I've never heard or read that this occurs, 'tho I certainly agree that some passengers would welcome it. Generally, I think you'll find fewer children in first or business class than in coach. You could charter your own aircraft for the flight, but that'd be much more expensive than flying with an airline.

of my years of travel, I have never seen a child in first class, very rarely in business. Perhaps those can be considered.

I have a continuously crying child next to me every time (in Business class). Except when I have two or more.

related: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/69053/…

Hack the online reservation system and change your seats way from toddlers. Build a business around reselling the service. (hint: dark humour)

Are you trying to avoid hearing yelling kids or sitting next to them or what?

@Newton I think that's more a function of these cabins being smaller and holding fewer people. But on the other hand, a crying baby in an eight-seat first class cabin is somehow much worse than one in a 300 seat Y cabin.

Effectively, business class has very low chance of kids. One problem is that in 1st class, a lot of really really rich people have a lot of kids and its sort of trendy to take them all with the Nanny in 1st class. It's a bit like being in ... Monaco. Surprisingly you sometimes get overwhelmed with kids in 1st class.

@David I've seen children in first class (and business class) every time I flew with Emirates Airways

I've got 3 children and I'd like child free flights too, but the reality is that I can't leave them home alone while I'm on vacation. Furthermore, if people stop having children then our species is toast. It is unlikely that child-free flights or zones would be economical, since airlines need as much seating flexibility as possible to ensure all available seats are filled - a big event like a Scout Jamboree will fill many flights, and airlines can't afford to refuse customers because the child-allowed zones are already booked.

"How much does it cost to have a child-free flight compared to a normal one?" You could charter a learjet for about $2000/hr.

@Tyson the idea is not about 100% child free flights, but a little percent that will satisfy those, who are willing to overpay to avoid children. If all the children were concentrated on the last rows, so that the first ones will be 100% child free and middle ones are kinda close to kids zone, it's also a solution that doesn't decrease seating flexibility

There aren't so many people on Earth who really need to fly. If it bothers you too much to have children close to you in a plane, you could always not fly.

has anybody considered the discriminatory character of this question?

@Newton I have seen children in first class, but rarely.

With 360+ hours of long-haul flight time (Seattle to London) under my belt, most of my flights have actually been pretty quiet. In some cases there've been screaming children but generally their parents manage to calm them down before too long. The key points are to sit further away from them and bring music. I recommend sitting in the center of the cabin, equidistant from the exits and bathrooms. While seating for parents tends to be near the front of the cabin, the bathrooms are usually at the back, and some parents prefer those seats for easy access.

I think if an airline (in the US at least) did attempt this they'd get PR (and possibly legal) backlash from parents that would make whatever premium they could extract from you (and others like you) not worth it

Lowest cost option is to sit in the emergency exit row.

@fixerlt "If all the children were concentrated on the last rows..." You missed my point about big events with lots of children attending, and airlines needing to accept their bookings to get there. An elementary school couldn't book 100 students onto a flight to visit Washington if they're only allowed in the last rows.

If there were sufficient demand for child-free flights, I'm quite confident that airlines could and would offer such flights. We are only now beginning to see child-free restaurants and they are still somewhat controversial, but there is a demand so we are starting to see them in bigger cities.