Bennet Pushing Changes to Ensure Young Children Can Sit with Their Parents on Airplanes and Provide Accommodations for Pregnant Women

Would also ensure TSA cannot separate children from their parents during screening process

Washington, D.C. - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet has introduced an amendment to ensure young children can sit with their parents on flights and won't be separated from their parents by TSA during security screening, and to provide accommodations for pregnant women traveling through our nation's airports.

"Young children shouldn't be separated from their parents on a flight. It's not safe, it can be a traumatic experience for families, and it's disruptive to the passengers around them. And forcing a parent to pay an extra fee to sit next to their child is wholly unfair," Bennet said. "Our amendment will reduce the extra and unnecessary stress applied to families and pregnant women traveling by air."

With the transition to new airline policies offering premium seats and boarding options for a fee, families across the country are facing anxiety-driven challenges and choices. Parents have been forced to pay additional fees when checking in to their flight just to ensure they can sit next to their small children on the plane. In many cases, parents must disrupt the boarding process to ask willing passengers to change their seats, despite the fact that these good Samaritans may have already paid additional fees for seats themselves.

Bennet's amendment would make several modest changes to ensure a smoother traveling experience for families and pregnant women. The measure would establish new rules for security screening, boarding procedures, and family seating arrangements. It would ensure airlines have policies that allow family members to sit next to their children on a flight at no additional costs and expressly require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow parents to accompany their children throughout the airport screening process to ensure they are never physically separated. It would also require airlines to provide accommodations to pregnant women, such as affording them an opportunity to pre-board a flight.

The amendment is supported by the National Women's Law Center, First Focus Campaign for Children, and the National Consumers League.