U.S. website focuses on plane seats
New effort to help families sit together on flights, combat fees
The U.S. Department of Transportation is rolling out a “dashboard” to help travelers see which airlines help families with young children sit together at no extra cost.
The announcement Monday comes as the department works on regulations to prevent families from being separated on planes.
It’s the latest salvo in the Biden administration’s efforts to clamp down on what it calls ” junk fees ” and to put pressure on airlines to improve service.
The dashboard rewards airlines with a green check if they guarantee an adult family member can sit next to their young children if seats are available. On Monday, only three of the 10 U.S. airlines listed on the website received a green check: Alaska, American and Frontier.
The site also includes links to each airline’s customer policies.
“Parents traveling with young kids should be able to sit together without an airline forcing them to pay junk fees,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a release. He gave his department credit for pressuring airlines, “and now we’re seeing some airlines start to make this common-sense change.”
Airlines say they try and usually succeed at seating families together, but the companies have stopped short of making iron-clad promises. This year, several carriers have pledged to make changes in seating policies.
Last month, Frontier Airlines said it will automatically seat at least one parent next to any child under 14.
United Airlines said it will let families with children under 12 pick adjoining seats at no extra cost starting in early this month in certain fare classes. The announcement seemed to fall short of Transportation Department standards, however, as the agency announced last July a ban on extra charges for an adult family member to sit next to children up to age 13.