Originally Posted by
notquiteaff
What three year old be would okay to sit by him/herself? AS doesn’t accept them as accompanied minors. As an unrelated passenger I certainly would not appreciate it if they were plomped into the middle seat next to me.
Sorry, I did not mean to imply I believed this was OK in any way shape or form. As a parent, I would not want a 3-year old next to stranger. As a passenger, I would not want to be responsible for someone else's 3 year old. My post was supposed to suggest that airlines should put more emphasis on the seating aspect when asking a customer to go ahead with the BE reservations (not particular to AS per se). I feel like the times I moved, the passengers had not clue that the family being separated was a possibility with BE. I apologize if it sounded like I was agreeing with separating children from their parents and seating them alone. I would say that if your seating protocol can cause this scenario, a safety point in the system (i.e. GA's) should have the latitude and ability to fix it relatively easily and with a minimum of disruption. I hope AS has factored this in its deployment.
That thread on family seating made me curious though and I googled around a bit. I see the recommendation for parents being seated next to an adult as part of the 2017 FAA Reauthorization
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/636/text#toc-H8B665C4797E74F00B4D74050D6817986
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall review and, if appropriate, establish a policy directing all air carriers providing scheduled passenger interstate or intrastate air transportation to establish policies that enable a child, who is age 13 or under on the date an applicable flight is scheduled to occur, to be seated in a seat adjacent to the seat of an accompanying family member over the age of 13, to the maximum extent practicable and at no additional cost, except when assignment to an adjacent seat would require an upgrade to another cabin class.
But I don't see any policy changes. If you look on the DOT site about family seating, it specifically states:
https://www.transportation.gov/indiv...family-seating
For example, basic economy class tickets are often lower priced tickets that may not provide consumers with the ability to select a seat. These tickets may not meet the needs of families with young children.
In an USA Today article, all from 2018, all I could find was:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...hts/723645002/
In 2016, Congress passed a law requiring airlines to seat families with children together without charging them more. But the Transportation Department hasn't written the required regulation and seems unlikely to do so anytime soon. Airlines claim they seat families together whenever possible, but they're also motivated by the fees they collect whenever someone reserves a seat.