United States DOT Launches Dashboard For Airline Family Seating

A parent who purchases airline tickets for a family should receive a guarantee from the airline that it will seat the parent and child together without fees or a last-minute scramble at the gate or having to ask other passengers to give up their seats to allow the parent and child to sit together. On February 1, 2023, Secretary Buttigieg announced the Department’s plan to launch a dashboard that displays which airlines guarantee family seating. Since then, some airlines have stepped up to guarantee adjacent seats for young children traveling with an accompanying adult at no additional cost.

 Alaska Airlines Makes Easier for Families to Sit Together(Opens in a new browser tab)

 When using an airline that assigns seats, the airline can condition its guarantee on each of the following:

1. The child and accompanying adult are on the same reservation;
2. Adjacent seats are available at the time of booking in the selected class of service;
3. Aircraft is not substituted for smaller aircraft;
4. Adult either chooses seats for the entire reservation or skips seats for the entire reservation and does not make changes to seat assignments once assigned to them; and
5. It is physically possible based on seat layout to seat the number of young children traveling next to the accompanying adult(s).

* When using an airline with an open seating policy, the airline can condition its guarantee on the following:

1. The child and accompanying adult are on the same reservation;
2. Accompanying adult notifies gate agent of need for adjacent seats prior to the start of boarding; and
3. It is physically possible based on seat layout to seat the number of young children traveling next to the accompanying adult(s).

The dashboard will serve as a bridge to help families while the Department advances a rulemaking to ensure airlines seat young children adjacent to a parent or other accompanying adult. In addition, the President has called upon Congress to fast-track the ban on family seating fees so that DOT can take action to stop those practices more quickly than through rulemaking.

Tips for Families

The Department provides families practical tips that families may use before, during, and after air travel and links to airline websites with information applicable to family seating.

If you are dissatisfied with an experience related to family seating, you can file a complaint with the airline or DOT. Click here to file a complaint with the DOT.