Biden admin proposes ban on airlines charging parents extra to sit next to children on flights

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that a proposed family seating rule will allow parents to sit next to their young kids at no additional cost.

The Biden administration has announced a new proposal aiming to ban airlines from charging junk fees for parents to sit next to their children while traveling on a flight.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the proposal, saying that many airlines operating in the U.S. still don’t guarantee that families can sit together on a flight without having to pay an extra cost.

"The idea that parents ought to be seated next to their own children on a flight is common sense," Buttigieg told reporters. "And also seems like something that ought to be standard practice. If you were flying with your child, you should expect to fly next to them."

Under the proposed rule, airlines would no longer be allowed to charge extra fees for a parent to sit next to their child aged 13 or younger. Instead, the cost of family seating would be considered a "basic service" and be included in the regular ticket price, Buttigieg said.

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Family seats would be located next to each other in the same row and would not be separated by an aisle, though the secretary said that if adjacent seating is not available, the airline must provide the customer with options such as receiving a full refund, waiting for family seating before the flight departs or taking the flight with seats that are not together.

Airlines that do not honor the rule would be subject to fines, according to Buttigieg.

"Airlines would be subject to a penalty for each family seating junk fee they charge, and each young child that isn't seated next to a parent or accompanying adult as required would be considered a separate violation," he said.

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Buttigieg said that the new rule is "part of the bigger picture of the Biden administration’s work to protect the rights of consumers, including airline passengers." 

In April, the Biden administration announced new rules that mandate automatic cash refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights and protect consumers from surprise junk fees in air travel.  

Since President Biden took office, the Department of Transportation has helped return more than $3 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to airline passengers – including over $600 million to passengers affected by the Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown in 2022, the White House said in April. 

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The department also has issued over $164 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations. Between 1996 and 2020, DOT collectively issued less than $71 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations.