Ryanair makes major change to ‘free’ seating policy

The carrier’s new policy now allows parents to sit next to their children – but there is a condition – which would force families to pay when booking for ideal seats

Ultra-low-cost carrier Ryanair has changed its family seating policy after an investigation by Britain’s competition watchdog.

The airline said that as of Thursday, adults would be offered “free of charge” seats next to their children after they have checked in for their flight. The offer comes on the condition that they sit at the rear of the plane.

The policy change comes two weeks after Ryanair described the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation as “bogus”.

“Families opting for this random allocation of seats beside each other are likely to be seated towards the rear of the aircraft cabin, as front rows tend to be reserved and sell out first,” Ryanair said.

Families who prefer to select their seats when booking and secure front row seats can do so by paying a seat reservation fee, the airline added.

Before the change, parents travelling with children between two- and 11-years-old had to pay to reserve what Ryanair called a mandatory family seat, while up to four children can sit alongside them without a charge.

As a result, CMA opened investigation to determine whether the airline’s policy at the time was “in line with consumer law”.

The watchdog found that the fee for a mandatory family seat was typically about £8 each way.

The CMA also said it believed that Ryanair was the only large airline flying out of the UK to impose this charge.

Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, accused the CMA of “turning a blind eye” to the “high fares” charged by other airlines on routes with no competition from the Irish carrier.

“The CMA has now targeted our family seating policy which has been universally embraced by consumers as the most progressive and transparent in Europe,” he said.

“Instead of promoting competitiveness and lower fares for consumers, the CMA is on a mission to force Ryanair to adopt the less transparent and less consumer-friendly family seating policy applied by most other airlines – just because it’s the industry standard.

“We will reluctantly adjust to this industry standard as we don’t want to waste time explaining to misguided regulators how badly they misunderstand what is in the best interest of UK and Europe’s consumers.

“Under our revised family seating policy, families may have to wait until after they have checked in to find out their seat allocation and are more likely to be seated at the rear of the cabin but at least the CMA will be able to claim they have done something for consumers, but sadly most consumers won’t notice.”