United Airlines says it will stop charging families extra to sit together

Acknowledging that families are traveling together more often, United Airlines said it will make it easier for groups flying with young children to sit next to one another — without incurring extra fees. 

United this week announced new tools to let families with children under 12 choose seats together, even when they purchase low-fare “Basic Economy” tickets. 

The initiative is powered by a new seat map feature that helps customers find available adjacent seats when they book flights, United said in a statement. 

Its seat search engine first reviews available economy seats, and opens up “Preferred” seats for free when necessary. 

“Customers traveling with children under 12 will start to see more adjacent seat options immediately and the complete policy change will go into effect in early March,” United said. 

United urged customers traveling with children to book travel early to ensure adjacent seat availability.

But if customers book airline tickets last-minute and adjacent seats are unavailable, United will let customers switch to another flight to the same destination without incurring additional fees, even when there is a difference in fare. 

“We’re focused on delivering a great experience for our younger passengers and their parents and know it often starts with the right seat,” said Linda Jojo, United’s chief customer officer. “We look forward to rolling out more family-friendly features this year.”

United said it can be cumbersome for families — not to mention frustrating for other customers — to book seats apart and then try to to swap seats with other passengers at the gate or in the aircraft itself. It slows down the boarding process, too, the airline said. 

The move comes after President Biden, in his State of the Union address this month, said he would ban so-called “junk fees,” including fees that airlines charge family members to sit with young children. 

The Biden Administration has proposed a Junk Fee Prevention Act that would crack down on a variety of arguably bogus fees, including fees to choose airline seats in advance, as well as surprise fees for concert tickets and added charges for hotel rooms.

“We’ll make cable internet and cellphone companies stop charging you up to $200 or more when you decide to switch to another provider,” Biden said. “And we’ll prohibit airlines from charging up to $50 round-trip for families just to sit together.”