Airline family seating fees: what the planned ban will change for parents

Booking a flight with young children often comes with a quiet extra cost: the fee you pay simply to make sure you are sitting next to them. The Department for Transport now plans to ban airlines from charging parents to sit with their children, as part of a wider package aimed at the small add-ons that inflate the price of a family holiday. The measure has been announced, but it is not yet law — and that distinction matters if you are booking for the half-term break or next summer.

What the planned rule will require

Under the proposals set out at the beginning of October, UK airlines will have to seat children under 14 next to a parent or an accompanying adult free of charge. At present, families who want that guarantee generally buy seat selection for every passenger in the booking. According to the Department for Transport, that can cost a parent and child up to £104 on a return journey — money paid for something most travellers assume is a basic part of flying with a child.

A second measure in the same package deals with name corrections. Mistype a surname or forget a middle name on a booking and some carriers currently charge around £40 to put it right. The plan is to make simple corrections free, rather than treating a typing error as a chargeable change of passenger.

A third strand is less about money. Government, airlines and trade unions are working on a shared system to track persistently disruptive passengers, after more than 1,000 serious incidents were logged in 2025. Cabin crew have long argued that the same small group of offenders moves between carriers without consequence.

Announced, not yet in force

This is the point to be careful about. The changes are to be delivered through the Civil Aviation Bill, which is still making its way through Parliament; its Commons committee stage is due to begin on 20 October. The new seating obligation will only bite once the Bill has received Royal Assent and the detailed rules follow. Nothing in your booking changes today because of the announcement, and no airline is currently breaking a rule by charging you to choose a seat.

Until then, the position is set by the Civil Aviation Authority, whose guidance says airlines should aim to seat children under 12 in the same row as their accompanying adult, and no more than one row or aisle away. That is an expectation rather than a prohibition on fees, which is precisely why consumer groups pushed for legislation. Travelling with children already demands more planning than flying alone, and a seating lottery adds a stress families can do little about once they are at the gate.

Why it may matter less than the headline suggests

Research by the consumer group Which? offers a useful corrective. Among passengers who booked together and did not pay for seat selection, 94% of British Airways customers still ended up sitting with their companions, with easyJet at 93% and Jet2 at 90%. The outlier was Ryanair, where only 66% of those travelling in pairs or groups said they were seated together.

In other words, on most airlines the fee has largely bought reassurance rather than an outcome. Ryanair, which was investigated over the practice earlier this year, said in June that it would stop charging parents to sit next to their children. The planned ban would turn a patchwork of voluntary commitments into a single rule that applies to everyone.

What to do while the Bill is in Parliament

• Check the carrier's current family seating policy before you book, not after. Several airlines already seat under-12s with an adult without a fee.
• Complete online check-in as early as it opens. Free seat allocation is usually made in check-in order.
• Book all passengers in one reservation. Split bookings are far more likely to be separated.
• Keep the confirmation showing what you paid for seating. If the rules change mid-contract, you will want the paperwork.
• Compare the total price, not the headline fare. Cabin bags, seats and name changes are where budget flights stop being cheap.

For households already counting the cost of holidays, the measure sits alongside other recent shifts in family entitlements — new parental leave rights are moving in the same direction, and cheaper alternatives to crowded destinations remain the fastest way to cut a holiday bill. A £104 saving is real, but it is one line on an invoice that has many.

Frequently asked questions

Can airlines still charge me to sit with my child right now?

Yes. The ban has been announced but requires the Civil Aviation Bill to pass first, so existing fees remain lawful until the new rules come into force.

Which children will the free seating rule cover?

As announced, children under 14 would have to be seated next to a parent or accompanying adult at no extra charge. The Civil Aviation Authority's existing guidance refers to under-12s.

Will it apply to flights on non-UK airlines?

The announcement concerns UK airlines. Rules for foreign carriers flying to and from the UK will depend on the final text of the legislation, which is still being debated.

Sources

• Department for Transport — Take off for passengers as government scraps extra charges when flying
• ITV News — Airlines to be banned from charging parents to sit next to their children
• Which? — How we took on airlines charging parents seat fees

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence. Editorial policy