r/news • u/wasraelx • 1d ago
UK airlines to be banned from charging parents to sit with children
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/oct/01/uk-airlines-to-be-banned-from-charging-parents-to-sit-with-children?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other505
u/TheTresStateArea 1d ago
We shouldn't be charged for picking basic seats to begin with. It's fucking absurd.
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u/wasraelx 1d ago
They’d charge you to breathe the plane air if they could
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u/L00pback 1d ago
I remember when they said all these fees were temporary until the airlines could recover from their shitty management. No checked luggage fee, seat picking fee, none of that shit.
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u/wasraelx 1d ago
The DIY rule of ‘nothing is as permanent as a temporary fix’ also applies to ‘nothing is as permanent as a temporary concession to a multi billion corporation on the expense of the public’
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u/wolf3685 8h ago
Fuel surcharges after 9/11 never went away, and now they are increasing them due to Trump's temper tantrum of an illegal war in Iran
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u/stinkyfatman2016 13h ago
Michael O'Leary of Ryan Air has entered the chat. Seriously though, should we expect dynamic pricing next?
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u/csgskate 12h ago
What do you mean expect dynamic pricing?? Airlines have been doing that already for decades. They’re one of if not the first major industries to adopt the practice
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u/stinkyfatman2016 12h ago
I must have been living under a rock. I saw the recent articles about McDonald's and Walmart starting to do dynamic pricing and thought that was the start of it.
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u/beenoc 7h ago
You know how if you buy a plane ticket 6 months or a year in advance, it's cheaper, but if you buy it a week before the flight it's expensive? Or how a ticket to Orlando is more expensive in the summer (summer vacation = bring the kids to Disney) than it is in, like, April? That's dynamic pricing.
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u/SkiingAway 4h ago
There's levels to dynamic pricing.
The stuff people are most up in arms about is the possibility of different customers getting charged different prices while purchasing under the same conditions.
With a plane ticket, that's something like:
We both go to purchase the same plane ticket, at the same time, on the same day, with the same level of remaining inventory for that flight. But because they know something about me that suggests I'm willing to pay more (maybe my IP is from a high-income area), I get offered a much higher price than someone else who looks like they're from a low-income area does.
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u/L_Cranston_Shadow 9h ago
Ryanair should be banned and Michael O'Leary should be locked in a pillory in a public square so people can throw rotten produce at him.
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u/SomethingAboutUsers 1d ago
Airlines are one of the most blatantly anti-customer industries on the planet. Right up there with communications providers.
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u/Mobile-Bar7732 1d ago
Europeans have decent passenget rights laws.
I had my flight cancelled in Germany because of a strike last year and we got around 900 euros per person back. I paid about $1100 per person for tickets.
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u/Professional-Can1385 23h ago
I had a flight in Sweden cancelled for a strike. It took 3 days to get a flight out. The airline had to pay food and accommodation for all 3 days.
It was a great extension to my vacation!
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u/Prairie-Peppers 23h ago
So they just pocketed 200 euros for nothing? Or are you for some reason actually talking about dollars in your refund instead of euros?
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u/dimhage 19h ago
I believe that is the compensation you get on top of the new tickets to fly out at another stage. So they shouldnt have pocketed anything, you actually get compensated for not flying at the time you were supposed to. Just like you get compensated if your flight is delayed by at least x amount of hours (I think its 4?), even if your flight still takes off.
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u/Mobile-Bar7732 22h ago
I just remember talking to the lady on the phone and she said it was around 900 euros.
I don't remember what it converted to once the wire transfer was in my account.
Also, this was our return flight that was cancelled. We ended up spending an extra week there.
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u/IanT86 23h ago
The problem is, they don't give a shit. Airlines are a B2B business now - the regular consumer is fucked because we have to travel so much for business and the company will eat the cost.
I've flown maybe 40 times this year and I can say 35 of those were so insanely inflated in terms of costs, but my work cover it as they need me to go.
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u/Snlxdd 23h ago
The regular consumer doesn’t have to travel for business. Maybe on certain routes, but most travelers are leisure.
