A new bill in the Senate, the Fly Together Act, complements an earlier House bill that would require airlines to assign seats together for traveling families without requiring any extra seat-assignment fees. The House bill was bipartisan, but so far the Senate bill has only Democratic support. Given the current state of Congress, it’s hard to assess the chances of this bill’s passage this year, but we’ll see: Voting against family seating would not sound good from any candidate in a Senatorial campaign debate.
This is yet another case in which the airline industry demonstrates its tin ear to consumer abuses. Typically, with repeated abuses, consumers give airlines plenty of time to solve their problems, themselves, but the airlines almost always ignore those consumers. Then, when consumers finally give up on getting airlines to do something sensible on their own and turn to the Department of Transportation or Congress for relief, airlines whinge about “excessive regulation.”
KIDS FLYING ALONE: Unaccompanied Minors on Flights: Everything You Need to Know
In this particular case, despite earlier Congressional urging, the current anti-consumer DoT refused to act. Hence the need for Congress. Regardless of party affiliation, let your Senators/Representatives know that families need the relief of the Fly Together Act.
