The U.S. government has announced a proposed rule requiring airlines to allow families traveling with children to seat their children next to them at no extra charge.
When booking, if adjacent seats in the same row and not separated by an aisle are available, airlines must assign a seat next to a parent or accompanying adult for children under 13 within 48 hours after booking for free. If there are several young children, it may be necessary to arrange seats across the aisle or in the row in front or behind. The rule applies to all cabin classes, and it prohibits defining classes, such as basic economy, in a way that restricts the use of family seating, requiring only middle seats for family use. Additionally, if seat assignment is impossible, changing reservations or a full refund must be possible.
Many airlines do not guarantee that families can sit together, forcing them to face the situation of paying seat selection fees. The introduction of this rule is expected to reduce costs for family travel.
In 2023, President Biden called for the elimination of family seating assignment fees by airlines in his State of the Union address. Subsequently, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and JetBlue Airways complied. Airlines that do not comply with the rule after its introduction will be subject to fines for each violation.
Notice
This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
