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US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

(www.travelandtourworld.com)
663 points duxup | 2 comments | 24 Sep 25 12:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.43s | source
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egonschiele ◴[24 Sep 25 14:00 UTC] No.45360538[source]▶
> Family Seating Guarantees: Under current regulations, airlines must ensure that families with young children are seated together without additional charges. This would no longer be guaranteed under the new proposal, meaning families could face extra costs just to sit next to one another.

This one is wild. You want to sit next to somebody's crying 2 year old? Go nuts. Change their diaper while you're at it.

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proggy ◴[24 Sep 25 15:18 UTC] No.45361601[source]▶
This rule only applies to a single adult + child pair, and not the entire traveling party. For instance, if you have a party of 1 child and 2 adults, the airline is well within its rights to charge seat selection fees to the second adult. It’s incredibly frustrating that I have to pay an extra $40-$50, per journey, to United to sit next to my wife and child. And that’s with the current “consumer friendly” rules in place.
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1. scarface_74 ◴[24 Sep 25 16:04 UTC] No.45362266[source]▶
Think of the inverse, someone who doesn’t care about where they sit save money.

On the other hand, I never understood this obsession with grown people acting like it’s the end of the world if they don’t sit together. My wife and I fly a lot together - over a dozen trips this year - and she flies more frequently by herself. We both prefer window seats. We hardly ever sit together unless we can get 2 seats next to us by ourselves like on larger planes with a 3-2-3 combination or exit row seats in main.

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2. jcotton42 ◴[24 Sep 25 17:51 UTC] No.45363723[source]▶
In this particular case, it lets the parents trade childcare responsibilities back and forth during the flight, which can be a serious boon on a long flight or if one of them starts feeling unwell.