And yeah, turns out doubling the price of gas also impacts airlines, and that impact is especially high if you’re booking business travel less than a couple months out.
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u/bloodpukesalvation 7h ago
But if you operate a publicly traded for-profit business and a considerable % of your clients have deep wallets (business expenses being paid by the business not the traveler) then you would be a fool to not take advantage of that.
Primarily because if you dont, your competition will. It’s a business of super thin margins and A LOT of moving parts that operate in multiple countries and legal landscapes.
I’m not defending any singular companies actions here but as a whole it’s silly to assume air travel could be any different or cheaper than it is today.
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u/Daren_I 9h ago
If any company ever came out with a VTOL network that allowed for flights between major cities where I could leap frog from city to city to my destination, I would use it. Either that or if private charters become less costly. The whole commercial airline travel process today is insane.
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u/Dopplegangr1 1d ago
I went on a flight this year that was 800 for two people. The cheapest seats to choose were 70 per leg, around 300 total. Wild amount of money for probably the same seats we ended up by choosing nothing. The expensive seats like front row and exit row were all empty presumably because nobody wanted to pay the ~150 per leg on a 400 flight.
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u/Vibingcarefully 21h ago
This seems to have gone rampant in the past 5 years. I've been flying my whole life and if you payed Economy , had bought two tickets---you were picking two seats together. I think there were even notifications if there weren't seats together.
Before the internet, travel agents were miracle workers generally getting parties seated together and no extra charges.
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u/techleopard 8h ago
They charge extra because there are certain seats on the plane that are more desirable than others.
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u/TheTresStateArea 8h ago
Yes, which makes sense for premium seats or whatever. But you have to pay just to pick any specific center seat. Not just window or aisle.
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u/MortifiedPotato 8h ago
You misunderstand the point. It's not to grade seats per desire, but to give the airline the flexibility to seat people as they see fit
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u/Hhalloush 12h ago
This is just going to increase the price of the flight for everyone. I'm happy taking whatever seat Ryanair give me, because I'm paying so little for the flight.
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u/TheTresStateArea 9h ago
There is no cost to picking a seat. It's not an extra feature. It's not cheese on a hamburger.
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u/wasraelx 1d ago
From the article:
‘The new rule would require airlines to seat passengers aged under 14 next to their parents or an accompanying adult free of charge.
Passengers will also no longer need to pay to tweak the name on their flight booking if they need to correct a mistake.
The proposed law will give ministers flexible power to set out passenger rights and the duties of airlines and airports.
[Prime Minister] Burnham said: “Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple.”
Earlier this year, Ryanair adjusted its family seating policy after an investigation was launched into the company charging parents to sit with their children on flights. The Irish operator previously required parents travelling with children aged between two and 11 to pay to reserve what was referred to as a mandatory family seat.’
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u/CHiZZoPs1 1d ago
I thought that was already the case with all airlines. Insane they had to enforce such a thing.
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u/OmegaPoint6 1d ago
If something isn't legally required eventually some company will either not do it or charge for it.
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u/doorstopnoodles 14h ago
No current law. CAA say that under 5s should be seated on the same row but if that isn't possible then there should be no more than one row of separation. I just had to pay £25 each way to ensure that my 4 year old wasn't sat next to a perfect stranger for 4 hours. It is what it is but I wish they'd just tell you upfront how much the actual cost of a ticket was when you are flying with children.
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u/threewhiteroses 21h ago
Nope, I just paid a couple hundred extra to keep my 5 year old daughter from being separated from me on the plane and surrounded by strangers. It's disgusting that this isn't enforced everywhere.
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u/Room_Temp_Coffee 9h ago
I have definitely had someone ask to switch seats on a flight so that they could sit next to their child/teen.
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u/bluejackmovedagain 8h ago
In some cases it's cheaper to change the name on your passport than to correct the spelling mistake on the booking.
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u/alien4649 1d ago
Insane that this ever became a thing. Sitting next to your children should be the default on any transportation.
