News Brief: DOT’s New Dashboard Reveals Airlines that Offer Guaranteed Fee-Free Family Seating

On Monday, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) launched a new online dashboard that enables air travelers to find airlines that offer guaranteed fee-free family seating if available. The Department of Transportation’s latest move comes after they issued an industry-wide notice informing airlines that they must guarantee that at least one parent can be seated next to a child who is thirteen and under. Following the initial notice, a 4-month review of the airline industry revealed that no major airline offered such guarantees in their customer service policies. The new dashboard allows traveling families to easily identify which airlines allow fee-free family seating. Green check marks next to the airline indicate that fee-free seating is available for families with children 13 and under. Currently, only three airlines do so: American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Alaska Airlines, but travelers may soon see other airlines following suit. To learn more visit the United States Department of Transportation.