SEOUL: Travellers using nursing rooms at South Korea’s Incheon Airport to get free hot water for cup noodles have come under fire following complaints from parents who use the facilities for infant care.
Footage circulating on Chinese media platforms, including China’s most popular lifestyle and social commerce platform Xiaohongshu, showed on May 24 that some tourists have been sharing a “travel hack” for making instant noodles at the airport.
One user wrote that airport convenience stores do not provide hot water, but the nursing rooms there offer free hot water, and suggested that travelers go there.
Some posts went further, providing detailed directions to nearby convenience stores and nursing rooms.
Other users shared similar experiences, including one who said airport staff had stopped them from using the facility.
“I thought eating was the only thing prohibited, but they wouldn’t even let me get hot water,” the user wrote, adding that they had tried to explain they only intended to take water before leaving.
The posts have prompted criticism from parents and caregivers in South Korea, who say the airport’s nursing rooms are increasingly misused.
Designed as clean and quiet spaces for feeding infants and preparing baby formula, the facilities are intended to support families traveling with young children. - The Korea Herald/ANN
