Japan Airlines - Babies

First of all, full disclosure: I’m a very frequent traveler. And even fuller disclosure: I’m a dad and back in the day I had one nasty flight with my screaming baby. It was a nightmare. Every time I hear a screaming baby on a flight, I think back to that one flight with my baby. I still get the shakes when I think about it. Screaming the entire flight. Me a nervous wreck desperately trying to get it all to stop so I don’t disturb everyone else.

Disclosures aside, let’s face it: it’s hard to be patient when you’re sitting near a crying kid on a plane. Especially when it’s a red eye and you have to go straight to work when the flight lands.

Which is why this new feature from Japan Airlines makes so much sense. When you select your seat from the seat map, you can see where the babies are sitting! So if you’re so inclined to get a little baby fix then sit right in the same row. If you’re so inclined to recline and sleep, then move far away. If you have a baby on board too, then sit nearby and perhaps they can entertain each other!

In an industry that constantly fights on features and price, here’s a new one that may give the airlines a bit of a competitive advantage. Although others may soon quickly follow.

That’s the issue with product features and functions in almost every category: it’s hard to have a competitive advantage on features along because they are often easily copied. This one is so smart, but how long before all the other airlines do the same thing?

But until the others follow, we just may see Japan Airlines get an advantage from this. It certainly makes me feel like they understand the importance of the flying experience! Do the other airlines make you feel the same with their features?

What’s your experience? JIM