Families that travel together are surely aware of the effort it takes to secure seats together. A new petition hosted by consumerreports.org calls on the nation’s major carriers to make a meaningful change when it comes to family seating.

The petition launched last week and in the following days accrued more than 81,000 signatures specifically asking American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to stop charging fees to sit families together. The petition asserts airlines charge fees when they could easily seat families together without additional costs.

American Airlines’ policy regarding families traveling together suggests booking flights as early as possible. All three major airlines allow guests to choose seats during the reservation process, ensuring the entire group can sit together if the flight is booked early enough. On American, passengers can choose to skip selecting seats and the system will look to book seats together if possible. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have similar policies.

The petition reads: “Children 13 or under should sit with their families while flying, and should not be charged extra fees to do so. Complaints have been filed against your airline for separating children as young as age 2 from their families. This is a security hazard for the child and a safety threat to all passengers during emergencies. It also puts an inappropriate burden on customers who sit next to an unaccompanied child.”

A run down of the situation from Consumer Reports argues airlines made the cheapest fares ineligible for seat reservations. Buying seats that allow for reservations can become cost-prohibitive for families, the watchdog group asserted.

Yesterday, Consumer Reports testified before the House Aviation subcommittee on the issue.

Do you think airlines should offer reserved seating for families? Is this a problem families can solve with some pre-flight research? Tell us your thoughts. Email us at letters@globaltravelerusa.com. Please include your full name and location.