In the fight against “junk fees” the US details the rules for placing families on airlines

Only three of the 10 U.S. airlines listed on the website on Monday received a green check for the “free seats for families” guarantee.

WASHINGTON. The Department of Transportation is rolling out a “dashboard” so travelers can see at a glance which airlines are helping families with young children sit together at no additional cost.

The announcement was made on Monday as the department is working on rules to prevent families from being separated on planes.

This is the latest salvo in the Biden administration’s effort to crack down on what it calls “garbage levies” and put pressure on airlines to improve service.

The dashboard awards airlines with a green check if they ensure that an adult family member can sit next to their young children if there are available seats. On Monday, only three of the 10 US airlines listed on the site received a green check: Alaska, American and Frontier.

The site also contains links to each airline’s customer service policies.

“Parents traveling with young children should be able to sit together without the airline forcing them to pay trash fees,” Transportation Minister Pete Buttigieg said in a press release announcing the dashboard. He credited his department for putting pressure on airlines, “and now we’re seeing some airlines starting to make this common sense change.”

Airlines say they try and usually succeed in accommodating families together, but they didn’t make ironclad promises. Several carriers have pledged to make changes to their seating policies this year.

Last month, Frontier Airlines said it would automatically seat at least one parent next to any child under 14.

Last week, American Airlines updated its customer service plan to ensure that children under 14 can sit next to their accompanying adult at no additional charge.

United Airlines said it will allow families with children under 12 to select adjacent seats for free starting in early March in certain fare classes. However, the announcement did not appear to meet transportation standards, as the department issued a notice last July of intent to ban additional fees for an adult family member to sit next to children under 13.

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