Ryanair agrees to stop charging parents extra to sit with their children on flights — why it had to ‘reluctantly’ change course

“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,” O’Leary said in a statement.

Before the adjustment, the low-cost carrier charged parents around eight pounds (just under $11) to ensure they could sit close to their kids.

Putting family first on flights

While British regulators were investigating the policy, they weren’t the only ones who had concerns. Several other countries, including the U.S., have expressed a desire to require that families be able to sit together with no additional charges. Ryanair, previously, was the only major airline operating in the U.K. that imposed such a fee.

With the change, parents or accompanying adults can pay for a reserved seat and then select adjacent seats for up to four children. (Children under the age of two can sit in a parent’s lap).

For those parents who do not want to pay for a reserved seat, but are with their children, they will learn where they’re sitting after they check in for their flight. This will more likely result in them sitting toward the rear of the aircraft, the carrier said.

“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,” O’Leary said.

The barbs from Ryanair PR continue

Ryanair’s decision to discontinue the charge is hardly the end of the matter. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the U.K. regulator that announced the investigation, appeared to express doubts that everything was resolved, saying “If true, it’s a win for families.” The CMA vowed to test the airline’s compliance “thoroughly” and said “our investigation remains ongoing.”

Ryanair and O’Leary, meanwhile, continued to volley criticisms at regulators, saying, “European regulators such as the UK CMA have consistently failed consumers by ignoring blatant anti-consumer reselling of inflated air fares by unauthorized OTAs, overcharging by airport monopolies and service failures by Europe’s ATCs. … 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.”

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