To allow enough time, review our recommended arrival and check-in times before planning your travel day. Customers who need special assistance and families with children under 2 years old can ask to board early at the gate.
People Also Ask
American Airlines guarantees family seating in new customer service plan. American Airlines has updated its family seating policy. American Airlines will guarantee that children will be seated next to an accompanying adult, according to the airline's updated customer service plan.
We board in groups; check your boarding pass for your boarding group. We offer early boarding to customers who need special assistance or more time to board, along with families with children under 2 years who ask to board early.
Depending on their ages and which airline you have chosen, some airlines invite families to board in front of everybody else, while others allow those with kids to slide in somewhere between elite passengers and regular coach-flying folk. Why don't all airlines offer the same policy?
A parent who purchases airline tickets for a family should receive a guarantee from the airline that it will seat the parent and child together without fees or a last-minute scramble at the gate or having to ask other passengers to give up their seat to allow the parent and child to sit together.
If you're a family traveling with children under 15, and do not already have seats assigned, our system will search for seats together automatically before the day of departure. We'll try our best to keep you together, but if seats are limited, we'll assign seats so children under 15 are next to at least 1 adult.
The current U.S. airline family boarding policies are: Alaska Airlines: Families with children younger than 2 can board at the beginning of the process, before first-class and elite customers. American Airlines: Families with children board before first-class and elite members upon request only.
You're more likely to be caught if you try to board with the first group or two. Unless the gate agent is a real jerk, or you are, the worst that can happen is that you'll be told to wait for your own group.
American Airlines BenefitsUnlimited space available travel for free for all employees, domestic partners/spouses, children, parents/in-laws (small fee) and 16 buddy passes/year (small fee).
You may have to present proof of age like a birth certificate for any children under the age of 18. Families with children under 2 years old can ask to board early at the gate. Only 1 carry-on diaper bag per child is allowed.
Airlines are playing the same game. They want to show the lowest fares possible on search results, then upsell you during checkout. This drip-pricing tactic is a pain for passengers. Charging for seat selection is one way airlines try to make a buck at the last minute.
If the conditions are satisfied, airlines that assign seats and guarantee fee-free family seating will provide adjacent seat assignments to the adult traveling with a child age 13 or under no later than on the day before the flight.
If you want a window seat, then suppose you choose from left to right (looking toward plane's nose): kid, kid, parent (aisle), parent (aisle). if in the middle then it's parent, kiddo, kiddo, parent. Mirror image it if you want the other side of the plane.
If you don't choose your seats in advance, we always do our best to seat your family together based on flight seat availability. This may mean that you'll be seated in adjacent rows or across the aisle. All children under 12 will be seated with an accompanying adult. Anyone over 12 may be seated separately.