Seat Map Technology, shows fee-free airlines

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -Traveling in itself can be a hassle — buying tickets online, checking your luggage and boarding on time. That’s not to mention any unexpected delays with your flight. Then when you add children to the mix and it’s a whole ‘nother ball game.

There’s a new Airline Family Seating Dashboard from the Transportation Department that might help. It’s designed to let you see which airlines are fee-free for families.

Some airline have said they would guarantee that young children under 13 can sit with their parents for free when flying together. The requirement came after the Families Fly Together act was created by democrats in February 2023.

The dashboard is pretty straight forward. The airlines with a green check honor the seating rule. On Monday, only three of the 10 U.S. airlines listed on the website received a green check: Alaska, American and Frontier. There’s also a link right on the site where travelers can file a complaint with the airline or the DOT.

The Department of Transportation says it’s received several complaints from families who say they’ve been seated apart from their children — some as young as 11 months old!

“Parents traveling with young kids should be able to sit together without an airline forcing them to pay junk fees,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a release announcing the dashboard. He gave his department credit for pressuring airlines, “and now we’re seeing some airlines start to make this common-sense change.”

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