Ryanair has scrapped its controversial charge for parents to sit next to their young children, bowing to pressure from the competition watchdog after an investigation was launched. The airline, which had typically charged adults £8 each way to reserve seats beside their children, will now allocate free seats to families after check-in – a move its boss Michael O’Leary described as a “reluctant” adjustment to an industry standard he insisted was less transparent.
The change, which Ryanair called a “minor policy tweak”, came into effect on Thursday. Under the old system, parents paid one reserved seat fee and could then select adjacent seats for up to four children at no extra cost – a practice the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said meant families were effectively paying for the airline to meet its child safety obligations under aviation rules.
“Ryanair drops £8 fee for parents to sit with children after CMA investigation.”
The CMA opened an investigation earlier this month, questioning whether the policy was unfair under consumer law. Ryanair had long defended the charges, saying they gave families “certainty” about where they would sit at the time of booking. But O’Leary, in a characteristically combative statement, accused the regulator of forcing the airline to adopt a less consumer-friendly approach. “Instead of promoting competitiveness and lower fares for consumers, the CMA is on a mission to force Ryanair to adopt the less transparent and less consumer-friendly family seating policy applied by most other airlines – just because it’s the industry standard,” he said.
The new policy means adults travelling with children who do not wish to pay for a reserved seat will be told of their free seat allocation after check-in. Those free seats will be at the back of the aircraft, as front rows tend to be reserved. Ryanair said it does not expect the change to affect its revenue. The airline insisted its old policy fully complied with the law and had been “universally embraced by consumers as the most progressive and transparent in Europe”.
The CMA, however, said it would continue to investigate and test whether the new policy complies with the law. A CMA spokesperson struck a defiant note: “Ryanair claims its seating policy now complies with the law, and we’ll test that thoroughly. If true, it’s a win for families – who will no longer have to pay to sit with their children – and it shows the impact our new powers are having. But it doesn’t change the fact families have been pa…
The investigation remains open, leaving the airline under continued scrutiny despite its policy U-turn.