"Baggage fees are bad enough — airlines can't treat your child like a piece of baggage," President Joe Biden said in 2023.
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The Biden Administration proposed a new rule on Thursday that would ban airlines from requiring families to pay extra money to sit next to each other.
Instead, the Department of Transport wants air carriers to ensure that parents and caregivers are seated next to their children under the age of 13 for no additional fee when this option is available at booking.
The department estimated that eliminating "junk fees" would save a family of four as much as $200 a roundtrip if each seat selection carries a charge of $25.
"Many airlines still don't guarantee family seating, which means parents wonder if they'll have to pay extra just to be seated with their young child. Flying with children is already complicated enough without having to worry about that," said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a press release.
The rule has been expected for some time, with Biden saying in his State of the Union address in 2023: "Baggage fees are bad enough — airlines can't treat your child like a piece of baggage."
The proposal aims to do away with air carriers asking other passengers — who have often paid for their seats in advance — to voluntarily move to accommodate a parent and child sitting together.
It highlights that for many families, children are not able to sit unaccompanied as they are too young to feed themselves, fasten their own seat belts, or walk themselves to the bathroom.
Under the proposals, airlines would need to have family seating options in every class of service onboard. They would be prohibited from structuring each class in a way that limits choices for parents and children, such as only offering middle seats in basic economy.
Buttigieg said the rule would "lower costs for families and protect consumers from unfair practices." It would also mandate refunds and allow for free rebooking if adjacent seats for families to sit together are not available.
Four of the 10 biggest airlines in the US — American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and Frontier Airlines — have already stopped charging junk fees.
Earlier this week, however, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, issued a stay, temporarily blocking an earlier order from the Biden administration relating to airline junk fees after several airlines sued over the decision.
The appeal court said the junk fee rule, which came into force in July, "likely exceeds DOT's authority and will irreparably harm airlines."
