The CMA said Ryanair's terms require at least one parent or guardian to sit with children in that age group and to do so through what the airline calls a "mandatory family seat". The regulator said the charge typically costs about GBP8 each way, while Ryanair's website lists mandatory family-seat prices from EUR4.50 to EUR13.50, equivalent to about GBP4 to GBP12, according to the CMA release.
The case is an investigation, not a finding. The CMA said it has reached no conclusion on whether Ryanair has broken the law and expects to give an update within six months. The legal question is whether the contract term is unfair under consumer law, meaning that it places customers at an unfair disadvantage by tilting the balance of contractual rights too far toward the business, according to the CMA's explanation.
The regulator is also examining whether the charge is presented as an unavoidable cost during booking. The CMA said consumer law requires businesses to show the total price, including unavoidable charges, rather than adding them later in the transaction. It described this practice as "drip pricing", a term for displaying a headline price before mandatory extras appear during the purchase process.
The watchdog's concern is tied to the relationship between Ryanair's seating rule and aviation obligations for children and passengers with disabilities. The CMA said it will investigate whether parents are being charged for the airline to meet child-safety and disability-related requirements. It said its evidence suggests the approach is used across most Ryanair UK routes and that Ryanair is the only major airline flying from the UK that imposes the charge in this form.
Ryanair disputes the premise of the investigation. The Guardian reported on 11 June that the airline called the inquiry "bogus" and said its family seating policy complies with relevant laws and regulations: MoneySavingExpert reported the same day that a Ryanair spokesperson said the airline expects to disprove what it called false CMA claims: