United Airlines Offers A New Family Seating Policy Just In Time For Those Summer Vacations

United Airlines is unveiling a new family-friendly seating map that allows children under 12 to sit by their parents free of charge.

As if we needed another reason to fly United Airlines!! I mean, they’re already one of the top 20 safest Airlines to fly.

This new seating feature will include Basic Economy tickets.

United Airlines is using a special technology that will be able to find available Economy seats that are next to each other at the time of booking.

The airline will make free upgrades to other available seats nearby or adjacent in the event that a family with kids under 12 needs them.

How cool is that?!?

Now, of course, sometimes it will be impossible to find seats together — especially if you book your flight last minute.

In this case, if side-by-side seats are not available, you will be able to switch to another flight going to the same destination for free.

[This new system will] take a lot of the stress out of the up-front process. So you book your ticket, you know you have a seat, instead of having to wait to get to the airport and cross your fingers and hope that you could get a seat [next to your child].
Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO

This new booking feature for United Airlines will go into effect in March, so it’s just in time for all those summer vacations.

Delta Airlines already uses a similar technology that blocks off certain areas for “family seating” on its flights.

American Airlines doesn’t have a “family seating” option, but they encourage people to book as early as possible, so they can get seats together.

Southwest Airlines doesn’t do advanced seating, but they use a boarding group system. They let families with kids under 6 board before most other passengers, so they can find seats together.