The Biden Administration has announced a new proposed rule that would make it illegal for airlines to charge fees for family seating.
“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. Flying with children is already complicated enough without having to worry about that,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The new rule we’re proposing today, which would ban airlines from charging parents a fee to sit with their children, is another example of the Biden-Harris Administration using all the tools at our disposal to lower costs for families and protect consumers from unfair practices.”
If adopted as proposed, the rule would require airlines to:
- Assign adjacent seats to families with children ages 13 and younger for no additional fee within 48 hours of booking.
- Offer refunds or rebooking at no extra charge when adjacent seats are not available on a given flight.
- Disclose the right to fee-free family seating.
- Pay a fine when families are charged to sit together or if other provisions of the rule are ignored.
Several airlines, including Alaska, American, Frontier, and JetBlue, have already voluntarily eliminated fees for family seating in line with the Department of Transportation’s new proposed rule. United Airlines also allows free family seating but caps the age at 12, not 13.
