Ryanair stopped requiring parents traveling with children aged two to 11 to buy what it called a mandatory family seat after the Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation, removing one compulsory reservation without standardizing the rest of a family's bill or creating a fine, admission, refund or industry-wide guarantee. [1]

Lap-infant pricing still differs by carrier, with Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet using flat fees while British Airways and Virgin Atlantic charge about 10 percent of an adult fare, so a flat fee can exceed the adult headline fare on some routes and make a cheap ticket coexist with a comparatively expensive baby. [1]

Children over two pay adult-equivalent fares on several low-cost airlines, and families may also encounter seat reservations, airport charges, passenger-service fees, carrier surcharges, entry charges and taxes whose application changes with age, class, destination and stops. [1]

The article's examples are sampled itineraries, not permanent tariffs: one British Airways booking and two Air New Zealand routes demonstrate how totals can change, but they do not establish the price of another date, airline, layover or family configuration. [1]

No verified topical X status emerged from three recorded searches, so the seating-win claim remains a tendency rather than consensus; Ryanair changed one rule after one investigation, while the useful service story begins where the adjacent seat ends and the checkout total starts. [1]

-- CHARLES ASHFORD, London