The UK's competition watchdog is investigating Ryanair over its practice of charging parents to sit with their children on flights. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it will examine whether the airline's policy complies with consumer law.
CMA investigation details
Ryanair requires at least one parent to sit with children aged two to 11, according to the CMA. The airline enforces this through a mandatory family seat fee, typically costing around £8 each way. While other passengers can choose to pay for seat reservations, parents are effectively forced to pay for this service.
The CMA stated that Ryanair is "the only major airline flying out of the UK to impose this charge." Other carriers either allow children to sit with a parent without an extra fee or automatically allocate seats together during booking.
Consumer law concerns
The investigation will assess whether Ryanair's approach means "parents are being charged for the airline to meet its child safety and disability-related obligations as set out under aviation rules." The CMA will also examine if the fee is "dripped" during the booking process, where unavoidable charges are not presented upfront.
Hayley Fletcher, senior director of consumer protection at the CMA, said: "Lots of families save up to afford a summer holiday and we know that extra charges can quickly bump up the price. 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's response
Ryanair dismissed the investigation as "bogus" and a "failed effort by the Starmer Government to pretend it cares about consumers." The airline maintains that its family seating policy fully complies with all relevant laws and regulations, and saves families money by offering the UK's lowest fares.
In a statement, Ryanair said it "does not charge any fee for children to sit beside their parent" and that "parents travelling with children pay for only one (adult) reserved seat." The airline added: "This bogus CMA investigation is a failed effort by the Starmer Government 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. Ryanair looks forward to disproving these false CMA claims."
The CMA is an independent non-ministerial government department funded by the Treasury. The investigation is in its early stages, and no conclusions have been reached about whether Ryanair has broken the law.
