Biden admin proposes free family seating mandate for airlines
Source: The Hill
08/01/24 8:10 AM ET
The Biden administration proposed a new rule Thursday that would require airlines to seat parents next to their young children for free. The proposal would bar airlines from charging fees for parents to sit next to their children under 13. If adjacent seats are not available, airlines would be required to offer a full refund or free rebooking.
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, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on a call with reporters Monday. As somebody who has personally experienced flying with toddlers, as my husband and I have taken our two-year-old twins on trips many times, families dont need any additional stresses or costs when flying, he added.
Seating fees can raise the cost of air travel for families with children, who may be too young to feed themselves or go to the bathroom on their own, a press release from the Department of Transportation noted. Other passengers may also be asked to give up seats that they paid for in advance to accommodate families.
When those scenarios arise, its not fair to anyone on board the parents, the children, the other passengers and it puts onboard flight crew in a difficult position too, Buttigieg said. The proposal follows similar efforts from the Biden administration to crack down on so-called junk fees in the airline industry.
Read more: https://thehill.com/business/4804506-biden-admin-proposes-free-family-seating-mandate-airlines/
Link to U.S. Department of Transportation PRESS RELEASE - Biden-Harris Administration Proposes Ban on Family Seating Junk Fees Charged by Airlines

hueymahl
(2,721 posts)BumRushDaShow
(146,882 posts)where you have American consumers who have been nickel and dimed so much that they are at a breaking point. Many of these "fees" have been hidden and not included in an "advertised" price for a good or service, and are often only thrown in at the end of a convoluted purchase transaction as a "final cost". That sort of thing needs to be stopped. It's basically "bait and switch".
BadgerKid
(4,749 posts)I realize some people pay for seats, but in the economy section, I have yet to see people unfriendly in this regard.
BumRushDaShow
(146,882 posts)about some families asking other passengers if they could switch seats and those passengers refusing.
I think most people understand but there will always be those asses.
The last flight I took required the airlines to reseat passengers in the bulkhead to accommodate my SIL with a newly-broken-led that required seating where her leg could be fully extended with no chance someone would bump into it. There's only one seat that fits that criteria.
The passenger in that seat (who had paid to choose that seat) did not want to move. The flight attendants had to tell them they had no choice. They were pissed.
I've also encountered it when the seating families together requires someone to move into a middle seat.
Happy Hoosier
(8,727 posts)The family in question had two parents, and each parent was sitting with a kid. 2 on either side of the central aisle (they had an aisle seat and middle seat on either side. The wanted both kids with the mom so the kid didn't have to sit next to a stranger. I agreed to move on the condtion I could get an aisle or window seat, or an upgrade. The airline declined, and so did I. I got the stinkeye, but I was not going to accept a middle seat for a 4 hour flight when I explicitly booked a window seat (and paid extra for it!). I'm a big guy and I'm already uncomfortable enough.
maxsolomon
(35,730 posts)as my wife insists on taking the window. I have to sit most flights with my arms crossed.
There was a solution to the "kid shouldn't have to sit next to a stranger" dilemma. Sit the kid on the aisle.