Airline Family Seating Dashboard
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 seat 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. While this represents significant progress, USDOT is not stopping here. Secretary Buttigieg recently submitted to Congress a legislative proposal to require that airlines provide fee-free family seating.
Commitment for Fee-Free Family Seating
Guarantees adjacent seats for child 13 or under and an accompanying adult at no additional cost for all fare types subject to limited conditions |
Please click this link for an alternative text version of the dashboard.
Limited Conditions
* When using an airline that assigns seats, the airline can condition its guarantee on each of the following:
- Child and accompanying adult are on the same reservation;
- Adjacent seats are available at the time of booking in the selected class of service;
- Aircraft is not substituted for smaller aircraft;
- 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
- It is physically possible based on seat layout to seat the number of young children traveling next to the accompanying adult(s).
If the conditions are satisfied, airlines that assign seats and guarantee fee-free family seating will provide adjacent seat assignments to the adult traveling with a child age 13 or under no later than on the day before the flight.
* When using an airline with an open seating policy, the airline can condition its guarantee on the following:
- Child and accompanying adult are on same reservation;
- Accompanying adult notifies gate agent of need for adjacent seats prior to start of boarding; and
- It is physically possible based on seat layout to seat the number of young children traveling next to the accompanying adult(s).
DOT is not satisfied with airline statements that they will "make efforts" to seat families traveling with children together at no additional cost. The Department urges all airlines to guarantee family seating. DOT will update the dashboard above to provide air travelers clear information about the airlines that commit to providing adjacent seats for a young child and an accompanying parent and those that do not.
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 a 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.
See below for detailed information about airline customer service commitment plans.