'A Rip-Off, Plain and Simple' Needs Royal Assent
Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple. And being hit with a hefty fee for a simple spelling mistake on a booking form isn’t right either.
Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple. That is the Thursday line. The stop still needs Royal Assent.
The Prime Minister said this on 1 October 2026, in a Department for Transport note published that day. The verbs are now. Rip-off. Putting a stop to them. It reads like a fee that dies tonight.
It does not. The same note says the changes are set to be delivered following Royal Assent of the Civil Aviation Bill, in time for next year's summer holidays. A stop after Royal Assent is a stop that has not happened. Next summer is 2027. Thursday is 1 October 2026.
The Guardian's Nadeem Badshah, filing at 22.41 BST on 1 October, puts the same gap in plainer English. Ministers will try to introduce the changes before next year's summer holidays. Try. MPs are still debating the civil aviation consumer-protection bill. A try in Parliament is not a ban at the gate.
The GOV.UK page even leads with a date that is not the law. The standfirst says that from 2 October 2026, airlines will be required to seat children under 14 with a parent or accompanying adult free of charge. The body then says the plans are announced on 2 October. Announced is not required. A child flying this half-term still sits under today's rules.
The numbers in the note are real. A parent and child could be charged up to £104 on a return journey. A name error can cost as much as £40. None of that makes the Bill a law. The same note also says most UK airlines already offer protections against hidden costs. The Guardian notes Ryanair changed its family seat rule earlier this year after the Competition and Markets Authority looked at an £8 each-way fee. A rip-off that most firms already dropped is not a new stop. It is a promise to make the rest match later.
Look at the two clocks. One is the slogan: rip-off, plain and simple, I'm putting a stop to them. The other is the diary: a Bill still in the Commons, Royal Assent still to come, and a try before next summer. Most airlines already moved. The holdouts wait for a seal that is not on the page.
The pattern is a "rip-off" stop sold from a Bill that has not yet become law.
A fee banned after Royal Assent is still a fee this half-term.
Sources: GOV.UK, 1 October 2026 + The Guardian, 1 October 2026
The Burnham Report — counter-commentary on what the Prime Minister says. Quotes are verbatim. Every claim is checked against a second source before publication.