Most airlines charge families extra fees for sitting together. The Biden administration wants to change that. The U.S. Department of Transportation created a website to help travelers shop for airlines that do not charge extra fees when families wish to sit together.
“Parents traveling with young kids should be able to sit together without an airline forcing them to pay junk fees,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement after the dashboard highlighting which airlines provided seating fees and those that did not last month. “We have been pressing airlines to guarantee family seating without tacking on extra charges, and now we’re seeing some airlines start to make this common-sense change. All airlines should do this promptly, even as we move forward to develop a rule establishing this as a requirement across the board.”
Airlines that Do and Do Not Charge Family Seating Fees
Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Frontier Airlines are the only American domestic carriers that do not charge extra for children 13 or younger who sit next to parents or other older family members. Seven other carriers shamed by the administration: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Allegiant Air, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Spirit Airlines, do not provide free seating. The Transportation Department’s website places a red “X” next to the names of those airlines.
“… [W]e’ll prohibit airlines from charging $50 roundtrip for a family just to be able to sit together. Baggage fees are bad enough. Airlines can’t treat your child like a piece of baggage,” President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address. “Americans are tired of being — we’re tired of being played for suckers.”
American Airlines announced in March that children under 14 seated next to an adult family member booked under the same reservation would not be subject to additional seating fees.
In February, United Airlines announced the launch of a dynamic seat map that gives children 12 and under options of sitting together in basic economy, economy, and preferred seats.
“In an era where more families are working in a hybrid environment, they’re traveling more often,” United Airlines’ Chief Customer Officer Linda Jojo said in a statement. “We’re focused on delivering a great experience for our younger passengers and their parents and know it often starts with the right seat.”
Family-seating fees began approximately 10 years ago when Delta Airlines introduced basic economy flights in a bid to compete with budget airlines like Spirit and Jet Blue.
“After years of having their lunch eaten by budget airlines, full-service airlines like Delta finally landed on their response: basic economy,” Scott Keyes of Going told Conde Nast Traveler, noting it aimed to provide “budget-airline-like experience, but on a full-service airline.”
Going After Junk Fees
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced the Families Fly Together Act to ban airlines from imposing fees on families who wish to sit together in flight.
“It makes zero sense to make parents pay extra fees to sit with their young kids. Airlines have to get their heads out of the clouds,” Schumer said in a statement. “Congress should ground these junk fees on travelers once and for all and pass the Families Fly Together Act. Senate Democrats are fighting to deliver real results like getting rid of junk fees for American families because families flying together is a no-brainer.”
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John Rossomando’s work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting.