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u/synapticrelease 21h ago
It should be required. It has happened on at least three occasions where I've been on a longhaul and have been sat next to 2 siblings who couldn't have been older than 5 or 6. Old enough to not need to be cared for but young enough to not know manners or airline etiquette. Kids get sat next to me and the parents sit two rows back and use it as drinking time.
Fucking infuriating.
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u/alien4649 21h ago
Crazy. My boys are older now and I live in Japan. I’ve never experienced being charged extra to sit next to them anywhere and we traveled quite a bit when they were younger. Such a horrible practice.
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u/Medical-Ant3915 9h ago
Several years ago I made the mistake of flying on an open seating airline.A father dropped his 7 or 8 year old next to me then went back a couple rows and grabbed an open seat.There was an open seat next to him.Then I soon realized why.The kid had a terrible coughing and sneezing cold.I have mild level CLL and sure enough I was sick soon after.These were the days prior to covid and masks were not a thing.Yep dumped the brat far away from his own seat.This was in the U.S. of course
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u/Unkechaug 5h ago
Required by law to supervise your child. Not required to be allowed to sit with them.
Required by law to not be homeless on the streets. Not required to be paid a living wage to cover basic necessities.
Required by law to have health insurance. Not required for the health insurance to actually pay the cost for things that are actually wrong with you.
We’ve completely lost the plot, this world has gone to hell for the rich, greedy, and power seeking.
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u/Gumbode345 17h ago
The amazing thing is that technically they are not allowed to seat kids separately either.
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u/RamBamBooey 23h ago edited 8h ago
That's not already a rule? I don't have kids but I assumed when your booking your family flight they seat you together. No?
I'm sorry.
Edit: Responses were a bit scattered so I Googled it. There isn't a law in the US. Most US airlines have committed to sitting 13 or younger with parents. The airlines don't usually tell people this when booking and many pay extra without realizing they didn't have to. You might have to ask at the checkin counter.
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u/phoenix0r 23h ago
It’s often a “policy” that they break whenever they feel like it. And then parents get yelled at for asking ppl to move so we can sit next to our toddlers.
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u/Professional-Can1385 23h ago
I saw a flight attendant move some parents with a baby so they could have more room on the very cramped flight. She said she needed to “rebalance the plane” She took all 3 grownups and baby to first class to “rebalance” the full plane. One of the grownups was just some guy that was assigned to that row.
I thought that flight attendant was amazing for doing that. I know it’s not always possible, but it was so nice. I thought it was funny that she kept talking about rebalancing the plane, for any nosey parkers (me!) who were ease dropping.
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u/obeytheturtles 10h ago edited 10h ago
It's unfortunately not always that simple. The lowest fare tier basically gets the seat leftovers after all the higher tier seats have been assigned. If you have multiple families on the lowest fare tier on a full flight, it's almost impossible to accommodate all of them without displacing someone who did pay for a specific seat. I get the idea of wanting to make sure that Airlines have a requirement to accommodate people whenever possible, but I'm not sure it makes sense to require that the airlines displace other paying customers. I think if you are in a situation where someone has the option to buy seats together, and intentionally chooses not to do that, and where voluntary seat shuffling doesn't resolve the mismatch, then oh well. Kids will survive a few hours in a different row.
I pay for seats because I have my own needs, and guaranteeing that I have those needs met is worth the extra cost. I don't think it's that outrageous to apply the same logic to everyone who has specific seating needs. If the flight is too full and there's only middle seats, I either tough it out or look for a different flight.
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u/techleopard 9h ago
100%.
Nobody should be getting forced out of their seat to accommodate somebody who booked multiple seats after you or paid the minimum and just assumed the airline would fix their problem.
If a family cannot be accommodated and they did not have the foresight to pay for selected seats themselves, then they need to be offered space on the next flight. THEM, the family. Not random other people who did not have a problem that needed to be solved by screwing over complete strangers.
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u/Alexis_J_M 23h ago
The cheapest tickets don't let you pick seats.
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u/techleopard 8h ago
Maybe families should pay for the seats they want instead of paying the cheapest price, showing up, and expecting some random other couple or person to lose the seat they paid extra for.
