Do gate agents really seat young children away from their parents in United Basic Economy?

There's no guarantee that will happen, as the new low fare, Basic Economy, is explicit that, for price, you relinquish some options that other, higher priced fares have, including seat selection.

The carrier will assign unoccupied seats and won't ask other passengers to move to accommodate those travelling together.

Among the other fare restrictions, United forewarns customers (added emphasis mine):

We're introducing a new fare option, called Basic Economy, which is available on select routes and in addition to standard United Economy® fares. Created for our customers who may be more price-sensitive, these lower-priced fares provide most of the same inflight services and amenities that are available with standard Economy — such as food and beverages, United Wi-FiSM and inflight entertainment — but with some important restrictions that you'll want to be sure to review carefully before booking:

Seat selection and upgrades are not available

When you choose a Basic Economy ticket, your seat will be automatically assigned prior to boarding, and you won't be able to change your seat once it's been assigned. You will not be eligible to purchase Economy Plus® seating or receive Economy Plus subscription benefits. MileagePlus members, including Premier® members, cannot use complimentary, earned or mileage upgrades.

Group and family seating is not available

Please note that customers traveling in a group, including families, will not be able to sit together.

I wrote to United Airlines, I got an answer, so I've got the answer to this question.

That is: no, gate agents do not seat young children away from their parents in United Basic Economy, parents choose to do it.

Basically reading this:

Seats will be assigned prior to boarding. Customers traveling together, including families, will not be able to sit together.

I nowhere got the feeling that they were willingly separating families and group. And this being USA, where you get class actions for sneezing to the left instead of to the right, it's difficult to imagine a company doing this. I thought that maybe it was mostly a matter of bad phrasing, as the sentence as written gave me the impression that they are just stating a matter of fact, not threatening people. And by reading the FAQ is even more obvious, by the way.

Anyway, this is United answer:

Dear Mr. Bertozzi:

Thank you for contacting United.com Web Support.

Sorry for the confusion with the Basic Economy seating. When purchasing Basic Economy fares, there is no guarantee that families will be seated together. At the time that Basic Economy seats are being issue, if there are seats together, then we will be able to seat parties together. But, in the event that there are no longer 2 or more seats together when it is time to issue Basic Economy seats, then parties of 2 or more will not be able to be seated together. With Basic Economy seating it basically comes down to what seats are left after the regular economy seating has been seated.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for using united.com.

Regards,

Michelle Hunt

United.com Web Support

So, the point is as simple as: you can pay for a normal ticket and choose your seat, or choose the discounted ticket and risk having your children sit beside a stranger on the other side of the plane, because those were the last available seats. You choose it, it has nothing to do with gate agents and airline companies.

It states right there:

Seats will be assigned prior to boarding. Customers traveling together, including families, will not be able to sit together.

However, I do think that most people are willing to trade seats so that your daughter can sit with one of you guys - assuming this person also has a Basic Economy seat.

In other countries such as the UK, it's seen as a pragmatic safety benefit to seat young children next to a parent/guardian. Some form of this safety precaution is supposed to be enacted in the US this year after this act from 2016:

(d) Family Seating.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall review and, if appropriate, establish a policy directing all air carriers to ensure that, if a family is traveling on a reservation with a child under the age of 13, that child is able to sit in a seat adjacent to the seat of an accompanying family member over the age of 13, to the maximum extent practicable, at no additional cost.

I haven't been able to locate a follow-up to this so am not sure where it stands at the moment.