BUFFALO, N.Y. — US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was in Buffalo Monday pushing legislation that would force airlines to drop what he refers to as 'junk fees' that keep families from sitting together on flights.
Schumer is pushing proposed legislation with the aim to prohibit airlines from charging parents fees when purchasing seats so families could sit together. The legislation is called the "Families Fly Together Act'.
Senator Schumer shared that he is on a mission to fight against the policy of some airlines which he says are splitting families up at the gates of their flights.
“This Thanksgiving travel week is going to be one of the busiest on record, and airlines are making a stressful travel time even more turbulent by charging junk fees to parents who want to sit with their kids on flights. Plain and simple, parents should not be the ones to pay the price for wanting to care for and keep their kids safe while traveling,” Senator Schumer said. “That’s why I’m pushing for legislation that protects families and lowers travel costs by eliminating junk fees for parents in New York and across the country. The Families Fly Together Act is the ticket to stopping airlines - which already make billions of dollars in profits - from charging families deceptive unaffordable and unnecessary fees, and I won’t stop fighting until we’ve ended this ridiculous practice.”
Senator Schumer and other members of the community like Amherst Town Councilmember-elect, Angel Marinucci, made it a point to discuss what they say is a burden that the charge puts on families as the holiday rush begins.
Schumer's Families Fly Together Act would allow the Federal Department of Transportation to investigate this alleged activity and then force rules if airlines do not comply.
The Senate Majority Leader says he has pushed for similar legislation before and it had bipartisan support. So he feels there are good chances of passage.
“Right now families are either getting charged junk fees that they should never face in the first place or the airlines policies are to have them go through a game of musical chairs that is neither fun nor fair to passengers. Airlines have to get their heads out of the clouds and do right by families traveling with children," Schumer said.
At the conference, Senator Schumer stated that there has already been help from the Biden Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation to make it easier for parents to be able to sit next to their families fee-free. The DOT actually has a dashboard to review on the subject. The website identifies four airlines that it reports have agreed to drop such extra fees: Alaska, American, Frontier, and Jet Blue. But he says other airlines have so far refused to do so.
The Washington-based Airlines for America airline trade organization disputed Schumer's claims. They contend that their member airlines, which include Delta, Southwest, and United, "make every effort to accommodate customers traveling together - especially those traveling with children - without additional charges. " They say "Airlines for America passenger carriers do not charge a family seating fee."