Airlines Committing to Fee Free Seating for Parents Flying With Kids

(KNSI) — The U.S. Department of Transportation Monday rolled out a new online dashboard to make it easier for parents flying with children to avoid paying junk fees to be seated together.

The family seating dashboard highlights the airlines guaranteeing fee-free family seating and which don’t. The move is relatively new, as the DOT had been pressuring airlines to stop charging parents extra if they wanted to sit by their kids. Certain restrictions can still apply.

The department says just three airlines have agreed to drop the fees to guarantee parents can sit with young kids and not be nickeled and dimed.

As of March 6th, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Frontier Airlines said parents can get an adjacent seat when flying with a child under 13 at no additional cost for all fare types. Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit Airlines, and Allegiant Airlines, which flies out of St. Cloud, have not committed to the program but said they would “make efforts” to guarantee family seating. The DOT says that’s not good enough.

Congress is being asked to fast track a ban on family seating fees so that DOT can take action to stop those practices more quickly than through rulemaking.

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