Have you ever been separated from your family members on flights and tried to get seated together but was unsuccessful?
Plenty of families have felt the pain of this and have contributed to 88,000 signatures on a family-based online petition geared towards America, Delta, and United airlines so that families could be seated for free.
Airlines have been eliminating seat assignments from their basic offerings which have resulted in families being separated on flights once they get their assigned seats. This has caused Consumer Reports to launch a petition asking airlines to “put safety over profits, and seat children with their families without charging them extra for it.”
The Department of Transportation reviewed the airline family seating policies in 2016 and decided to add a new section on their website telling families that they should just pay the airline’s fees.
Anna Laitin, director of financial policy at Consumer Reports tells USA TODAY, “If you and your spouse are separated on the plane and there’s an emergency, you can both take care of yourselves. If there’s an emergency on the plane and my child is 10 rows away, I am going to disrupt the plane to get to my child.”
Airlines have responded to the petition by releasing their family policies.
For example, Delta Air Lines keeps seats available for parties of three or more that are traveling together.
According to Travel + Leisure, Consumer Reports will be testifying in front of Congress on March 3rd regarding family seating policies and other travel-related issues.