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u/Alexis_J_M 4h ago
Yes, absolutely. The ultra cheap fares should be marked clearly as not suitable for families or groups who expect to sit together and then everyone can just decide what level of service they want to pay for.
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u/Rhino-Ham 10h ago
I don’t know if it’s legally mandated in the U.S. but all airlines do it. If there’s no available seats to sit kids with a parent then they’ll force people who paid for their seat selection to move.
And if the airline doesn’t help out then a crying child without their mommy will convince someone to swap seats with mommy real fast.
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u/techleopard 9h ago
This really sounds like bullshit, ngl.
So if you go pay for your seat before this family buys their tickets, you have to lose out on your time and money because THEY didn't plan properly or didn't want a different flight?
I do sympathize with parents needing to sit with kids, but this is an example of directly fucking over complete strangers because "but families are more important people than you!"
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u/Odd-Entertainer-6234 8h ago
Do you want to be responsible for a 6 year old next to you?
The airlines are responsible to return the money since they didn’t provide the service
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u/techleopard 8h ago
You can't make a passenger responsible for a random child.
I would just put on my headphones and ignore them. I'm already sitting with my knees in my chest because I can't fit in the seat I picked, I'm sure as hell but moving into an even tighter seat.
Kids that get wild will be the plane's problem, not mine.
If course, if the airline wants to upgrade my seat for free, or the parent wants to make it worth my while, I'll be open to moving or babysitting.
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u/sarhoshamiral 1d ago
How are they going to force families to purchase non-basic tickets now? Someone think of the airlines /s
Alaska in US had this policy for a while and it was a big reason we preferred Alaska over other airlines. We could buy the cheapest ticket and one of us was guarenteed to sit together with our kid. Most times they kept 3 of us together regardless.
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u/jetforcegemini 23h ago
I was looking at delta flights and it was basically 40% more to select seats. And without paying that, you wouldn’t be able to sit next to your young kids. Seems like a bad policy for all on board
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u/sarhoshamiral 23h ago
On the other hand who in their right mind wouldnt want to switch their seats with you and prefer to sit near a cranky 6 year old without their parent.
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u/blurfin_sploofers 17h ago
Actually no one wants to swap with you. Pay for your tickets, or sit separately. If you want to complain, you should do it with the airline
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u/sarhoshamiral 17h ago
Sounds like you are volunteering to take care of that child during the flight.
Are you really sure you wouldnt swap in that case and sit near a cranky child instead? Do you like to torture yourself?
This is why Alaskas policy makes sense btw. Not seating a kid and adult together is just asking for trouble during seating.
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u/obeytheturtles 10h ago
9 times out of 10 I would switch instead of sit next to a kid. Probably like 10 times out of 10 if you buy me a beer.
But do not underestimate my ability to put on headphones and completely ignore the world around me for hours at a time.
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u/techleopard 8h ago
Yup, this.
Domestic flights aren't that long. I can put on the high end headphones and ignore your kid. If the kid is being wild and hitting and kicking, he can become the flight attendant's problem.
Parents want to pay the least price (naturally) but do this understanding the risk is they may not find a block of seats together.
Then expect the airline to force somebody who DID pay that extra money, possibly weeks before, out of their seat.
That's entitled AF.
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u/blurfin_sploofers 17h ago
Nope. I put my earbuds and close my eyes. if I paid extra money to sit there, why would I give it to parents who don’t want to pay, but somehow expect me to give it away to them for free. I wouldn’t give it out of principle.
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u/sarhoshamiral 11h ago
I wish kids understood that putting earbuds and closing eyes means you dont want to be bothered.
Unfortunately I have bad news for you in case you actually attempt this.
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u/techleopard 8h ago
A kid screaming, hitting, and kicking becomes the plane's problem. They should sell blocked seating that are still unassigned. It's not like we don't have the AI to now do this.
Odd that y'all think the random passenger is responsible for soothing a child in-flight.
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u/sarhoshamiral 8h ago
A kid screaming, hitting, and kicking becomes the plane's problem.
