UK government announce major airport change for parents
The UK government has announced a fresh shake-up for air travel which could make family holidays cheaper, with ministers targeting a number of extra charges passengers can face when booking flights.
The changes form part of the Civil Aviation Bill currently making its way through Parliament, and come as the government looks to tackle what Prime Minister Andy Burnham has described as the ‘little charges that add up’.
Alongside changes affecting families, ministers also want passengers to be able to correct simple name mistakes on bookings without being hit by extra fees. The Department for Transport says minor errors and admin tweaks can currently cost as much as £40, whilst a separate system is being developed with airlines and trade unions to deal with persistently disruptive passengers.
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Be that as it may, the biggest change of all is for travelling parents who simply want to sit with their kids.
Under the plans announced on Friday (2 October), airlines will be required to seat children under the age of 14 with a parent or accompanying adult free of charge. As laid out in the UK government’s press release, a parent and child can currently be charged up to £104 on a return journey simply to sit together.
The measures are expected to be delivered following Royal Assent of the Civil Aviation Bill, with ministers understood to be aiming for the changes to be in place before next summer’s holidays.
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.
“This is what our everyday fixes are all about. Giving people room to breathe by tackling the small irritations that catch people out, waste their time and cost them money.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander added: “Parents should not have to feel the pinch just to sit next to their child on a flight, or for amending a simple booking error. That’s why we’re scrapping these unnecessary charges for all airlines – another everyday fix to help put money back in people’s pockets and give households more breathing room.”
However, some airlines have pushed back on the announcement.
As reported by the BBC, Airlines UK said carriers already follow Civil Aviation Authority guidance on seating children under 12, whilst Ryanair said ‘no such extra fees exist’.
An easyJet spokesperson also said the airline and others ‘already offer free changes for spelling mistakes and we have never forced parents and children to pay to sit together’.
The airline said the main difference under the proposed rules would be raising the age covered by existing protections from 12 to 14.
Noted by the Guardian, Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, welcomed the plans, saying: “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.”
Ben Williams