US proposes ban on junk airline charges for seating parents next to kids – Times of India

Every parent wants to sit with their children on the flights together, especially when they are too young to feed themselves, fasten their seatbelts, go to the bathroom, and, in some cases, communicate and the extra fare is like a burden on their pockets but not now in the US as the department of transportation on Thursday announced its intention to prohibit both domestic and international airlines from imposing charges on families with young children.
Giving details about the new plan, US President Joe Biden took his X account and said, “You ought to be able to sit next to your child on a flight without paying more. Today, my Administration is proposing a ban on airlines charging those fees. It’ll save a family of four as much as $200 per roundtrip, and get us one step closer to ending all junk fees for good.”

In a statement the US government said that the Biden-Harris Administration proposed a new rule that would ban airlines from charging junk fees to seat families together on a flight. This proposed rule would require airlines to seat parents next to their young children for free when adjacent seating is available at booking.
Mandating fee-free family seating would lower the cost of flying with young children — saving a family of four as much as $200 per roundtrip if seat fees are $25.
“DOT’s proposed family seating junk fee ban is part of President Biden’s whole-of-government push to crackdown on corporate rip-offs that can unfairly raise prices for consumers,” the statement read.
In February 2023, the Biden administration declared its plan to implement regulations banning such fees, while simultaneously urging airlines to voluntarily refrain from charging them. Subsequently, in May, Congress passed legislation, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden, mandating the prohibition of this practice, New York Post reported.
President Biden has frequently been at odds with air carriers, advocating for the implementation of new, more stringent consumer protection rules and denouncing their imposition of fees. Furthermore, his administration has taken a proactive stance in preventing further consolidation within the passenger airline industry, successfully thwarting a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines, as well as dismantling an alliance between JetBlue and American Airlines.
“The DOT launched a family seating dashboard in March 2023 that shows four airlines — Alaska Airlines, American, Frontier, and JetBlue — have committed to guaranteeing family seating without separate fees,” the DOT said. The department also noted that while all other major domestic carriers have policies in place that attempt to seat families together, they do not provide a guarantee.