Know your place: Ryanair makes seat reservations mandatory for families

Europe's biggest low-cost airline blames frugal parents for the move

Ryanair says parents without pre-booked seats have caused problems on board (Simon Calder)

Europe’s biggest budget airline is to demand more money from families from September, by insisting a parent books seats in advance. Ryanair is putting the blame for the move on cost-cutting parents who choose not to pay for seat selection.

Ryanair currently offers passengers the chance to pre-book a seat. The cost starts at £4, rising to £20 for preferred locations such as the front row. Travellers who choose not to pre-book are assigned seats free of charge, and the airline aims to seat families together.

But Ryanair's "load factor" - the proportion of occupied seats - has been steadily rising. It currently stands at 94 per cent, corresponding to 11 empty seats per flight. With many departures in summer completely full, some families have found they have been allocated seats away from each other.

When young children are allocated seats away from a parent, the cabin crew are obliged to re-seat them.

The airline said: “Ryanair’s crews cannot move customers who have already paid for their preferred seats simply to accommodate other customers who are travelling with young children, who declined to reserve their seats and chose to have their seats randomly allocated.”

For bookings made from 1 September, adults travelling with under-12s will be obliged to buy one reserved seat per family, at £4 (or €4 for flights commencing in the euro zone). The children will receive reserved seats free of charge, as will the other parent if they are travelling.

Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs, said the move “will prevent other customers who have chosen to purchase a seat of their own from being displaced onboard”.

Existing bookings, even for flights scheduled from September onwards, are unaffected; seats will be allocated free to passengers who choose not to pay.

Click here to view the latest travel offers, with Independent Holidays.