Airlines to be banned from charging parents to sit with their kids. About time!
Good news for anyone who travels as a family with children. The UK government announced on 2 October 2026 that airlines are set to be banned from charging parents to sit next to their kids under the age of 14. Name correction fees are also on the way out. But don't get too excited just yet as neither takes effect immediately.
Here's the full rundown.
What is the new rule on children's seating?
Airlines will have to seat children under 14 next to a parent or accompanying adult, free of charge.
According to The Guardian "Under the new policy, parents will still have the option of paying to reserve a seat of their choosing and have their children alongside them free of charge." And if you'd rather not pay to choose seats in advance, you'll still be seated next to your child when seats are allocated at check-in.
To be fair to the airlines, many already look after younger children. British Airways, TUI and Virgin Atlantic all guarantee children under 12 a seat next to an adult on their booking. Jet2 commits to seating them together or no more than one row apart, which won't be good enough under the new rules. Ryanair changed its policy this summer to seat children beside an adult for free, after the UK competition regulator opened an investigation into it charging parents for a "mandatory family seat".
These rules will apply to "all airlines operating in the UK", so you won't have to check the fine print before you book.
Will I be able to fix a typo on my booking for free?
Yes. Passengers will get more flexibility to correct simple name errors without paying for it. Right now, a small slip like a swapped letter can cost as much as £40 to put right according to the government, which is needlessly punitive!
If you have ever booked flights at 11pm with a tired brain, you will appreciate this one.
A friend of ours booked his honeymoon flights and put his now-wife's in her maiden name, when her passport was in her married name. I'm not sure a slip like that is going to be covered!
What else is changing?
The government is also working with airlines and trade unions on a new system for sharing information about persistently disruptive passengers. According to the government, more than 1,000 serious disruptive incidents were logged by airlines in 2025, including a mid-air brawl that forced a flight to divert. You may remember the video of a Jet2 flight from Antalya to Manchester this year, which diverted to Brussels after a fight broke out on board. Jet2 banned the two passengers responsible for life. Good.
The idea is that airlines can spot repeat offenders sooner and decide whether to extend a ban to their own flights.
Every so often, a story pops up about banning Brits from drinking at the airport. Ryanair has called for a two-drink limit enforced with your boarding pass for years, and Michael O'Leary says one of its planes has to divert because of alcohol-fuelled behaviour every day on average. Yes, as a nation, we love a pre-flight tipple, but punishing the millions who enjoy a pint before their holiday for the actions of a few never felt fair. Sharing information on repeat offenders is a far more sensible solution. It targets the small minority who turn a flight to Tenerife into a cage fight, to leave the rest of us in peace.
When will the changes take effect?
Not yet, sadly.
These rules are, "... set to be delivered following Royal Assent of the Civil Aviation Bill, with industry engaged to ensure swift and fair implementation." AKA, the government is aiming for next summer's holidays, but no firm start date has been announced.
The bottom line
Essentially the government has finally put its foot down on an issue that should never have been an issue in the first place. Families, quite frankly, should never have had to pay to sit children together with their parents, and the fact it has taken until now to sort this out is kind of shambolic. It's also great to see the name correction fees being binned as this penalised genuines accidents. This also brings the UK in line with the EU, which agreed near-identical rules in July 2026, due to take effect from 2027.
Anyway, until the rules land, keep doing what you have been doing. Check what your airline charges for family seating before you book, double check names against passports, and keep an eye on Points Well Made for updates once a start date is confirmed.
Helena
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To be honest there should be no charge to seat families. If your booking contains kids under 12 you should automatically get free seat selection. The airline promise to seat a child with at least 1 adult isn't good enough. It's still random as you may end up as 2 in front and 2 rows behind for a family of 4. Then people start asking other passengers if they can swap etc and it's a whole mess. I booked flights with BA and the seat selection fees are going to cost me more than the ticket prices! This is ridiculous.
On the other hand, smaller airlines like Air Mauritius gives free seat selection for families when booking together.
European airlines…