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Planning a Trip with Grandkids? Here are the Airlines That Guarantee You’ll Sit with Them

New Department of Transportation dashboard shows that 3 airlines guarantee seating children 13 or under with family members at no cost

grandson sitting next to grandpa on airplane
A new government dashboard identifies airlines that guarantee adjacent seats for a child 13 or under with an accompanying adult at no additional cost.
Getty Images
By

Adam Pitluk,

 
AARP
Published March 10, 2023

Alaska, American and Frontier are the only airlines that have received a green check from the government on a new dashboard designed to ensure “children who are age 13 or younger are seated next to an accompanying adult with no extra charge,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Major airlines contacted by AARP say they do their best in every instance to make sure that children 13 or younger are seated with an adult in their party. A look at every airline’s policy contains language that they always try to seat families together. “Delta strives to seat family members together upon request,” reads a statement on Delta’s website. “If you are unable to obtain seat assignments together for your family using delta.com or the Fly Delta mobile app, please contact Reservations to review available seating options.”   

When reached for comment, a Delta representative reiterated that statement. “Delta does not charge family seating fees regardless of the ticket class purchased, and we’ll always work with customers on a case-by-case basis to ensure their family seating needs are met,” said Morgan Durrant, a Delta spokesperson. “Seating families together is a top priority. As noted on our website, when customers have seating questions, we encourage them to reach out to us as soon as possible to allow for the opportunity to address any concerns.”

Discount carrier Allegiant’s website indicates a commitment to seating families together: “While we will do our best to accommodate families, the availability of seats together cannot be guaranteed.” In a statement, Allegiant said, “We do not charge a fee to seat children under 13 next to a parent or guardian. It is our policy to seat children 13 and under next to a parent or guardian. Though we can’t assign the seating at the time of booking, we do have several layers built into the check-in and boarding process to ensure that happens.”

The idea that families are separated at the time of booking by airlines was highlighted in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in February.

“We’ll prohibit airlines from charging $50 round-trip for a family just to be able to sit together,” Biden said in his address to the nation. “Baggage fees are bad enough. Airlines can’t treat your child like a piece of baggage.”

AARP also mentioned the fees associated with adjacent seating in a January letter to the DOT in support of improving the disclosure of hidden fees.

In the letter, AARP suggested eliminating fees for reserving adjacent seats. “The charges to have separate fees for families to sit together is problematic,” Debra Alvarez, AARP’s government affairs director for livable communities, said at the time. If a grandparent traveling with a grandchild is unable to sit with that child without paying a fee, she says, it “could be anxiety provoking.”

According to a DOT spokesperson, the agency issued a notice that the department’s forthcoming policy was for U.S. airlines to ensure that children 13 or younger are seated next to an accompanying adult at no extra charge. After the DOT announced its intention to release the Family Seating Dashboard to highlight the airlines that guaranteed fee-free family seating and those that did not, three airlines guaranteed that parents can sit with their children 13 years of age and under without getting “nickel-and-dimed,” the DOT spokesperson said.

American Airlines spokesperson Amy Lawrence confirms her airline tried to stay in line with the department’s new policy, though she said this was a measure the airline had been working on long before the Biden administration’s request. The airline worked on software about four years ago that would make sure a child under 15 is automatically seated with an adult in the party.

“This was a priority for American back in 2019, independent of the DOT,” Lawrence says. “We recognized back then that it was an important issue. [The software] was built to take a lot of strain off of gate agents.”

In a news release, the DOT said the intent of the family seating dashboard is to allow parents to “sidestep airlines’ confusing claims on family seating. To receive a green check on the dashboard, an airline must guarantee that parents can sit next to children age 13 and younger for free if adjacent seats are available when they book. And they must include that guarantee as part of their customer service plan so that it is backstopped by USDOT enforcement if they fail to deliver.”

Adam Pitluk is an award-winning journalist and book author. He is the group publisher of Midwest Luxury Publishing and Groom Lake Media. 

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