[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3334 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3334

  To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations with 
 respect to ensuring families are able to sit together on flights, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2015

 Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois (for himself and Mr. Nadler) introduced 
      the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations with 
 respect to ensuring families are able to sit together on flights, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Families Flying Together Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Airlines need to prioritize seating families traveling 
        with small children together.
            (2) The Department of Transportation continues to receive 
        ``unsatisfactory seat assignment'' complaints from parents 
        whose seat assignments were separate from their small children.

SEC. 3. SEATING FAMILIES TOGETHER ON FLIGHTS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue 
regulations directing each air carrier to--
            (1) establish a policy to ensure, to the extent 
        practicable, that a family that purchases tickets for a flight 
        with that air carrier is seated together during that flight; 
        and
            (2) make the policy described in paragraph (1) available to 
        the public on an appropriate Internet Web site of the air 
        carrier.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Air carrier.--The term ``air carrier'' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 40102(a) of title 49, United States 
        Code.
            (2) Family.--The term ``family'' means a grouping of 
        individuals that includes, at a minimum--
                    (A) a child who is 12 years of age or younger; and
                    (B) an individual who is--
                            (i) 18 years of age or older; and
                            (ii) responsible for accompanying that 
                        child, including a parent or legal guardian of 
                        that child.

SEC. 4. FAMILIES TRAVELING TOGETHER.

    Section 41712 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(d) Families Traveling Together.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall be an unfair or deceptive 
        practice under subsection (a) for any ticket agent, air 
        carrier, foreign air carrier, or other person offering to sell 
        tickets for air transportation to fail to disclose, whether 
        verbally in oral communication or in writing in written or 
        electronic communication, prior to an individual's purchase of 
        more than one ticket for a covered flight, the notification in 
        paragraph (2), if such purchase includes a ticket for a minor.
            ``(2) Notification.--The notification required under 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following statement: `It is not 
        possible to assign 2 or more seats together on at least 1 of 
        the flights you have selected. Please be advised that you may 
        not be able to sit next to other members of your travel party, 
        even if you are traveling with a minor.'.
            ``(3) Covered flight.--For purposes of this section, a 
        `covered flight' is a flight of an air carrier or foreign air 
        carrier in air transportation or foreign air transportation as 
        to which--
                    ``(A) a purchaser of a ticket may specify an 
                advance seat assignment, with or without the assessment 
                of any charge or fee; and
                    ``(B) 2 or more laterally adjacent seats are not 
                available on the flight for advance assignment.''.
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