantas flight from Perth to Sydney that connects to Japan Airlines’ Sydney-Tokyo service.

After selecting an itinerary that includes the Qantas flight you want to check, you’ll need to enter some passenger details. Then, on the following page, you’ll be able to view the seat map by clicking “Select seat”:

You’ll then be able to view the seat maps for each flight in the itinerary, including the connecting Qantas flight.

This trick won’t work on all routes and airlines. But as a general tip, if you’d rather be seated away from babies, it could be a good idea to avoid sitting near bassinet seats. These are typically in the front rows.

How to guarantee you won’t be sitting near kids

Of course, even if you’ve checked JAL’s seat map, it’s still possible that someone else might choose their seat closer to departure or get moved at the last minute. Also, the Japan Airlines seat maps only show the location of lap infants – they won’t show children aged two or older.

The only way to guarantee you won’t be sharing a cabin with kids – short of using a private jet – is to book a seat in a child-free zone on an airline that offers this. These include AirAsia X’s Quiet Zone, the Scoot In Silence cabin or Corendon Airlines’ kids-free zones.

A few years ago, South African Airways gave passengers the option to share their social media profiles with other passengers on the same flight. The theory was that passengers could choose a like-minded seat mate. That idea never really took off, and it’s not hard to see why.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.