A few days ago, United Airlines announced it is rolling out a new seating policy that is more family friendly. When I saw the announcement, I couldn’t help but sing the chorus of Lizzo’s popular song in my head, “It’s About @*&% Time!”
United’s New Family Seating Policy
Starting in early March, United’s seat map feature will automatically look for adjacent seats for adults traveling with kids under age 12. This includes customers who purchased Basic Economy fares.
If there are no adjacent seats available in Economy, the system will search for adjacent seats in preferred seating rows at no extra charge. If no adjacent seats are available prior to takeoff, families can switch to another flight with no extra charge. Wow! You can read about the policy here.
My Thoughts on this Policy
While my kids are now too old to benefit from this new seating policy, I’m thrilled that it’s actually come to fruition.
Back in 2016, families were hopeful for a change after Congress passed the H.R. 636 FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016. This legislation was supposed to help families with younger kids sit together on flights. Unfortunately, airlines didn’t seem to create new policies to support this legislation. Many families, mine included, were still frustrated when they were separated from their young kids on flights.
I don’t see a downside to United’s new seating policy. Trust me, you don’t want to sit next to a young child anyway. 🙂
Southwest Airlines is also testing some new family boarding policies, including pre-boarding for younger kids and an expanded age for family boarding.
I hope other airlines follow suit. These changes should speed up the boarding process (since families won’t have to beg other passengers to switch seats). In addition. these changes will help ease some anxiety of family travel. When you travel with young kids, there are always hiccups. It will be nice to eliminate one potential stumbling block for family travel.
What do you think of United’s new family seating policy?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
A counter view, hopefully respectfully offered and received. Wasn’t the base issue that the families made a voluntary choice to not spend the extra money for the seats when making the reservation? No one denied them the ability to sit together, just that if they wanted to fly for less they would have to – likely – separate. As a retired couple, we make that choice on every trip – we pay to reserve seats knowing that we will sit together, in fact, as much as $120/each pear flight when booking British Air. I simply do not understand the notion that we reward families with free benefits, and for sure these lost revenues will flow to costing others more.
@DJG I get your point, especially when it comes to Basic Economy seats. But I think for two adults it’s not a necessity to sit next to each other, just a preference. With very young kids, it’s a necessity. This new policy only allows for one adult to sit next to a young child, not both parents. I’ve run into issues in regular economy (not basic economy). On some flights I did pick seats together (at no extra cost, just regular economy seats) and then a new aircraft was assigned and the only way we could then sit together was if we paid extra to sit in the premium seats.