Ryanair has announced a change to its family seating policy after an investigation due to the airline charging parents to sit with their children on flights.
The airline has made a ‘minor policy tweak’ which now means that parents will no longer be charged to book seats beside their children. This is in alignment with most other EU airline policies.
Per the airline’s terms and conditions, a parent/ guardian is required to sit next to their child if aged between two and 11 years old. Now, parents will still have the option to pay to reserve a seat of their choosing, but their children will be entitled to sit beside them free of charge.
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This follows the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirming they were examining whether parents being charged to sit next to their children was ‘unfair.’
The Mandatory Family Seat came with a fee between €6 and €10.50.
The Ryanair website said: ‘It is mandatory for an adult travelling with children under 12 (excl. infants) to reserve a seat.
‘A maximum of four children for every one adult on the same booking will receive a reserved seat free of charge.’
‘This ensures parents of young children sit together during the flight.’
The CMA launched an investigation into the airline’s approach to seat reservations and noted that other airlines offered to seat children next to parents or guardians free of charge.
Director of consumer protection at CMA Hayley Fletcher noted that additional charges quickly raise the cost of family holidays.
She said: ‘Our investigation will consider Ryanair’s approach to family seat reservations and how the cost is presented to consumers to determine whether they comply with consumer law.’
Ryanair branded the investigation as ‘bogus’, adding that they looked forward to disproving the CMA.
They said: ‘This bogus CMA investigation is a failed effort by the Starmer Govt to pretend it cares about consumers when it has failed to abolish APD [Air Passenger Duty] which would immediately deliver lower fares for all consumers and growth for the UK aviation, tourism and wider economy.’
