From 1h agoIntroduction: Ryanair's fees to seat parents with children under investigationGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Budget airline Ryanair is facing an investigation of the charges that parents must pay to sit with their children on flights.Britain’s competition authority is investigating whether Ryanair is imposing an unfair contract term under consumer law, by insisting that parents (or indeed any adult) pay £8 for a reserved seat, to guarantee that their children sit with them.The CMA says this morning:
double quotation markRyanair’s terms and conditions require at least one parent to sit with their children aged 2-11 when they fly. This is done through what Ryanair calls a “mandatory family seat”, which the parent must pay for in order to secure a seat next to them for their child.
For all other passengers, reserving a seat is optional. This fee applies to both outbound and return flights and typically costs around £8 each way. CMA evidence suggests this approach to seating is used across the majority of Ryanair’s UK routes.
The investigation will examing whether parents are being unfairly charged for Ryanair to meet its child safety and disability‑related obligations as set out under aviation rules.The CMA suggests that Ryanair is the only major airline flying out of the UK to impose this charge; others will seat children with a parent or guardian without the need for a paid-for adult seat reservation, or allocate seats together automatically for free during the booking process.The regulator will also look into whether this is an example of ‘drip’ pricing, where extra charges pop up during a booking process.The agenda
