Flying the friendly skies has become that much friendlier. United Airlines has announced that they are making a change to their seating policy benefiting families traveling together. Families with children under the age of 12-years old can sit next to an adult in their party free of charge. Even on the most restrictive basic economy tickets, this policy will be implemented. United Airlines looks to enact this complete policy change beginning March 2023.
United’s new seat map software will dynamically find available adjacent seats at the time of booking. If this is not attainable the system will offer complimentary upgrades to preferred seating if no seats are available preventing the children and family from becoming separated. United has also considered certain factors including last minute bookings, unscheduled aircraft equipment swaps and full flights. In this instance United’s new policy allows passengers the option to switch to another flight to the same destination with adjacent seat availability free of charge, even if there is a difference in fare price.
For passengers who have booked tickets in either United Polaris®, United First Class® and Economy Plus® seats are excluded from the new family seating policy change. Currently United Airlines is the only airline in the United States to have such a robust family seating policy coming into effect. It remains to be seen if other airlines will follow suit and introduce a similar family friendly seating policy.
This new policy should hopefully reduce the stress and hassle of having to switch seats with fellow passengers on full flights, ultimately speeding up the boarding process. A full press release regarding United Airlines new family seating policy can be found on United Airlines media relations page.