Hidden child fees persist as airlines maintain complex pricing, despite Ryanair policy change

Despite Ryanair dropping its family seating fee, a Guardian investigation reveals that airlines continue to impose numerous hidden charges for children, sometimes exceeding adult fares.

• Ryanair ended its policy charging parents to reserve seats next to their children after the UK Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation.
• Guardian Money found nine separate charges for an infant on one airline, with total fees exceeding the adult ticket price.
• Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said charging lap infants more than adults because of a fixed fee is “clearly unfair” and “doesn’t make sense.”
• Wizz Air said its flat fee for lap infants is similar to industry practice and it disagreed with the unfairness claim.