Holiday company and airline TUI has clarified a key rule around booking seats as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a probe into rival Ryanair. Ryanair is being investigated over charging parents to sit with their children on flights.
CMA Investigation into Ryanair
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will determine whether the practice is “in line with consumer law”. The airline described the investigation as “bogus” and a “failed effort by the Starmer Government to pretend it cares about consumers”. Ryanair requires parents travelling with children aged between two and 11 to pay to reserve what it refers to as a mandatory family seat. Their children are then allocated seats next to or near them free of charge. The fee for a mandatory family seat is typically about £8 each way, the CMA said.
Parent's Query to TUI
As the news broke, one TUI customer took to X to ask how it could be that his wife was being charged to book a specific seat and that their son might not be sitting next to her. The person said: “@TUIUK tried to charge my wife 25 pound and said it may be the case that my five year old is sat on his own.” TUI replied: “If your wife needs any assistance with her booking, please ask her to send us a direct message with the booking details so we can take a look for her.”
The person then said: “Don’t need assistance as it is booked, just frustrating she felt pressured to pay that when it isn’t the case that a five year old will be sat on his own.” The TUI operative then explained that they do not guarantee the child will be sitting next to the parent. It said: “Please be reassured that children under 12 will always be seated with at least one adult from your booking, this may be directly next to them, across the aisle, or directly in front / behind, depending on the aircraft configuration & availability at check-in. Katy”
The dad said: “So you would leave a 3 year old sat behind their parent?”
TUI's Official Policy
TUI in its terms and conditions says: “If you’re flying with TUI Airways and there’s a child under the age of 12 on your booking, we’ll make sure they’re seated with at least one adult in your party. If you’d like to make sure everyone sits together, we recommend reserving seats when you book, or adding them later in Manage My Booking. If you don’t use our Select Your Seat service, your seats will be automatically allocated when you check in online.”
Reserving a TUI seat costs between £12 and £90+ per person, each way, depending on the route, flight length, and seat type. Standard seats range from £12 to £45, while upgrades like Extra Legroom or Premium Seating cost more. If you do not pay, seats are allocated automatically for free during check-in.
After the last question, TUI clarified: “Hi there, its lovely to hear from you. As katy explained a child can be seated row directly in front, behind, or across the aisle if under 12 years old and hasn’t purchased select your seats but the team on the flight will be on flight to assist fully. Laura.”
Ryanair's Response
Ryanair is being investigated over charging parents to sit with their children on flights. Children under two must sit on their parent’s lap on Ryanair flights. Paying to reserve a seat is optional for other passengers. The CMA said it is investigating 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”. Ryanair is “the only major airline flying out of the UK to impose this charge”, according to the watchdog.
Other carriers offer to seat children beside a parent without the need for a paid adult reservation, or automatically allocate seats together during booking, the CMA said. The investigation will also examine whether Ryanair’s mandatory family seat fee is dripped during the booking process, which is when a business does not initially present customers with all unavoidable charges.
The CMA added it is at the beginning of its investigation and has “reached no conclusions about whether Ryanair has broken the law”. 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. For the past year, we’ve told businesses to ensure their customers are shown the total price upfront – those who don’t face the very real possibility of action from the CMA.”
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: “Ryanair doesn’t have to wait for the outcome of the CMA’s investigation. It could stop charging these unreasonable fees today and we would encourage them to do that.” Ryanair said in a statement: “Ryanair’s family seating policy fully complies with all relevant laws and regulations, and saves families money when travelling on the UK’s lowest fare airline.” It said it “does not charge any fee for children to sit beside their parent”, and “parents travelling with children pay for only one (adult) reserved seat”. It 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.
