UPDATE 1-Senator urges US to finalize rules barring airline family seating fees

Democratic Senator Ed Markey on Friday urged the ​U.S. Transportation Department to finalize rules barring airlines ‌from ​charging fees to seat families with young children together on a flight if adjacent seats are available during booking. Under former U.S. President Joe Biden, DOT proposed rules in August ‌2024 after Congress directed the agency to write regulations. Markey asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to act.

"For more than 18 months, DOT has taken no action to finalize this rule," Markey wrote, noting the proposal was supported in Congress by then-Senator JD ‌Vance, now the vice president. "Airlines should never be allowed to force parents to choose between paying more and being separated ‌from their kids." A spokesperson for Duffy did not immediately comment. Many major airlines have committed to guaranteeing family seating without separate fees.

All other large domestic carriers have policies attempting to seat families together but do not guarantee it, the DOT said previously. Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines , ⁠Delta Air ​Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and ⁠others, did not immediately comment.

The 2024 proposal would bar airlines from charging fees to assign seats to children to sit next to their parents ⁠on U.S. flights. When not possible to provide adjacent seating for multiple young children, airlines would be required to seat them across the aisle, ​in front, or behind a parent. The DOT would require refunds or free rebooking when adjacent family seating is ⁠unavailable if passengers choose not to take that flight. Airlines could face civil penalties if they did not comply.

Markey cited a number of other actions ⁠by ​DOT to reverse Biden aviation consumer rules. In January, DOT said it would revise its guidance to deemphasize imposing civil fines on airlines that violate consumer protection rules and to drop Biden-era policies that toughened enforcement.

In December, USDOT moved to ⁠reverse some penalties imposed on airlines during the Biden administration, including waiving the remaining $11 million of a fine imposed on Southwest ⁠as part of a $140 million ⁠settlement over operational problems that stranded more than 2 million passengers in 2022. In November, DOT withdrew a proposal issued under Biden that sought to require airlines to pay passengers cash ‌compensation when carriers are ‌responsible for U.S. flight disruptions.

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