Ryanair is waiving the surcharge for booking a child’s seat next to a parent

Adults flying with children who do not wish to pay for advance seat selection will now receive free seat allocation information after completing online check-in. “Complimentary parent seats” will now be available in the rear of the plane, as the front rows are usually reserved. Ryanair said the new policy is in line with practices adopted by most other European airlines.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said the company would be “reluctant to conform to the industry standard”, but insisted the policy in place for years was fully compliant with the law and gave families “confidence about where they would be sitting at the time of booking and that it was important to them”.

The change comes after Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into Ryanair over the matter.