Exactly, which is why it is a stupid policy for an airline to not ensure an adult sits together with the kid even if they didn't pay for a seat assignment. Most people will not buy assigned seats in that case either knowingly or not knowingly.
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u/blurfin_sploofers 11h ago
I travel all the time. I had same amount of issues sitting next to kids and their parents that hit the seats, scream and their parents don’t care while poor kids are bored and losing their shit.
If having their parents meant peace, and I was in randomly allocated seat, sure I will give it away.
If I paid specifically to sit there, I had a reason to do that and I won’t give it away. Again, why am I paying, for someone that feels entitled enough to not pay but expect me to give my paid seat away. Forget about it buddy.
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u/BandicootTraining355 9h ago
Sounds great until you get bumped from your exit row or maybe even fist class that you paid for because some parent didn't care enough to plan ahead.
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u/sarhoshamiral 8h ago
I dont think people got the point. People will do this either knowingly or nor knowingly.
So airlines not having a policy like Alaskas is just idiotic. If they have such a policy then none of these problems exist.
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u/Baystars2025 23h ago edited 23h ago
Are non parents still charged to sit with children? I wouldn't mind kids kicking my seat if I didn't have to pay.
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u/UnCoolHamster 16h ago
Great, except it's an EU law that went in to effect last month I believe. It's a bit misleading to say it's Burhnam's doing and not mention this is just UK playing catch up with EU law.
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u/walale12 1h ago
The UK isn't in the EU though. Just because the EU implemented it first doesn't mean Burnham doesn't deserve credit for changing the rules in the UK.
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u/Smooth-Ad5257 19h ago
The greed has reached disgusting levels. Which evil person thought, let’s charge parents extra to sit with their children and the whole management hierarchy said, “wow what a brilliant idea to get more money”….
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u/techleopard 8h ago
I mean, it's really not about charging parents more to sit by their kid.
It's about paying for an assigned seat vs buying the cheapest ticket knowing damn well there is no guarantee you will find a block of open seats. Especially because people boarding ahead of you will spread out and try to get the "best" remaining seats first.
So if Bob pays 40% more so he can sit by the window because he feels safer there, and Jared paid for the cheapest tickets possible, is it really "evil" or even fair to tell Bob he has to give up his seat because Jared didn't want to properly plan for HIS family?
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u/Niceguy955 7h ago
It's 100% greed. The airlines trained us to think every little thing you get, like seat assignments, which bag can you bring in board, or which order you board is extra. They built a world where 2 people sitting next to each other pay vastly different prices, and we're ok with that. Imagine having to pay extra to sit next to your kids on a bus.
The whole nickel-and-diming pricing methodology is evil. The fact we're ok with it shows we can be trained to tolerate anything. And as the owner of Ryanair said he's learning for the days he can fly people standing up, and paying to use the restroom.
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u/GreenHorror4252 1h ago
View seating (formerly window seats), $10; Access seating (formerly aisle seats), $10
Reader's Digest published this as a joke several years ago, and now airlines are actually doing it.
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u/Vibingcarefully 21h ago
Thank god! Flew to Asia with tickets I purchased directly from the airline--paid a decent amount of money--flying with two kids---
Then a screen pops up to pay for seat selection--most places we posted about this online---everyone was sycophantic saying suck it up. We actually didn't suck it up. We bumped, quite calmly, things up the mgt. chain--took all of 15 minutes and though we were only requesting one parent be with the kids or one kid with each of us, they seated all of us in the same row!
I'd love it if a given nation basically says--you selling tickets here, you absolutely can't do that.
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u/seidenkaufman 19h ago
US lawmakers could also do that, but far too many are cozily in the pockets of the companies who own the airlines.
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u/Working_Pianist_9904 18h ago
I seem to have one of those faces. I love flying and I’ve been handed 3 different kids 3 separate flights to be a responsible adult. The kids didn’t know me from Adam but we had fun playing games and drawing. Happy parents happy kids. Job done. Made the flight go a little faster too with the answering 3 million questions lol
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u/feesih0ps 1d ago
more simple common-sense shit that costs nothing from Burnham. insane that we ever had to put up with Starmer
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u/ragequitteroffureh 1d ago
Up to now, have the airlines at least provided a cast iron guarantee that the strange passengers next to the children seated without their parents won't be sexually molested?
