Airlines could soon be banned from charging fees for seating families together

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The Biden administration has proposed a rule to ban additional fees for seating family members together on planes. Here, a Delta Air Lines plane leaves the gate on July 12, 2021, at Logan International Airport in Boston. / AP

The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing a ban on airlines' "junk fees" for seating families together, in an effort to lower the cost of flying with young children.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told reporters on a Wednesday call that the new rule could save families hundreds of dollars per round-trip flight.

"The idea that parents ought to be seated next to their own children on a flight is common sense and also seems like something that ought to be standard practice," Buttigieg said.

"As somebody who has personally experienced flying with toddlers — as my husband and I have taken our 2-year-old twins on trips many times — families don't need any additional stresses or costs for flying, on top of how demanding it can be to be a parent flying with your kids," he said.

The new proposal, if approved, would apply to families traveling with children aged 13 or younger. Upon booking a flight, whether online or via phone, children's ages would be noted, and airlines would have to provide adjacent seating within 48 hours of ticket purchase.

If adjacent seats weren't available, airlines would be compelled to offer the traveling families a full refund or the option to wait for nearby seats to become available.

If no seats were available at the time of travel, families would be eligible to rebook on the next available flight, free of charge.

"This is part of the bigger picture of the Biden-Harris administration's work to protect the rights of consumers, including airline passengers. And this has been consistent since Day 1," Buttigieg said.

He said that because of new rules implemented under the Biden administration to better protect airline customers, nearly $4 billion had been refunded or reimbursed to passengers and that this would be the latest step to keep more money in Americans' pockets.

Some airlines — including Alaska, American, Frontier and JetBlue — have already voluntarily eliminated these fees following a 2023 State of the Union appeal from President Biden to Congress to ban additional charges for family seating.