The fight to prohibit airlines from charging junk fees to families trying to sit together continues.
Yesterday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed a new rule that would require airlines to seat parents next to their young children for free when adjacent seating is available at booking.
"Many airlines still don’t guarantee family seating, which means parents wonder if they’ll have to pay extra just to be seated with their young child,” said Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Transportation Secretary. "Flying with children is already complicated enough without having to worry about that.”
In 2023, Secretary Buttigieg called on the 10 largest airlines to voluntarily ban these fees after a State of the Union address where President Biden called on Congress to ban family seating junk fees. So far, only four airlines — Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and JetBlue — have done so, which can be viewed on this dashboard.
DOT received authority to propose this new rule from Congress as part of the bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.
What Does the New Family Seating Rule Propose?
DOT's notice of proposed rulemaking goes into further details about its proposal. Here is what it says.
- It defines a young child as age 13 or under.
- It specifies timing, requiring airlines to seat guardians next to their kids for free within 48 hours of booking.
- It defines adjacent seating as “seats next to each other in the same row and not separated by an aisle.”
- It requires airlines to apply this ruling to every class of service and prohibits airlines from limiting this availability by structuring basic economy as consisting only of middle seats.
- It stipulates that if adjacent seating is impossible due to multiple children, airlines would be required to “seat them across the aisle from, directly in front of, or directly behind the parent or accompanying adult.”
- It mandates refunds, free rebooking and other options when adjacent family seating is not available. In this case, airlines would have to provide passengers with the choice of receiving a full refund or waiting for adjacent seating to become available.
- If families wait and adjacent seats do not become available, airlines must provide passengers with the choice of rebooking for free “on the next flight with available family seating or stay on the flight in seats that are not adjacent.”
- It says that airlines must clearly disclose a family’s right to fee-free family seating both on their public-facing online platforms and when a customer calls the airline’s reservation center. Airlines must also specify if there are any requirements for check-in and boarding that may impact the possibility of adjacent seating.
- Finally, if airlines are unable to secure adjacent seating, they are subject to civil penalties for each junk fee violation.
