The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched a new dashboard that shows which airlines do and don’t charge additional fees for family seating.
The family seating dashboard is an expansion of the DOT’s existing customer service dashboard.
As with the prior dashboard, the family seating dashboard provides a clear comparison of services airlines have committed to provide, assisting travellers with choosing which airline to fly.
According to the DOT, as recently as a month ago, no US-based airlines guaranteed free family seating, however several have now added this to their offering after weeks of the DOT and the Biden Administration pressing airlines to improve their customer service.
Among those who now guarantee that parents can sit with their young children are American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. United Airlines also recently announced it would be introducing a new family seating policy, made possible through a new online seat engine.
The department issued a notice last July stating that its policy is that US airlines ensure children aged 13 and younger are seated next to an accompanying adult at no extra charge. During a four-month review period following the notice, it found none of the airlines guaranteed fee-free family seating, although most asserted they would make their best effort to do so.
To receive a green check on the dashboard, an airline must guarantee that parents can sit next to children aged 13 and younger at no extra charge if adjacent seats are available when booking, and they must include this guarantee as part of their customer service plan.
