When flying as a family, parents typically (and understandably) want to sit with their children. But with the rising cost of airfare and additional fees for seat selection on the cheapest fares, it can sometimes be cost prohibitive to secure seats together on a flight. The good news is that several major carriers offer fee-free guarantees to ensure families are seated together. Discover which airlines offer this family-friendly benefit — and which other airlines fall short.

The Five Best Airlines for Families 

The U.S. Department of Transportation has a helpful dashboard on its website outlining which airlines have fee-free family seating. While the DOT “encourages all airlines to guarantee that young children are seated adjacent to an accompanying adult without charging any additional fee,” only five major U.S. airlines, according to its website, have currently committed to this guarantee. They are:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue

What this means is that children 13 and under are guaranteed the opportunity to sit with an adult companion on those airlines without having to pay extra, assuming their booking meets the proper conditions (more than that below). 

The four other major U.S. airlines — Allegiant, Delta, Southwest Airlines, and United — make no such guarantee of families being able to sit together. That said, children 2 and under are permitted to sit on their parents’ laps for free, no matter the airline.

How Does Fee-Free Family Seating Work?

When you’re booking with an airline that uses assigned seating (which describes every major U.S. airline, now that Southwest has done away with open seating), there are five conditions that must be met as part of this fee-free family seating guarantee. Here’s a closer look at each:

• The child and accompanying adult must be on the same reservation. If the parent books a ticket for themself on one reservation and a separate ticket for their kid on another reservation, adjacent seating cannot be guaranteed.
• Adjacent seats must be available at the time of booking. If the flight is popular and booked to the point that only single seats are available, you’ll have to choose another flight if you want to sit together, as the airline won’t move other passengers to accommodate families.
• There are instances in which the original aircraft may be substituted for another one, such as if there are maintenance issues. If this happens, the seating layout may be different than originally planned, and families may be separated because of the change.
• When booking, the adult must choose seats for everyone on the reservation, or they can skip seat selection and let the airline assign them automatically. (So, you can’t select seats just for the adults and not the children on the reservation.) Once seats are assigned, you’re locked into those assignments and cannot make changes and still be guaranteed to sit next to each other. 
• Lastly, it must be physically possible for the parent to be seated next to their child.

Assuming all of the above conditions are satisfied, parents can rest easy knowing that they’ll be seated next to their children. If you’re flying with a carrier that offers this guarantee and run into any issues, contact the airline. In the event that an airline advertises but fails to provide this guarantee, you can also file a complaint with the airline itself or the Department of Transportation.

Additional Tips for Parents

When booking a flight, try to book as early as possible, so there’s plenty of availability for you and your children to sit together. Also be sure to input all the accurate information for you and your child. Many airlines, if they see that you’re an adult traveling with a kid, will try to automatically pair you together when seats are assigned.

It’s also worth noting that FAA regulations prohibit children under 15 and any passengers caring for kids from sitting in the exit row. For this reason, you should not select these seats, nor expect to sit in them, when traveling as a family.

On the day of your trip, always confirm that your seating remains unchanged before heading to the airport. If anything seems amiss, head to the airport early and allow plenty of time to speak with an agent and make things right.