Ryanair drops family seating fees after watchdog probe, but families face seats at the back

Ryanair has overhauled its family seating policy after Britain’s competition watchdog opened an investigation into the charges it levied on parents who wanted to sit alongside their children.

Europe’s largest airline confirmed that, as of Thursday, adults will be offered “free of charge” seats next to their children once they have checked in for their flight, though typically towards the rear of the aircraft. Every child on the booking will be allocated a seat beside the accompanying adult at no cost.

The carrier characterised the move as a “minor policy tweak”, coming just two weeks after it dismissed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation as “bogus”.

“Families opting for this random allocation of seats beside each other are likely to be seated towards the rear of the aircraft cabin, as front rows tend to be reserved and sell out first,” the airline said. It added that families who would rather choose their seats at the time of booking, and secure spots at the front, can still do so by paying a seat reservation fee.

Until now, Ryanair had required parents travelling with children aged between two and 11 to pay to reserve what it called a mandatory family seat, with up to four children then seated alongside them at no charge.

The arrangement prompted the CMA to open an investigation into whether Ryanair’s policy was “in line with consumer law”. The watchdog found that the fee for a mandatory family seat was typically around £8 each way, and said it believed Ryanair was the only large airline operating out of the UK to impose such a charge. Ryanair said the change would have no impact on its revenues.

The regulator’s central concern was whether the term amounted to an “unfair contract term”, since only families were obliged to pay for an allocated seat. The CMA has also signalled it will test whether the new policy genuinely complies with the law, a point that matters for the thousands of corporate travellers and working parents who book the carrier for short-haul European routes.

For business travellers in particular, the episode is a reminder of how quickly ancillary charges can reshape the true cost of a low-fare ticket, an issue that sits alongside Ryanair’s broader UK strategy as it expands its UK network for summer 2026 and continues recruiting, including 140 new cabin crew roles at London Stansted.

Advertisement

Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, accused the watchdog of “turning a blind eye” to the “high fares” charged by rival airlines on routes where the Dublin-based carrier offers no competition.

“The CMA has now targeted our family seating policy which has been universally embraced by consumers as the most progressive and transparent in Europe,” he said.

“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.

“We will reluctantly adjust to this industry standard as we don’t want to waste time explaining to misguided regulators how badly they misunderstand what is in the best interest of UK and Europe’s consumers.

“Under our revised family seating policy, families may have to wait until after they have checked in to find out their seat allocation and are more likely to be seated at the rear of the cabin, but at least the CMA will be able to claim they have done something for consumers, but sadly most consumers won’t notice.”

In practice, parents who decline to pay can no longer guarantee a forward cabin position, and will learn their allocation only after check-in. Those who want certainty, including business travellers juggling tight connections or early starts, will still need to pay to lock in seats at booking. Industry coverage from Travel Weekly noted that the CMA intends to assess whether the revised approach satisfies consumer law before drawing a line under the case.

The shift also lands as Ryanair pushes for greater visibility across booking channels, including its recent partnership with Skyscanner, underlining how pricing transparency has moved to the centre of the carrier’s relationship with both regulators and corporate buyers.