Free family seating rules on network carriers started with United Airlines — until UA, only Southwest Airlines treated families decently.
Courtesy Wikimedia. Thank you.
Only days after President Biden spoke against current airline family seating policies during his State of the Union address, United Airlines joined Southwest Airlines with rules that allow free family seating. Kudos to United Airlines for their action, though for years, Southwest Airlines led all airlines regarding free family seating.
For years Travelers United has been fighting for free family seating. Today it is within reach. Finally, a major network carrier other than Southwest Airlines has established a commonsense solution.
Southwest allows all families to sit together, but they board just after the “A” boarding group and before the “B” group. This means families can choose from plenty of seats. Families also have earlier access to overhead bins. Up to two adults traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding. The family-friendly service also includes two free bags per passenger.
United Airlines’ website OKs free family seating:
If you’re flying with children under 12, we’ll make sure they can sit next to an adult in your family for free. Soon this will also include families who have Basic Economy tickets. If seats next to each other aren’t available because of last-minute bookings or unscheduled aircraft changes, you can switch to another flight for free and won’t be charged for the difference in fare.
There is plenty of disagreement regarding the institution of United’s family seating policy and its confusing press release. However, United Airlines was the first network carrier to take this commonsense step. The airline provides families a way to ensure that kids 2-11 years of age are guaranteed a seat next to an adult family member.
Plus, the new rule makes the boarding process simpler and frees flight attendants to deal with baggage storage and other pre-boarding tasks. Gate agents can focus on boarding the aircraft rather than working to get families seated together. Finally, families can relax about asking other passengers to shift seats with them.
Finally, airlines are accepting the FBI report on sexual abuse on planes.
The Orlando Sentinal article noted that a particular concern to Charles Leocha, the founder and president of Travelers United, and Lauren Wolfe the organization’s legal counsel, is family seating. Airlines often charge an extra fee to ensure families can sit together, including making sure children can sit near parents or guardians. Leocha pointed to a 2018 study by the FBI that showed sexual assaults of minors on planes were increasing.
There is some alignment between the passed law regarding family seating that the Department of Transportation has ignored for the past six years. Those disagreements can be ironed out. The United Airlines family-seating rule change is the first frontline breach in the airlines’ unity (except Southwest).
[United] has made changes to its seat-map tool to help seat children younger than 12 years old next to an adult in their party without a fee. When needed, the tool will make “preferred” seats in economy cabins — often aisle or window seats — available without an additional fee.
United said more adjacent seating options will start appearing right away, and the new approach will be fully implemented by early March. The feature also will be available to customers who book heavily restricted Basic Economy tickets, which require fliers to pay to pick seats in advance.
Hotel resort fees face Presidential ire as well.
Unadvertised resort fees deceive travelers when added to room rates
Resort fees were singled out in the first mention of “junk fees” in Biden’s State of the Union address. This is another area where Travelers United executives led the battle. Both Leocha and Wolfe have worked together with the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) to allow hotel guests to see the true overnight room rate together with all mandatory fees. National Consumers League also worked with Travelers United in their initial efforts with NAAG.
On its website, the White House argues that these fees unfairly harm businesses that are upfront about their costs by making them appear more expensive than competitors who hide such costs.
The largest hotel association defends resort fees.
In a statement on its website, the American Hotel & Lodging Association defended resort and hotel fees while promising to work with the Biden administration for greater transparency regarding them.
“These fees provide guests with value and include various unique goods and services at each property that charges them,” the statement said. “It is crucial that the same standards for fee display apply across the lodging booking ecosystem, including for hotels, as well as online travel agencies, metasearch sites, and short-term rental platforms.”
It is easy to say that charges added together can save guests money when the hotel fees are not part of the advertised room rates. But, what happens when overnight guests do not use the services? This case boils down to basic truth in advertising issues. The Federal Trade Commission has studied the practice and concluded that consumers are harmed. Yet, to date, the Commission has not taken action.
The Junk Fee bill proposed by President Biden is welcome. However, it covers a broad area of law. Piece by piece is Travelers United’s choice of action.
Travelers United supports breaking the junk fee bill into separate pieces. These will be easier to pass through Congress. Or allow the affected industries to modify their practices without regulation, if possible. Airline ancillary fees are already in the sights of DOT, and so are family seating charges. Commonsense is already prevailing in the aviation industry as the nation’s largest airlines modify their practices.
Hotel resort fees have been debated and NAAG members in DC, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania have already taken the largest hotel chains to court. When the case is presented as truth in advertising, it is easy to find that room rates without resort fees harm competition and consumers. Marriott Hotels has already agreed to a settlement with the State of Pennsylvania Attorney General.
Finally, the attention of Congress has been focused on junk fees. Travelers United sees positive movement in terms of the aviation and lodging markets — hotel resort fees and family seating charges are on the way out.
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The President tees up hotel resort fees and family seating on planes for Congress
When families sit together it’s best for all passengers
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
