US DOT Proposes Rule to Ban Airlines From Charging Families to Sit Together

The United States Department of Transportation has proposed a rule to ban airlines from charging families to sit together. Known as “junk fees,” these extra costs add to the bottom line of ticket fees for group travelers.

A press release from the USDT states, “The Biden-Harris Administration proposed a new rule that would ban airlines from charging junk fees to seat families together on a flight. The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposed rule would require airlines to seat parents next to their young children for free when adjacent seating is available at booking. Mandating fee-free family seating would lower the cost of flying with young children — saving a family of four as much as $200 per roundtrip if seat fees are $25. DOT’s proposed family seating junk fee ban is part of President Biden’s whole-of-government push to crackdown on corporate rip-offs that can unfairly raise prices for consumers.”

You ought to be able to sit next to your child on a flight without paying more.

Today, my Administration is proposing a ban on airlines charging those fees.

It'll save a family of four as much as $200 per roundtrip, and get us one step closer to ending all junk fees for good.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 1, 2024

For years, parents have expressed concerns about being separated from their children upon boarding if they choose to not pay extra seating fees demanded by airlines. These concerns arise when children are too young to tend for themselves and do things such as buckle their own seat belts or go to the bathroom alone.

Therefore, for some time, some airlines have forced parents to pay these costs up front to ensure they will be seated with their children or risk being separated and having to ask someone to switch seats. These fees add up for each passenger, making some air transportation unaffordable for some families.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg states, “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.”

He continued, “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.”

The Department has published a dashboard displaying which airlines guarantee fee-free family seating at flightrights.gov. So far, four airlines, Alaska, American, Frontier, and JetBlue, have complied.