US EditionOutcry After France’s Famed TGV Rail Service Bans Children From New Premium-Class Carriage
The child-free Optimum Plus carriage targets business travelers seeking quiet comfort, representing 8% of seats on select TGV trains, sparking debate over family exclusion.
- SNCF launched the Optimum Plus option, replacing Business Première on selected TGV trains between Paris and Lyon as a quiet, premium first-class section.
- Aiming at business customers, the option follows past carriage practices as SNCF says Optimum Plus meets long-standing requests for quieter, child-free spaces and notes toddler package and child ticket were excluded under Business Première.
- Ticket details state the age restriction, specifying children under 12 are excluded from Optimum Plus, which is available Monday to Friday with only 8 per cent of seats.
- Critics linked the move to France's stagnating birth rate, with Sarah El Haïry and Maxime Sbaihi claiming it suggests adult comfort depends on excluding children, while pets remain allowed for €10.
- Trains with Optimum Plus retain normal first-class and standard carriages, and SNCF offers family fares, family areas, nursery areas on TGV trains, and welcomes children under its Junior & Compagnie programme.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Outcry after France’s famed TGV rail service bans children from new premium-class carriage
By Amarachi Orie and Pierre P Bairin, CNN (CNN) — France’s famed high-speed rail service TGV INOUI is facing a backlash after introducing a new premium-class carriage that bans children. As of January 8, national rail operator SNCF has been offering “Optimum” class on many TGV INOUI routes to and from Paris, according to the ticket-selling SNCF Connect website. As well as flexible tickets and a dedicated customer service, the offer promises a “d…
The question of the place of children in society resurfaced this week, with the announcement of the SNCF of a new business class without children.
In some sections of French trains, children will be unwelcome in the future. The indignation about the new "No Kids" regulation is great.
MAINTENANCE – The psychologist, critic of positive education, bounces back on the polemic of the space forbidden to children by the SNCF. According to her, it is not society that no longer supports children, it is the children that have become unbearable.
The SNCF is at the heart of a controversy for announcing the creation of a premium class in its TGV, in which the children are not accepted. The deputy (LIOT) of the Loiret Constance de Pélichy sindigne and asks Jean Castex to reconsider this decision.
SNCF has removed a minimum age from its site to the Optimum Plus class.
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