Where’s the red line on airline fees?
If you are flying with kids, here is a little good news: you will not have to pay extra to sit together, even on Ryanair, the notoriously fee-crazy Irish carrier. Europe’s largest discount airline adjusted its family-seating policy this week after a UK regulator forced its hand, having spent years charging parents a fee just to sit beside their own children. But it did so “reluctantly,” and that one word says everything about how the industry sees fees in 2026. A fee is not a problem to be fixed. It is territory to be defended. Which raises a bigger question, one that goes well past family seating to the water on a long flight, the bag already in your hand, and the seat you already bought a ticket to sit in. What kinds of fees should be off limits, and is there a line an airline should never cross?