We pay £175m to sit together on f lights... when really it’s free

FAMILIES are needlessly paying £175million a year to sit together on flights – when they would have been placed automatically next to each other for free.

The aviation watchdog has warned that airlines are failing to make clear to passengers when they need to pay to guarantee seats together.

Civil Aviation Authority research shows 34 per cent of passengers – 23million – paid to reserve a seat in the past year.

However, for 45 per cent of those (10.4million) the payments were unnecessary because they would have been seated together anyway.

Altogether it is estimated that passengers pay £390million a year in seat reservation fees – but up to £175million of this may not be needed.

The CAA is to investigate algorithms used by airlines to allocate seats amid concerns from passengers they are deliberately being split up to generate fees.

Typically customers pay between £5 and £30 to reserve a seat on each leg of a journey, while some are charged as much as £100 on long-haul business class flights, according to CAA research.

The regulator raised particular concerns over families and those travelling with disabled passengers paying unnecessarily because they don’t want to risk being separated. Airlines are within their rights to charge customers extra to choose a seat, but the regulator can take action if fees are not made clear.

The CAA found that many passengers are paying to reserve a seat when the chances of them being split up are low. For example, airlines will typically seat children under 12 with an adult travelling in the same party automatically.

Similarly, those travelling with a carer would usually be seated together.

But this is not always the case, which means passengers end up paying extra in advance to avoid the worry of having to ask cabin crew to move them on board.

All of Britain’s ten biggest airlines admitted to receiving complaints about allocated seating, with one firm getting almost 3,000 last year, said the regulator.

One passenger told the CAA: ‘It seems like we were split up into different rows to make us pay together as on either side of me there was only a single passenger travelling.’ Last night James Daley, of consumer group Fairer Finance, said: ‘Prices need to be transparent. Unbundled prices are fine when they are clear but all too often they are confusing and used to trick customers into paying more than they need.’

Airlines rake in billions of pounds from extra charges. This week it emerged that Ryanair, led by chief executive Michael O’Leary, is squeezing more than £6million a day in extra charges from passengers – a total of £1.15billion in six months.

The CAA said it will now work with airlines to look at how they can make prices clearer. Seating policies vary between companies and can depend on where the passenger is travelling, the class of cabin and demand. It means the chances of sitting with your partner, family or group vary widely between airlines.

Tim Johnson, of the CAA, said: ‘The practice of charging for allocated seating has clearly become part of airlines’ pricing strategies.’

Four airlines told the regulator they try to seat groups together where possible.