The Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed laws that might bar airlines from charging families extra to be seated next to their children so long as seats can be found.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent letters to members of Congress saying airlines should be sure that “young kids are seated next to a minimum of one parent or other accompanying adult without getting charged a junk fee,” the department announced Monday.
The laws would apply to all US carriers so long as there are adjoining seats available during booking and likewise pertains to any child under 14 years old.
Transportation officials have also “begun work on a rulemaking to make sure a young child is in a position to sit adjoining to an accompanying adult,” the DOT said.
On condition that “the rulemaking process could be lengthy, the President and DOT are calling on Congress to do that immediately,” it added.
“Upon review of the airlines’ seating policies, DOT stays concerned that airlines’ policies don’t guarantee adjoining seats for young children traveling with a member of the family and that airlines don’t guarantee the adjoining seating at no additional cost,” Buttigieg wrote in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Biden and the DOT have continued to press airlines to commit to fee-free family seating.
Just last week, the DOT launched the Airline Family Seating Dashboard, which lists the airlines that guarantee adjoining seats for youngsters and an accompanying adult at no additional cost for all fare types.
Prior to the dashboard being unveiled, some airlines had already modified their policies. Biden and Buttigieg recently commended American Airlines and Frontier for updating their customer support plans.
The airlines, together with Alaska, are the one carriers on the DOT’s dashboard that guarantee fee-free family seating.
In February, United Airlines announced in that it modified its policy, which takes effect this month, to permit families to be seated together more easily and freed from charge.
Nevertheless, the Chicago-based carrier isn’t listed under the airlines that guarantee fee-free family seating because its policy doesn’t 100% match what DOT is requesting for its dashboard.
