tom911

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/0...-fly-together/

cblaisd

A gentle preemptive moderatorly note:

From the forum's welcome thread:

cblaisd, Moderator
Travel News

TMM1982

I'm okay with this but only if it's done at time of booking and seat choice. Example: Family of 4 wants to fly together. When they buy tickets, they need to view the seat map and pick 4 seats together. If they don't, or there aren't 4 seats together, then they shouldn't be able to fly together.

For airlines like Southwest without seat choice, the family of 4 should be required to buy early bird check-in which basically guarantees that they can sit together. If they choose not to purchase it, then they're just SOL.

tom911

I know with AA there may be plenty of seats together, but you may have to pay a seat surcharge to have them open up to you. If you want a free standard economy seat and don't have elite status, you may not be able to book adjoining seats and might only have middle seats open up for you.

PTravel

I'd actually support this kind of legislation, as it would preempt a lot of confrontations and delays. Putting the onus on the airline is fine, but that also means the airlines will have to find a way to avoid angering non-family fliers who paid for and/or reserved specific seats.

Loren Pechtel

The problem is that many of the cases involve people who wouldn't pay for assigned seats.

PTravel

That's what I'm saying. If I've paid for an assigned seat, I don't expect to be dispossessed by a family.

Fredd

As a parent and grandparent who has occasionally traveled with young children, I sympathize with those who are in this situation through no fault of their own, but if getting switched to a middle seat in the back and/or separated from my own spouse for an x-hour flight becomes mandated by legislation, I would add it to my list of laws that do more harm than good.

Often1

The problem is that carriers such as AA are selling as "premium" seats which are far from that, leaving very few seats for non-elites which can be assigned in advance. Conversely, there are all kinds of other reasons why people choose the seats they choose and those people should not be bumped because they are flying solo.

I also view there as being a difference between seating families together and seating a child of UM age next to one parent. If this is a safety & security thing, there is no need for a family of 6 to be seated together. It is sufficient that there is a responsible adult to care for the child in question.

Efrem

That makes a lot of sense when people end up flying on the aircraft they booked their flights on. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why this doesn't always happen. Most of those reasons come up at the last minute. I can see some merit in putting legal pressure on an airline to deal with those situations much more proactively than the "tough, sit in those seats or don't fly" attitude we so often hear. In most cases, if airlines were required to rearrange others passengers to facilitate a family continuing to sit together after an equipment change or a cancelled flight, they'd be able to do that without inconveniencing anyone except their own staff.

John Isaac

They might as well. Most times those families push their way over the top of others separating them due to their need to take care of their kids, grandma's break problems, etc.

PTravel

I agree. That's why, in my original post, I wrote: "but that also means the airlines will have to find a way to avoid angering non-family fliers who paid for and/or reserved specific seats." I have no interest in inconveniencing myself for a flying family (unless they're traveling in an emergency). The simplest system would be to require families with young children to identify themselves as such when they book and then not allow ticketing if there aren't seats together, just as everyone else can't book an unavailable seat. In the event of irrops, the airlines would have to program their "seat re-assignment" software to keep families together. If they can't, they're DB'd along with everyone else. I've seen too many instances of families poaching seats and then whining, "But what am I supposed to do?"

Doc Savage

How about requiring proximate seating of one parent per underage child?

Loren Pechtel

I see a simple way to handle this:

Make it illegal for an airline to split apart a family group with children (or any other group containing a caregiver.) There is no obligation to book them together but if they are booked together they have an obligation to preserve that in an IRROPS or plane change situation.

Jerry Vandesic

Nice idea, but it it might mean that the rebooked travel could be 2 weeks out if that's the soonest the minimum contiguous seating is available.