Ryanair (FR) said on June 25, 2026, that it will let parents sit beside young children for free, ending a long-running policy that required adults to pay for the privilege. The change follows a UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation, opened on June 11, 2026, into whether the airline’s family seating fee broke consumer law.
Under the old rule, parents traveling with children aged 2 to 11 had to pay roughly £8 each way to reserve a seat next to their child. Ryanair calls the new arrangement a reluctant concession, not an admission of wrongdoing, and the CMA’s investigation remains open.
What the CMA Investigation Found
The CMA launched its probe on June 11 after a complaint from the consumer group Which?. Investigators wanted to know whether Ryanair’s contract term counted as an unfair contract term, since Ryanair’s terms and conditions require at least one parent to sit with children aged 2 to 11 when they fly through a charge the airline calls a “mandatory family seat.”
For every other passenger, reserving a seat is optional, and this fee applies to both outbound and return flights, typically costing around £8 each way. Regulators also examined whether the airline buried that cost during checkout, since UK rules barred businesses from hiding mandatory fees behind a lower headline price.
The CMA said it understands Ryanair is the only major airline flying out of the UK to impose this charge, and that other carriers either seat children with a parent for free or allocate seats together automatically during booking. UK law does not technically require airlines to seat families together, though the Civil Aviation Authority advises that young children should ideally sit in the same row as their accompanying adult.
Ryanair’s Old Policy and its Loophole
Ryanair (FR) had structured its family seating system in a way that technically complied with the letter of seating rules while still generating revenue.
Under the old model, parents paid for one seat reservation, and the airline then let up to four children select adjacent seats at no extra charge, a structure that regulators argued was possibly an unfair contract term, since only families had to pay for assigned seats while other passengers could roll the dice on the seats they got.
The airline maintained that this approach never broke any rules. Ryanair said its “long-standing family seating policy fully complies with all relevant laws and regulations” and “does not charge any fee for children to sit beside their parent or accompanying adult.”
The carrier added that the policy “has given families certainty of seat allocation at the time of booking, which families have valued as much as they have valued Ryanair’s lowest fares.”
What Changes Under the New Policy
Starting with bookings made on June 25, 2026, the rules shift. Adults traveling with children who do not want to pay for seat selection will instead receive a free seat allocation, but only after they check in.
- Parents who skip the seat-selection fee will be told their seating only after online check-in, not at the time of booking.
- Families opting for the free allocation will likely end up toward the rear of the aircraft, since Ryanair treats front-cabin seats as a premium product.
- Families who still want a guaranteed seat at booking, or one closer to the front, will have to pay the standard seat-reservation fee for every member of their party, regardless of age.
This brings Ryanair roughly in line with the rest of the industry. The airline acknowledged as much, stating the change will “align Ryanair’s family seating policy with that of most other EU airlines.”
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary did not present the change as a voluntary improvement to the airline’s family seating policy. Instead, he criticized the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), arguing that the regulator was pushing Ryanair toward a seating model already used by other airlines, regardless of whether it offered passengers a better or more transparent experience.
O’Leary maintained that Ryanair’s existing approach was more straightforward for customers and accused the CMA of prioritizing industry conformity over competition and lower fares. He argued that the airline was being pressured to adopt what he described as a less consumer-friendly system simply because it had become common practice across the industry.
Despite his criticism, O’Leary said Ryanair would comply with the revised requirements rather than prolong a regulatory dispute. He characterized the change as reluctant compliance and suggested that the airline would rather implement the new arrangement than spend additional time challenging the regulator’s interpretation of what benefits passengers.
The revised policy could also affect how families receive their seat assignments. Under the new approach, some families may not discover their precise seating arrangements until after completing check-in, while some passengers could be more likely to receive seats toward the rear of the aircraft.
O’Leary argued that the changes could therefore create less certainty for families without necessarily delivering a meaningful improvement in their travel experience. His comments reflect Ryanair’s broader opposition to policies that, in its view, add costs or reduce the flexibility of its low-cost operating model.
Photo: Ryanair
Reaction from Consumer Advocates
Which?, the group whose complaint triggered the CMA probe, welcomed the policy shift but criticized how long it took the airline to act. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, argued the change should never have needed regulatory pressure in the first place.
Which? consumer policy director Rocio Concha said the CMA investigation should not have required Which? to raise concerns about Ryanair’s seating policy before action was taken. She argued that charging parents to reserve seats next to children as young as three was unfair and said Which? would continue monitoring whether families are now seated together without additional charges.
The CMA has taken a measured approach to the investigation, highlighting the financial pressure facing families. Senior Director of Consumer Protection Hayley Fletcher said additional airline charges can significantly increase the cost of family holidays, adding that the regulator will examine both Ryanair’s family seating policy and how the associated costs are presented to consumers to determine whether they comply with consumer law.
