New family seating rule for air travel proposed by Biden administration

01.08.2024 - 21:56 / thepointsguy.com / Pete Buttigieg / Joe Biden

The Biden administration is proposing a new rule that would prohibit airlines from charging families fees to sit together.

The proposed regulation, announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, would require carriers to seat parents (or an accompanying adult) next to young children for free when adjacent seating is available at booking.

It would also require airlines to issue refunds or no-cost rebooking when they can't seat families together.

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The announcement comes after a multi-year pressure campaign by the DOT, which has pushed airlines to eliminate fees for parents hoping to book seats next to children on commercial flights. It's also part of the Biden administration's larger crusade against so-called "junk fees" charged to consumers.

"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 Thursday announcing the proposed rule.

Read more: Guide to airline family seating

To be clear, this rule isn't a done deal — it's merely a proposal at this point.

If ultimately enacted, though, it could certainly mean big changes for families traveling.

Specific provisions of the suggested rule include:

In a statement to TPG Thursday, Airlines for America, a trade group for several of the largest U.S. carriers, said its member airlines "make every effort to accommodate customers traveling together — especially those traveling with children."

"Each carrier has established individual policies," the organization said. "And all make every effort to ensure families sit together."

This proposed rule by the DOT comes after years of sustained pressure by the agency to prompt airlines to loosen policies governing seat assignments for families.

President Joe Biden railed against seat assignment fees in his 2023 State of the Union address.

"We'll prohibit airlines from charging $50 round-trip for a family just to be able to sit together," Biden said in his Feb. 7, 2023 address. "Baggage fees are bad enough. Airlines can't treat your child like a piece of baggage."

In early 2023, the DOT added a family seating section to its Airline Customer Service Dashboard, which evaluates which U.S. carriers guarantee free adjacent seats for children 13 or younger and an accompanying adult.

Only four U.S. airlines — Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and JetBlue — technically meet the DOT's requirements.

Read more: All the airlines' flight delay and compensation policies