The UK government is banning airlines from charging families to sit together and levying fees for simple booking typos. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced these changes, which will be law before the next summer holiday season.
Heidi Alexander's crackdown on 'unethical' ancillary charges
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced at the September Labour Party Conference that the United Kingdom will outlaw fees that force families to pay for adjacent seating. according to the report, the new legislation is designed to ensure parents no longer face financial penalties simply to sit next to their children or to fix minor digit and spelling errors made during the booking process.
The bill specifically targets the practice of "unbundling" services, where low-cost carriers strip away basic comforts to offer a low base fare, only to add them back via expensive ancillary charges. By mandating "family friendly seating" in airline information, the government aims to reduce the number of disruptive passenger incidents that occur when families are separated during boarding.
The £282 London-to-Barcelona price jump
The financial impact of these fees has been stark, particularly for users of budget airlines. As the report highlights , a typical Ryanair return flight from London to Barcelona might cost a single adult approximately £38 , but that price can balloon to nearly £282 per person when two children under 11 are included during mid-term travel.
These inflated costs often stem from mandatory seat-selection fees and tickt amendment charges, which can reach up to 90 per cent of a single adult ticket price. while Ryanair updated some policies in June to provide free adjacent seats for children aged 2-11 following pressure from conumer groups, the new law will standardize these protections across all carriers operating in the UK.
A decade of pressure from Which? on low-cost carriers
This legislative shift is the culmination of a ten-year campaign led by the consumer champion Which?. The group has consistently criticized carriers such as Ryanair, EasyJet, Wizz Air, and Jet2 for utilizing "first-come, first-served" seat selection, which often forces lower-income families to wake up at extreme hours to secure free seats or pay a premium.
This move reflects a broader global trend toward tighter consumer protections in the aviation sector,where the "low-cost" model has increasingly relied on punitive fees for basic needs. By removing these barriers, the UK government is signaling that the passenger experience—specifically for vulnerable groups like children—takes precedence over the ancillary revenue streams of budget airlines.
How the 2025 'disruptive passenger' data will be tracked
The government's decision was partly driven by a high number of "serious disruptive passenger incidents" recorded by airlines in 2025. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander noted that when crew members must spend time coordinating seat swaps because passengers refuse to move for families, it creates resource waste and trip interruptions.
However, several specifics remain unverified in the current proposal. It is unclear how the government will define a "simple" booking error versus a substantial change in itinerary, or what the specific penalties will be for airlines that fail to provide "clear, concise, and easy-to-read" passenger policies. Furthermore, the report does not specify how the UK will handle disputes where the booking was made through a third-party agent rather than directly with the airline.
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