The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed a new rule aimed at banning airlines from charging fees for seating families together on flights. The Department of Transportation (DOT) has put forward this rule, which would mandate airlines to seat parents next to their young children for free when adjacent seating is available at booking. This initiative could save a family of four up to $200 per roundtrip if seat fees are typically $25.

"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," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "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."

For many families, sitting next to their children is essential due to the children's needs such as feeding themselves or fastening their seatbelts. Despite this necessity, many airlines currently require parents either to pay additional fees for assigned seats or risk being separated during the flight.

In 2023, President Biden urged Congress in his State of the Union address to ban these family seating fees. Following this, Secretary Buttigieg encouraged the ten largest airlines to voluntarily eliminate these charges; Alaska, American, Frontier, and JetBlue complied. The DOT also launched a dashboard displaying which airlines guarantee fee-free family seating at flightrights.gov.

The proposed rule includes several key provisions:

1. Ban on Family Seating Fees: Airlines would be prohibited from charging extra fees for assigning seats next to each other for children aged 13 or under.

2. Adjacent Family Seating Requirement: Airlines must ensure that parents and young children are seated together within 48 hours of booking when adjacent seats are available.

3. Refunds and Rebooking Options: If adjacent seats are unavailable at booking, passengers must be given options such as full refunds or free rebooking on subsequent flights with available family seating.

4. Upfront Disclosure: Airlines would need to clearly inform passengers about their right to fee-free family seating on all platforms.

5. Penalties: Each violation of these requirements by an airline would result in civil penalties.

This proposal asserts that family seating should be considered a basic service included in ticket fares and invites public comment on whether other services should also be classified as essential.

Additionally, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken several steps recently to enhance passenger rights and airline industry oversight:

- A new rule mandates automatic cash refunds for passengers under certain conditions like flight cancellations or significant delays.

- Another rule requires upfront disclosure of critical extra fees by airlines.

- A system has been established allowing state attorneys general access to review air travel service complaints.

- The flightrights.gov dashboard was launched ensuring major U.S. airlines offer free rebooking and meals during significant delays or cancellations caused by airline issues.

- Nearly $4 billion in refunds and reimbursements have been secured for passengers since President Biden took office.