Dem lawmaker files bill to require airlines to seat families together

New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is introducing legislation that would require airlines to assign seats together to passengers who are related.

Nadler, who is a member of the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Thursday that the bill would prevent families from being separated because of airline fees for priority seats like aisles and windows.

“Air travel is complicated and expensive enough for families without adding new stresses,” Nadler said in a statement. 

“Families should not be stuck paying hidden fees, or buying ‘premium’ seats, simply because they wish to be seated together on crowded flights," he continued. "It is positively absurd to expect a two or three-year-old to sit unattended, next to strangers, on an airplane.  It is up to air carriers to make their seating policies clear and easily accessible to the public.”

Nadler said his bill, which has been dubbed the Families Flying Together Act of 2012, would direct the Department of Transportation to enforce the family seating requirement.

Other Democratic lawmakers have also raised concerns about families being separated on airline flights. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has called for airlines to make exceptions to their seating policies for families with young children.

"The last thing an airline should be doing is making it more difficult for parents and children to have access to each other," Schumer said in a May letter to the lobbying group Airlines For America (A4A). 

The airline association responded that airlines always take into consideration the needs of families with children.

"Airlines have always worked cooperatively with their customers to seat parties, including those traveling with children, together, and that has not changed," the A4A said in a statement that was provided to The Hill after Schumer's letter.

"In a market as intensely competitive as the airline industry, the customer wins — having ultimate ability to vote with their spending on varying products that are priced differently," the A4A statement continued. "As with all other products and industries, it is the market that can — and should — determine how air travel is priced, not the government."

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