Fly Together Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4335 To require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a policy with respect to family seating on air transportation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 28, 2020 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. SCHUMER, and Ms. KLO- BUCHAR)) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a policy with respect to family seating on air transpor- tation, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fly Together Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. POLICY ON FAMILIES FLYING WITH YOUNG CHIL- 5 DREN. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor- 8 tation shall establish a policy directing all air carriers pro- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4335.IS S4335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4335 IS viding scheduled passenger interstate or intrastate air 1 transportation to establish policies that enable a child, who 2 is age 13 or under on the date an applicable flight is 3 scheduled to occur, to be seated in a seat adjacent to the 4 seat of an accompanying family member over the age of 5 13, to the maximum extent practicable and at no addi- 6 tional cost, except when assignment to an adjacent seat 7 would— 8 (1) require an upgrade to— 9 (A) another cabin class; 10 (B) a seat with extra legroom; or 11 (C) seat pitch for which additional pay- 12 ment is normally required; or 13 (2) violate safety guidelines. 14 (b) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Notwithstanding 15 the requirement in subsection (a), nothing in this section 16 may be construed to allow the Secretary to impose a sig- 17 nificant change in the overall seating or boarding policy 18 of an air carrier providing scheduled passenger interstate 19 or intrastate air transportation that has an open or flexi- 20 ble seating policy in place that generally allows adjacent 21 family seating as described in subsection (a). 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4335.IS S4335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4335 IS (c) DEFINITION OF AIR CARRIER.—In this section, 1 the term ‘‘air carrier’’ has the meaning given the term 2 in section 40102(a) of title 49, United States Code. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4335.IS S4335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS