Ryanair has responded to a fresh investigation from the UK's competition watchdog over fees imposed on parents wanting to sit with their children during flights. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into the budget carrier's £8-per-flight charge.
Ryanair's family seating policy under scrutiny
The airline's terms and conditions stipulate that children aged between two and eleven must be seated with at least one parent. The regulator said that it believes Ryanair is the only airline operating from the UK which implements such a fee.
In their response, Ryanair dismissed the investigation as 'bogus'. A spokesperson for the airline stated: 'Ryanair's family seating policy fully complies with all relevant laws and regulations and saves families. Ryanair does not charge any fee for children to sit beside their parent or accompanying adult.'
The response adds: '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. 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.'
Drip pricing concerns
A further element of the investigation will examine whether the seating charge counts as 'drip pricing', a practice in which the complete cost isn't transparently displayed at the outset and extra fees emerge during the reservation process. Such practices are banned in the UK, where companies must display the full price, inclusive of all mandatory charges, from the very beginning, enabling customers to make meaningful comparisons and fully understand the true cost.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) noted that, according to its findings, Ryanair does not routinely apply this charge across all flights. In some specific circumstances, the carrier permits parents to be seated alongside their children at no extra charge, implying that the policy is inconsistently enforced rather than applied uniformly across every booking.
