President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk along the Colonnade after Biden's remarks on the recent terrorist attacks in Israel, Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
The Biden-Harris administration has announced a new proposed rule that would ban airlines from charging families a fee to sit together.
The Department of Transportation announced in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration proposed a new rule that would ban airlines from charging junk fees to seat families together on a flight. The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 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.
For many families, being seated next to their children is not optional, especially when they are too young to feed themselves, fasten their own seatbelt, go to the bathroom, and, in some cases, communicate. But despite adjacent seating being essential for young families, many airlines continue to force parents to choose between paying to lock in assigned seats or risk being seated apart. These fees add up and effectively raise the final cost of air transportation for many
families traveling with young children. Parents who decide not to pay family seating junk fees are stuck figuring out how to sit next to their children in the midst of the hectic boarding process. This can lead to problems for the other passengers on the flight. Once boarded, airlines may ask these passengers to “voluntarily” forfeit
their seats, which they may have paid for in advance, and move to a less desirable seat so that a parent and child can sit together. If passengers choose not to swap seats, they may be seated next to an unsupervised child, causing stress for the child, parent, and surrounding travelers.
Sec. of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said, “Many airlines still don’t guarantee family seating, which means parents wonder if they’ll have to pay extra just to be seated with their young child. Flying with children is already complicated enough without having to worry about that,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The new rule we’re proposing today, which would ban airlines from charging parents a fee to sit with their children, is another example of the Biden- Harris Administration using all the tools at our disposal to lower costs for families and protect consumers from unfair practices.”
Flying is expensive, and one way that travel gets even more costly is when airlines extort travelers for things like wanting to sit with their small kids. When families can sit together, it is a better and safer travel experience for everyone on the plane.
Parents shouldn’t have to scrape up more money just to be able to take care of their children on a plane.
Junk fees are one of the biggest problems with the mass deregulation that was pushed by Republicans and Democrats like Bill Clinton in the 1980s and 1990s.Biden is reversing some of that unfairness that has hurt regular working people for too long. President Biden is continuing to work to make people’s lives better and easier, and that work should be expected to continue if Vice President Harris wins the election in November.
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