No adults allowed in kids-only airport lounge

13:00 AEST Wed Jul 7 2010

By Adam Bub
MSN NZ Travel writer

Nearly 400,000 unaccompanied minors travel on Air France each year — and now they have their very own business lounge.

If only Kevin McAllister had a kids' business lounge to go to in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Instead of connecting with that bizarre pigeon woman in Central Park, he could've watched movies and had snacks while waiting for his ding-dong family to collect him. But that was the 90s.

Here, in the 21st century, kids can now live it up in their very own airport lounges. Air France just launched the first lounge for unaccompanied minors with connections of more than an hour at Paris-Orly airport. Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport has also launched a summer-only lounge for youngsters with connections of more than two hours.

Kids between the ages of four and 17 who are travelling without their folks can now watch DVDs on the flat-screen televisions, read books, play with toys, and eat snacks in a comfortable and safe environment under Air France staff supervision. Tag-a-long parents have to wait outside in the regular departure gate (or go have quiet drink in their own business lounge).

To top it off, kids can sign up for Air France's frequent flyer programmes from the age of two. Of course! If I were a toddler, I might prioritise sucking my dummy and messing up my mushy peas first.

Would you send your kid to the Air France airport lounge?

User comments

What a shame that there are people like Maljap in this world. We were all kids once. They are an integral part of our societies. Children have to go through a very tough time when they need to be in an enclosed space for such long periods of time. Maljap, get over it, or buy your own private plane. And learn to spell, or maybe you didn't have a childhood with good education.

Well I hope this is just the start when it comes to kids and aircraft matters. I hope that airlines would put all of the kids flying with them at the back of the aircraft and preferably in there own cabin because I am sick and tired of flying business class and having to have screaming kids sitting directly behind me in the first row of ecconomy. Air NZ please take notice

id feel much better if i had to send my child on a plane without an adult if they had somewhere to wait in a supervised area away from potentially crazy adults or if i was flying with them but needed 5 min peace a very good idea