Crying babies and children kicking the back of seats may be what other passengers may experience when families fly on commercial aircraft. Whether the little travelers make noise or not, family travel is here to stay, especially as demand continues to rebound into the flight levels. After all, there is something special about flying for a family holiday.
What airlines offer accommodations for family members to sit together? Some recent headlines indicate carriers are trying to accommodate traveling households more than ever.
The Feds apply pressure
While some airlines may choose to ensure family members sit together for empathy’s sake, others may have stronger motivations: a government nudge. Recently, US President Joe Biden and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called airlines to enact policies to best serve traveling families. While this push was not legislative, it was a demand that things needed to change in the industry.
Biden took advantage of his captive audience during the annual State of The Union address before Congress to apply pressure on air carriers: On Twitter, the President wrote, “Some airlines are charging parents up to $50 to be able to sit next to their kid on a flight. It’s wrong. Congress should ban these fees for every family.
On his Twitter account, Secretary Buttigieg announced, “Next week, @USDOT will publish a family seating dashboard to show which airlines guarantee families can sit together for free.”
During the height of the 2022 summer travel season, the Department of Transportation notified airlines to make seating children next to accompanying adults available at no additional cost. Some airlines responded by implementing or enhancing their seating policies.
American Airlines guarantees family unity, at least with seating
In response to Secretary Buttigieg’s statements, American Airlines announced a change to its seating policy. The carrier guarantees that children 14 and under will be seated adjacent to an accompanying adult at no additional cost. On its customer service plan website, the company lists specific conditions which must be met, including:
- Everyone is booked in the same reservation
- Adjacent seats are available in the same class of service your child is ticketed at the time of booking
- You choose seats for the entire reservation or skip seats for the entire reservation (if you choose Basic Economy, then skip selecting seats for the whole of the reservation)
- You don’t make a change to your seat assignments once they’re assigned to you
- The plane’s seat layout allows it based on the number of children in your reservation
- The original flight isn’t switched to a smaller aircraft
Making families happy is a ‘Breeze’ for this airline
Adults traveling with children up to 12 years old on Breeze Airways can select seats free of charge in the designated “family section” at the time of booking. Breeze only charges for advance seat assignments as part of the Nice bundle. Advanced seat assignments are included as part of Nicer and Nicest options. The carrier allows each child to be seated with up to two adults. When more than one child travels, family seating includes one adult per child.
Family seating is not the final ‘Frontier’
On February 21st, Frontier Airlines announced that at least one parent would automatically be seated with any children within their family group who are under the age of 14. At no additional charge, the airline automatically assigns seats based on family members’ ages before the check-in window opens. According to Daniel Shurz, senior vice president commercial, “The system is working well, and we are receiving positive feedback.”
A ‘United’ family is a happy family
United Airlines’ focuses its technology on answering the government’s call for family-friendly seating. The carrier unveiled a series of investments in a new seat map feature that finds available adjacent seats (including Economy) at the time of booking. When adjacent seats are not available before travel – due to things like last-minute bookings, full flights, or unscheduled aircraft changes – United’s new policy also lets customers switch for free to a flight to the same destination with adjacent seat availability in the same cabin. Customers also won’t be charged if there is a difference in fare price between the original and new flights.
The online seat engine reviews all available free Economy seats and then opens complimentary upgrades to available Preferred Seats, if needed. Customers traveling with children under 12 will start to see more adjacent seat options immediately, and the complete policy change will go into effect in early March.
Some airlines have been more relaxed in their family seating protocols. Delta, for example, accommodates families on a per-request basis. While government intervention may have sparked this recent flurry of activity, the impotence of having relatives seated together benefits young and old alike. The family holiday is getting support on the ground and in the air.
Source: simpleflying.com