Parents travelling with young children in the UK could soon be protected from airline charges for sitting beside their children under proposed changes to civil aviation rules.
The UK government said it would consult on ending charges for parents who want to sit next to children under the age of 14, as well as fees imposed on passengers for making minor corrections to flight bookings.
The proposed reforms are contained in plans linked to the Civil Aviation Bill, which must first receive approval from Parliament before the measures can be implemented.
The Department for Transport said the reforms were intended to create greater consistency among airlines operating in the UK, although it acknowledged that many airlines already have policies protecting families from some of these additional charges.
The government said a parent and child could currently face a combined cost of as much as £104 for a return journey if they wanted to guarantee seats next to each other.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the proposed measures as part of a broader effort to tackle what he called the "little charges that add up" when families organise holiday travel.
"Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple," he said, adding that being "hit with a hefty fee for a simple spelling mistake on a booking form isn't right either".
The Department for Transport said passengers could also face charges of up to £40 for minor administrative changes, including correcting a name on a booking.
It described the proposed measures as the "latest example of the Prime Minister's series of 'everyday fixes' to tackle the irritations that make life difficult and hit people's wallets".
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said families should not be forced to pay additional charges for what she described as straightforward travel arrangements.
"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," Alexander said.
However, the airline industry said the announcement came as a surprise, arguing that UK carriers already follow existing guidance on family seating and generally allow minor corrections to passenger names without charge.
Airlines UK, the trade body representing the country's airlines, said its members already permitted minor name corrections free of charge.
The organisation also said airlines were following the regulator's existing guidance concerning children sitting with accompanying adults.
The government proposals have nevertheless received support from consumer advocates.
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said it was "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," he was quoted as saying by the Press Association.
The proposed reforms extend beyond family seating and booking changes. The government also plans to introduce a new system for sharing information about persistently disruptive passengers.
The system would be developed with assistance from airlines and trade unions and is intended to help address serious incidents involving passengers whose behaviour disrupts flights or threatens the safety and wellbeing of others.
According to the government, airlines recorded more than 1,000 serious disruptive passenger incidents in 2025. Among the incidents was a mid-air brawl that resulted in a flight being diverted.
Alexander said passengers should be able to travel without having their journeys disrupted by the behaviour of a small number of people.
"Everyone deserves to travel knowing their flight won't be disrupted by bad behaviour from a small minority," she said.
Airlines UK welcomed the government's commitment to tackling disruptive passenger behaviour, suggesting there was scope for cooperation between government and the aviation industry on the issue.
The proposed changes will depend on the Civil Aviation Bill receiving Royal Assent, after which ministers are expected to begin the process of implementing the new rules.
It is understood that the government hopes to have the measures in place before the start of next year's summer holiday travel period.
The reforms could therefore affect millions of passengers travelling with children, particularly during the peak summer season, while also changing how airlines deal with minor booking errors and passengers identified as persistently disruptive.
The government argues that the measures would provide greater consistency across the aviation sector, while airlines maintain that many of the protections already exist under current industry practices and regulatory guidance.