Ryanair recently stopped charging parents to sit next to their children, but the hidden costs of flying with kids remain substantial. In some cases, the fee for a baby on your lap can exceed the price of your own ticket, according to an analysis by Guardian Money.
Lap Infants Can Cost More Than Adult Seats
For children under two, airlines often charge a flat fee for lap infants. Wizz Air, for example, sells one-way adult fares from as little as £14.99 but applies a €32 (£28) fee for each flight for an infant on an adult's lap. This means the infant fee can be higher than the adult ticket price.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “The idea that in-lap infants are charged more than a full adult because of some fixed fee they’ve arrived at, is clearly unfair. There’s absolutely no sensible argument for why a very small child, or baby, will be charged more than an adult. That simply doesn’t make sense. Some airlines will probably be making a handy profit off the amount they’re charging for lap infants.”
Wizz Air responded: “We don’t agree with that assertion … the small fee we charge for infants who sit on their parents’ laps is similar to that charged by many other airlines and reflects standard practice across the industry.”
Basic fees for lap infants vary. Wizz, easyJet, and Ryanair charge a flat fee regardless of destination, while British Airways and Virgin Atlantic charge about 10% of the adult ticket price. On top of seat charges, many other fees apply to child travellers of any age.
Older Children Face Full Adult Fares on Some Airlines
Children over two must have their own seat. On Wizz, Ryanair, and easyJet, tickets for over-twos cost the same as adult tickets. British Airways reduces fares for children under 12. Additional fees add to the base price.
Lisa Francesca Nand, host of the Big Travel Podcast, paid £136.50 to sit next to her sons, aged 11 and 13, on a return trip to Málaga with Wizz Air this summer—more than a third of their ticket cost. Wizz Air guarantees at least one free seat next to a child under 14 for an adult on the same booking, but Nand said for the second child “it’s never clear how that’s going to work.” At checkout, “they make it almost foreboding, in a way, that you might not be seated together … I just personally don’t want to take the risk.”
Wizz Air stated: “When passengers are travelling with children up to 14 years old, our booking system automatically assigns seats together for the child and one adult passenger. We cannot guarantee that the whole family will be seated together if they do not book seats together – this is clearly stated on the Wizz Air website.”
Ryanair changed its policy of charging parents to sit next to their children after the Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation. Previously, it required parents with children aged 2-11 to pay for a “mandatory family seat.”
Numerous Fees Inflate Ticket Prices
The headline cost of a flight includes many extra charges. On a British Airways return flight from London to New York on 17 July, there are 11 extra charges for an adult ticket, nine for an infant, and 10 for a child (aged 2-11). These fees account for more than £500 of the £858.59 adult price, while an infant fare of £30 becomes £162.19.
British Airways said: “All charges are set out clearly at the booking stage, with pricing for children and young adults lower than the full adult fare.”
Some fees are imposed by countries, such as air passenger duty (a government tax based on distance and class). UK economy flights for children are exempt from this duty, but return journeys may be affected. Other fees include passenger service charges, which UK airports charge airlines per landing and per passenger, and “carrier imposed charges” or surcharges. Immigration and entry charges vary by destination and stops, sometimes called “security tax.”
The wide range of charges means layover destinations affect total cost. On an Air New Zealand flight from London to Auckland via Los Angeles, the infant fare totals 15% of the adult ticket; returning via Vancouver with the same airline comes to 9.6%.
