The Airline Family Seating Dashboard introduced by the Department of Transportation of the United States on Sunday, March 5, 2023 is designed to assist consumers in selecting an airline which has committed to guaranteeing that an adult passenger who is accompanied by a child who is 13 years of age or younger will sit together in adjacent seats aboard an airplane throughout the entire duration of the flight at no additional cost for all types of fares.
Airline Family Seating Dashboard Introduced by Department of Transportation
The idea which governs the Airline Family Seating Dashboard is that any parent who purchases airline tickets for a family should receive a guarantee from the airline that it will seat the parent and child together without paying any additional fees; or scramble at the gate at the last minute or need to ask fellow passengers to give up their seats to allow the parent and child to sit together.
At the time this article was written, the only airlines which guarantee adjacent seats at no additional cost for all fare types for an adult passenger who is accompanied by a child who is 13 years of age or younger — subject to limited conditions — are:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Frontier Airlines
Interestingly, United Airlines is not officially included on the list, as this official announcement from the airline includes “an improved family seating policy that makes it easier than ever for children under 12-years old to sit next to an adult in their party for free — including customers who purchase Basic Economy tickets” as the result of “a series of investments in a new seat map feature that dynamically finds available adjacent seats at the time of booking” tickets.
Only three weeks after the president of the United States proposed the Junk Fee Prevention Act to members of the House of Representatives in the name of eliminating resort fees and other mandatory hidden fees to promote competition in the economy while simultaneously saving citizens billions of dollars per year, both Frontier Airlines and United Airlines have voluntarily introduced new policies through which children and parents sit together at no extra cost. This official announcement was released from American Airlines on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 — five days after this article was published at The Gate With Brian Cohen pertaining to children and parents sitting together at no extra cost on these airlines .
Limited Conditions
The following limited conditions are subject when using an airline:
- That assigns seats, the airline can condition its guarantee on each of the following:
- Child and accompanying adult are on the same reservation;
- Adjacent seats are available at the time of booking in the selected class of service;
- Aircraft is not substituted for smaller aircraft;
- Adult either chooses seats for the entire reservation or skips seats for the entire reservation, and does not implement changes to seat assignments once assigned to them; and
- It is physically possible based on seat layout to seat the number of young children traveling next to the accompanying adult or adults.
- With an open seating policy, the airline can condition its guarantee on each of the following:
- Child and accompanying adult are on same reservation;
- Accompanying adult notifies gate agent of need for adjacent seats prior to start of boarding; and
- It is physically possible based on seat layout to seat the number of young children traveling next to the accompanying adult or adults.
Customer Service Plans of Ten Domestic Airlines
The customer service plans of ten domestic airlines within the United States can be accessed by the following links:
- Alaska Airlines
- Allegiant Air
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Frontier Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- United Airlines
The Department of Transportation provides families with practical tips that families may use before, during, and after air travel with information applicable to family seating.
If you are dissatisfied with an experience related to family seating, you can file a complaint with the airline or the Department of Transportation. Click here to file a complaint with the Department of Transportation.
Final Boarding Call
This tool seems to be a weak attempt at best by the Department of Transportation to “shame” airlines into complying with potential legislation — almost to the point of silly…
…but if it helps parents and children sit together, I suppose it may have some value. Children should not be required to be seated away from their parents just because an airline wants to profit from assigning seats — especially when seat assignments used to be offered at no extra charge on most airlines not all that long ago.
Whether other airlines will introduce similar policies — without having being forced to do so, which could happen one day — remains to be seen.
I cannot help but think about the times not so long ago when this was not a problem, as customers were able to choose seats automatically at the time of booking a ticket for a flight — and at no extra cost — so now we should be happy that the federal government is getting involved in something that is barely a “giveback” to the paying public?
Photograph ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
