Originally Posted by
COSPILOT
Don't underestimate the expectations of people that don't travel often. My cousin thinks the airlines should "know" that her family needs to be seated together, period. So far, at least on FB, she has bashed every airline in the US. She doesn't understand how things work, and given what she posts, she never will. I've offered advice, and in doing so she thinks I'm a prick as well.
I follow a lot of cruise boards, and the advice there to families generally is "don't worry if you can't get assigned seats together in advance, the airlines have to seat you together, just ask at the gate and they'll make someone switch with you." It doesn't matter how many times others show this is incorrect, someone invariably argues to the death that this is true (like the OP citing a law that doesn't exist).