Of Purviews Exceeded and Freedoms Conceded

The U.S. Department of Transportation has urged airlines to make it easier for families to sit together on commercial aircraft.

As incensed Americans simmer across the nation, the U.S. Federal Government has up-prioritized the matter of who sits where on airplanes. 

The DOT said in a notice to airlines that the carriers should “do everything that they can to ensure the ability of a child 13 or younger to sit next to an older family member.”

The department states it has received more than 500 complaints in the last five years about families being unable to sit together; that’s about 1% of all complaints registered against airlines and a triviality compared to the number of gripes made about delays, refunds, and in-flight problems. 

In 2016, Congress—ignorant of or indifferent to the complexities and regulatory rigors of airline seating conventions—pressured air-carriers to allow children to sit next to a family member at no extra charge—regardless of extant seating manifests and the rights of other passengers.

The Trump administration declined to meddle in matters regulatory compliance. 

Undeterred, the DOT—seeking to ameliorate the national emergency of airline seat-assignments—has suggested airlines modify their booking procedures or designate entire sections of aircraft seating for families. 

Right or wrong, air-carriers survive by dint of extraordinarily narrow profit-margins—often as low as one or two percent. To further burden airlines already contending with pilot shortages, record high fuel prices, route modification resultant of war, and escalating international tensions may only worsen an already critical infrastructure crisis.

FMI: www.transportation.gov