The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into the Ryanair family seat charge, examining whether fees levied on parents who wish to sit next to their children on flights breach consumer law.
The watchdog said the charge typically costs £8 each way and is applied through what Ryanair calls a ‘mandatory family seat’. Under the airline’s terms and conditions, a parent must sit with a child aged between two and 11, and the fee is applied to secure that arrangement.
The CMA said its investigation would look at whether Ryanair’s ‘approach to seat reservations may mean parents are being charged for the airline to meet its child safety and disability-related obligations as set out under aviation rules’, and whether the practice complies with consumer law. The regulator stressed it had ‘reached no conclusions about whether Ryanair has broken the law’.
Ryanair family seat charge range disclosed
According to Deadline News, the Ryanair website asks for payment of a mandatory family seat charge of between 4.5 and 13.5 euros, depending on the route or seat selected. The CMA’s published figure of £8 each way sits within that range at prevailing exchange rates, though the watchdog stated its own figure independently.
The CMA said it understood Ryanair was the only major airline flying out of the UK to impose such a charge. Other carriers, the watchdog said, either seat children next to a parent or guardian without a fee or allocate seats together automatically during booking at no cost.
The regulator will also examine whether the mandatory family seat fee is ‘dripped’ during the booking process, and whether consumers are shown the total price they will pay before completing a purchase.
Ryanair dismisses investigation as ‘bogus’
Ryanair rejected the CMA’s position in strong terms, calling the investigation ‘bogus’ and insisting its family seating policy ‘fully complies with all relevant laws’.
The airline said adults travelling with children pay one reserved seat fee, ‘but can select reserved seats beside them for up to four children on the same booking FREE OF CHARGE’. It added: ‘This means that parents travelling with children pay for only one (adult) reserved seat but pay nothing for the four other reserved seats for their children travelling with them.’
Ryanair also directed criticism at the government, saying: ‘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.’ The airline said it looked forward to ‘disproving these false CMA claims during this bogus investigation’.
The CMA’s director of consumer protection, Hayley Fletcher, said extra charges could quickly push up the total price for families saving for an affordable summer holiday. ‘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,’ she said.
Fletcher also issued a broader warning to businesses: ‘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.’
The investigation forms part of the CMA’s wider programme to ease cost of living pressures on consumers. Under new powers, the watchdog can fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover if they are found to have breached consumer law. The CMA said the investigation had only just begun and no findings had been reached.