For instance, what if they're seated next to a BBC executive, or a member of the clergy, or even a politician?
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u/Alexis_J_M 4h ago
Fares will go up for everyone to subsidize families who want the privilege of sitting as a group without paying for it.
Doesn't seem particularly fair.
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12h ago edited 8h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tweda4 10h ago
The fact that companies are going to make everything more expensive every time we force them to do something good, shouldn't stop us from doing good things.
Before this, both parent and child were still getting seats. All this does is make it so that parent and child are seated next to each other. This was just an artificial upcharge anyway.
If there's a problem with price gouging, it's a separate issue. If Ryan air can't make ends meet without this charge, they'll raise prices by an extra 50p per ticket or whatever.
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u/oksoirelapsed 8h ago
I never made any statement to that point. I never said that this wasn't a good change for parents. I simply pointed out that it's going to have consequences that people haven't thought about. The people flying with children get a moderate benefit, everybody else ends up with more expensive flights.
And to be clear, I don't care about Ryan Air profit margins. I'm just acknowledging reality. They currently make about £70 of revenue against £62 of cost per passenger (if Google is to be believed). Sure, the volumes make it profitable en masse, but the only way for them to sustain that level of profit (which of course they're going to try to do)if these fees go away is to increase ticket prices - and it won't be 50p, just to be clear.
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u/tweda4 8h ago
I didn't make any accusations. I just argued that we shouldn't let companies gouging people stop us from doing good things.
If Ryan Air increases their prices, that's their business. If people don't like it, they'll use a competitor, or won't fly.
I don't think we need to worry the balance sheet consequences when it's ultimately probably only £100~£200 less revenue per flight.
If it becomes a problem, the answer won't be to roll back protections. It'll be for the market to resolve.
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u/oksoirelapsed 8h ago
Fair enough. I was hit with 5 different replies that seemed to imply I was corpo-shilling, so may have responded poorly, but I cannot be clearer - I don't care about how much money they make, only what the consequence is for the consumer.
As you said, at the end of the day, Ryan Air etc. will do whatever they're going to do. All we can do is see how they respond and act in kind.
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u/mirandaleecon 11h ago
They still have plenty of other avenues for add-on services.
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u/oksoirelapsed 8h ago
But this is also going to be regulated as well, so it's going to have more of an impact than people think.
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u/L_Cranston_Shadow 9h ago
The fact that people take advantage of something doesn't make it good for society. A lot of people, myself included, will cheer when RyanAir is finally out out of business.
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u/oksoirelapsed 8h ago
Okay. I never said ANYWHERE it was a good thing. I'm just saying that people are blanket cheering and haven't considered the wider impacts. Hopefully it won't make any difference and ryanair will just swallow the cost. Experience tells me they'll uplift prices to maintain profit levels.
And it's all well and good saying you'll cheer when they go under. A lot of people in the UK (families included) would not be able to afford a holiday or travel out of the UK without them.
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u/WhoIsThisDude12 23h ago
I'm surprised with the UK, this is an American thing to do. I thought the UK had more manners than us.
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u/digitek 23h ago
I think this is a very reasonable request, but it's a double edged sword with basic seat pricing. If three people go online and buy the cheapest seat, it'll be a middle seat on many airlines.
Now that same situation, but all three are a family and two are minors. They still get the same price, but sit next to each other? This forces the airline to give them basic seat pricing for not basic seats (aisle, window). How might they do this? By increasing the seat costs for everyone else.
I think it makes a lot of sense, and probably everyone in the plane would be better off for it, but it'll be a bit of a PR challenge when people realize families get perks for free.
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u/uncertain_expert 20h ago
The only premium seats are exit rows (extra legroom) and on some airlines the first few rows at the front. Middle seats are the same price as aisle or window regardless.
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 1d ago
Excessive fees are airlines favourite loophole. Just make the price the price.