Airlines would no longer be allowed to charge parents extra fees for their kids to be seated next to them under a new rule proposed by the Biden administration. White House officials say their “fee-free family seating” proposal could potentially save parents up to $200 per round trip flight.
“Families don’t need any additional stresses or costs when flying on top of how demanding it can be to be a parent flying with your kids,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters when announcing the proposed rule.
Buttigieg said, “The idea that parents ought to be seated next to their own children on a flight is common sense and also seems like something that ought to be standard practice.”
Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard echoed that sentiment, saying, “No parent should have to pay a fee to sit with their child when they fly. It’s just that simple. Today’s ban on family seating fees could save a family of four as much as $200 per round trip. That might not matter much to wealthy Americans, but it could be the deciding factor on whether to take a family trip for working Americans.”
The move is one that President Joe Biden himself had previewed in his 2023 State of the Union address as part of the administration’s ongoing effort to protect consumers from having to pay “junk” fees.
“We’ll cap service fees on tickets to concerts and sporting events and make companies disclose all fees upfront. And we’ll prohibit airlines from charging up to $50 roundtrip for families just to sit together,” Biden said in 2023. “Baggage fees are bad enough — they can’t just treat your child like a piece of luggage.”
The rule, an administration official explained, would require airlines to seat children 13 and under next to their parents within 48 hours of purchasing the ticket.
“If adjacent seats are not available, then the airline would need to provide you the option of a refund if you no longer want to take that flight,” the administration official added.
Some airlines already do not charge passengers extra to sit next to children. Alaska, American, Frontier and JetBlue will seat children under 13 next to “an accompanying adult” at no additional cost, according to a dashboard on the Department of Transportation’s website.
The proposed mandate still needs to clear a public comment period and is unlikely to be enacted until sometime next year.
Airlines For America, an industry lobbying group, said its member airlines, which include the major carriers in the US, “make every effort to accommodate customers traveling together — especially those traveling with children. Each carrier has established individual policies, but all make every effort to ensure families sit together. A4A passenger carriers do not charge a family seating fee.”
This week, a federal appeals court sided with airlines by temporarily blocking a rule that would have required carriers to show passengers the total cost of a trip including checked baggage fees.
