Airlines to be banned from charging parents to sit with children

Airlines will be banned from charging parents extra to sit with their children under government plans announced today, as ministers move to outlaw a set of add-on fees they describe as rip-offs.

Under the plans, airlines operating in the United Kingdom will be required to seat children under the age of 14 with a parent or accompanying adult free of charge. The Government says that, as things stand, a parent and child can be charged up to 104 pounds on a return journey for the privilege of sitting together.

Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Passengers will also be able to correct simple name errors on bookings for free, ending charges of up to 40 pounds for minor mistakes or administrative tweaks. The Government says the reforms will give passengers greater consistency across all airlines operating in the UK.

Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple.Andy Burnham, Prime Minister

Alongside the fee bans, the Government said it is working with airlines and trade unions to create a new system for sharing information on persistently disruptive passengers. More than 1,000 serious disruptive passenger incidents were logged by airlines in 2025, including a mid-air brawl that resulted in a flight being diverted.

Douglaspperkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, said: "Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple. And being hit with a hefty fee for a simple spelling mistake on a booking form isn't right either. People are fed up with these little charges that add up, so I'm putting a stop to them."

The changes are set to be delivered following Royal Assent of the Civil Aviation Bill, and ministers are understood to be aiming to introduce them before the start of next year's summer holidays. The Government says the reforms will bring British and European air passenger rules more closely into line, giving passengers greater certainty.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: "It's clearly unfair to force parents and children as young as three to pay an extra fee just to sit together. Airlines that have separated families are putting profit ahead of passenger peace of mind." The announcement is the latest in the Prime Minister's series of "everyday fixes", and lands the day after the Government's VAT cut on electricity bills took effect on 1 October.