FAA Renews Rule Helping Parents Fit Child Seats on Airplanes
Published Date: 6/17/2025
Notice
Summary
The FAA is renewing a rule that requires airlines to share seat width info on their websites. This helps parents know if their child safety seats will fit on planes. Airlines must keep this info updated, and the public can comment until July 12, 2025.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Airlines must post seat widths
You can find the width of the narrowest and widest passenger seat in each class of service for each make, model, and series of airplane on an airline's website. This is required by 14 CFR 121.311 and is intended to help caregivers determine whether a child safety seat will fit.
Airlines must keep seat info updated
Air carriers must update the posted seat-width information when they introduce a new airplane make, model, or series to their fleet or when they replace the widest or narrowest seats on an existing aircraft with wider or narrower seats. This helps ensure the seat-fit information remains current for caregivers.
Compliance burden on Part 121 carriers
The renewal covers 47 Part 121 air carriers as respondents and estimates a total annual burden of 348 hours for maintaining and updating the posted seat-dimension information. The notice states that the vast majority of the burden occurred on a one-time basis when carriers first posted the information.
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