President Biden Advocates for Complimentary Family Seating on Flights

President Biden advocates for airlines to offer fee-free family seating, emphasizing the importance of sitting next to children without extra charges, and introduces a family seating dashboard.

President Joe Biden took to his official X account (formerly Twitter) on February 5 to express his stance on airline seating policies for families. He emphasized the need for airlines to offer fee-free family seating, stating, "It’s time all airlines offered fee-free family seating." He further argued that parents should be able to sit next to their children on flights without incurring additional charges, saying, "You ought to be able to fly with your child – and sit next to them – without paying an additional fee."

This is not a new issue for Biden, as he has previously urged U.S. airlines to eliminate extra fees for families wishing to sit together. In March, he introduced a new family seating dashboard hosted on the U.S. Department of Transportation website. This tool allows consumers to see at a glance which airlines provide free family seating options and which do not.

Even before Biden's March announcement, some airlines had begun adjusting their seating policies to accommodate families better. For instance, United Airlines had made it simpler for families traveling with children under twelve to book adjacent seats together. Similarly, Frontier Airlines updated its policy in February to guarantee that children under a certain age would always be seated with at least one adult family member.