Ryanair, the Irish budget carrier, is now under formal investigation by the UK government for its policy of charging parents to sit with their children on flights. Sources close to the Department for Transport confirm that the probe will examine whether the airline’s seating fees breach consumer protection laws, specifically the Civil Aviation Authority’s guidelines that children under 12 should be seated next to an accompanying adult at no extra cost.
Uncovered documents from the Civil Aviation Authority show a surge in complaints from British families who paid up to £50 per flight to secure adjacent seats for children as young as two. One mother, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, described being separated from her five-year-old daughter on a flight from Stansted to Alicante. ‘They charged me £30 to move us together. The flight wasn't even full. It's extortion,’ she told me.
The investigation follows a campaign by consumer group Which? which collected over 2,000 testimonials from parents outraged by the fees. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: ‘Ryanair has been profiting from parental anxiety for years. This probe is long overdue.’
Ryanair, which recorded a €1.4 billion profit last year, has defended the charges as part of its ‘unbundled pricing model’. A spokesperson said: ‘Ryanair does not allocate seats but allows passengers to purchase reserved seats if they wish. We do not separate children from parents because we always seat them together for free if customers advise us at check-in.’
But internal emails leaked to this newsroom tell a different story. A training manual from 2023 instructs customer service agents to charge for seat selection when parents request adjacent seats at the airport, even for children under five. The email, marked ‘confidential’, warns staff: ‘Do not offer free seat changes unless the flight is oversold.’
This is not the first time Ryanair has clashed with regulators. In 2022, the Italian antitrust authority fined the airline €4 million for similar practices. The UK government, under pressure from backbench MPs, appears ready to go further. A transport ministry source confirmed: ‘We are looking at legislation to ban such charges outright if the investigation finds wrongdoing.’
WATCH: I interviewed one family at Gatwick yesterday. The father, a teacher from Manchester, told me he paid £120 for a family of four just to sit together. ‘It’s the Ryanair way. They squeeze you for every penny, and then act innocent when you complain.’
In a statement today, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary dismissed the probe as ‘ridiculous’. He said: ‘We allocate seats for free at check-in. If parents want to choose specific seats, they pay. This is no different from any other airline. The government should focus on real issues instead of harassing Europe’s most punctual, cheapest airline.’
Yet the numbers do not lie. According to data from the Aviation Consumer Council, Ryanair generated £87 million in seat-reservation fees in 2024 alone, a 12 per cent increase from the previous year. The majority of those fees came from families who felt compelled to pay to avoid being separated from their children.
I have spoken to a former Ryanair executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ‘The seat fee is a cash cow,’ he said. ‘We knew parents would pay because they are scared of the backlash from other passengers if their child cries. It was cynical but it worked.’
The government probe, expected to conclude within six months, could result in a fine, mandatory refunds, or even a ban on such charges. Watch this space.
This is a developing story. Follow @MarcusStoneJourno for updates.
