The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into airline giant Ryanair over allegations that it unfairly charges parents to sit beside their children on flights, in a move that could have implications for family air travel costs and consumer rights.
The watchdog said it was examining whether the fees—typically around £8 per flight leg—breach consumer protection laws, particularly where parents are required to pay for “mandatory family seating” to ensure they sit with children aged between two and 11.
According to the CMA, Ryanair’s booking system requires parents to either pay for seat selection or use its allocated seating arrangement, which may still involve additional charges to guarantee family members sit together.
The regulator said it was assessing whether Ryanair’s approach could amount to customers being charged for the airline to meet its child safety and disability-related obligations under aviation rules, and whether this complies with consumer law.
It also noted that Ryanair appears to be the only major UK-operating airline imposing such a charge, adding that other carriers either seat children next to parents at no extra cost or automatically allocate seats together during booking.
However, the CMA stressed that the investigation was at an early stage.
“We have reached no conclusions about whether Ryanair has broken the law,” the watchdog said.
The CMA also said it will review whether the so-called “mandatory family seat fee” is properly disclosed during the booking process, and whether consumers are clearly shown the total price upfront.
Hayley Fletcher, CMA’s director of consumer protection, said hidden or additional charges can significantly increase travel costs for families.
“Our investigation will consider Ryanair’s approach to family seat reservations and how the cost is presented to consumers to determine whether they comply with consumer law,” she said.
“For the past year, we’ve told businesses to ensure their customers are shown the total price upfront – those who don’t face the very real possibility of action from the CMA.”
Consumer advocacy group Which? backed the investigation, accusing Ryanair of unfair treatment of families.
“Which? has repeatedly highlighted Ryanair’s harsh approach to separating families and making parents pay a fee to sit next to children as young as three,” said Rory Boland, travel editor at Which?.
“So it’s good to see the regulator investigating the airline’s behaviour.”
He added: “Ryanair doesn’t have to wait for the outcome of the CMA’s investigation, it could stop charging these unreasonable fees today and we would encourage them to do that.”
In response, Ryanair dismissed the probe as baseless.
“This bogus CMA investigation is a failed effort by the Starmer Govt to pretend it cares about consumers when it has failed to abolish APD [Air Passenger Duty] which would immediately deliver lower fares for all consumers and growth for the UK aviation, tourism and wider economy,” the airline said.
The carrier insisted its policy complies with regulations, stating that adults travelling with children pay only one reserved seat fee while children can be seated beside them at no additional charge in most cases.
“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,” Ryanair added.
“This bogus CMA investigation is a failed effort… Ryanair looks forward to disproving these false CMA claims during this bogus investigation.”
The probe forms part of a wider crackdown by the Competition and Markets Authority on misleading pricing practices, with the regulator warning that companies found in breach of consumer law could face fines of up to 10 percent of global turnover.
The investigation was ongoing, with no findings of wrongdoing yet established.
