BUDGET air carrier Ryanair scraped the €4 charge to reserve seats for children under 12 - yet came in for criticism and customer outrage.
The Dublin-based airline announced that, as of September, it becomes mandatory for customers travelling with children to reserve at least one seat at the time of booking.
The new policy also stated that reserved seat fares for children will be free so long as one adult reserves a seat at €4.
The change means that families wishing to be seated together will be able to pre-book their kids seats free.
However, as soon as this cost-saving measure was revealed, there was social media outrage at the news and inaccurately reported that parents were being ‘forced’ by Ryanair to purchase seats.
In reality, while the policy does assume that all families want to sit together, it will mean that those families will no longer have to pay for reserved seating for the entire family, but only €4 for one parent.
It will not be mandatory for any other adults or teenagers on the booking to reserve a seat.
The Dublin-based airline is Europe’s largest in terms of passenger numbers and undertook a complete revamp in 2013 after being named the worst brand for customer service by Which?
The changes included a website makeover and a relaxing of booking and baggage restrictions.
Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said the move was a cost-saving measure for the benefit of families.
“This will make flying with Ryanair even cheaper and more simple for all customers with young children, and guarantee that they will always be seated together,” he said.
“This will guarantee that adults travelling with children under 12 will be able to select their preferred seats at the time of booking, check in for their flights up to 30 days prior to departure and fly safe in the knowledge that they are getting Europe’s lowest air fares while ensuring that they always sit together with their children.”
