Ryanair updates family seating rules after UK regulators take a look

Ryanair updates family seating rules after UK regulators take a look

Ryanair has updated its family seating policy after the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into whether the old setup complied with regulations. Under the old policy, parents were meant to sit next to children ages two to 11, with free adjacent seat assignments for up to four children on the same reservation while adults paid for assigned seats. The airline says it had been following the rules all along, and says adults traveling with children who do not pay for reserved seats will now be advised of a free seat allocation as of June 25, 2026. Families taking the random allocation will likely be seated toward the back of the cabin, while those who want to pick seats at booking will have to pay full price for everyone.

Gobble's Take: Nothing says customer care like making the family think very hard about whether the back row counts as a feature. Source: One Mile at a Time

Airline competition hearing scheduled, with Spirit and jetBlue finances in focus

A hearing on airline competition is scheduled for June 24, 2026, before the House Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust. The witness list includes Chris Sununu of Airlines for America, Kristian Stout of the International Center for Law and Economics, and Timothy Ravich of Tressler LLP. Based on preliminary reporting, the failed Spirit merger with jetBlue will be a topic. The source notes that for calendar years 2023 and 2024, jetBlue lost $1.2 billion and Spirit lost $1.0 billion in pre-tax profits, with Spirit's 2024 figure including only the first 9 months of that year due to bankruptcy, and jetBlue's figure including the fourth quarter of 2024.

Gobble's Take: The numbers show both airlines were losing heavily before any merger decision entered the picture.

Source: swelbar.substack.com

Summer flying is already looking very full, very busy, and very expensive if fuel keeps jumping around

AviationOutlook says summer 2026 is on pace to be the busiest in US aviation history, with Airlines for America projecting 271 million passengers worldwide between June and August. American Airlines alone is preparing for 75 million customers across 750,000 flights from May 21 to September 8. The report also says jet fuel costs remain the single biggest swing factor, and that the picture for the next few weeks will help determine whether 2026 ends as a record year or a cautionary tale.

Gobble's Take: A record-size summer is great right up until everybody wants the same gate, the same crew, and the same gallon of fuel. Source: Perplexity Search (community: Reddit/HN)

Tomorrow: a hearing on airline competition is scheduled.

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• Gate surprise: UK ETA rules are still catching travelers at the counter
• DOT closes Delta’s CrowdStrike-era investigation