Ryanair threatens to DOUBLE fee for taking a child on a flight to £40 after losing landmark legal battle

BUDGET airline Ryanair has threatened to DOUBLE the fee for taking a child on a flight after losing a landmark legal battle.

A judge ruled today that infant passengers are entitled to flight delay compensation.

At the moment Ryanair charge £20 per child under the age of 2, per flight. If the airline fails to win an appeal against today's ruling it said it would consider pushing up the fee to £40.

The case was brought forward by a father who made a claim on behalf of his 6-month-old daughter who sat on his knee during a flight from Lanzarote to Birmingham, which was delayed for more than nine hours in December 2015.

Ryanair agreed to pay compensation to the father but argued that his daughter was not entitled to compensation under the regulation.

But a judge today ruled in favour of the young passenger, saying: "...I see no justification for restricting the meaning of the word in this one situation to exclude those without their own seat."

Ryanair plans to appeal the ruling but if it loses it will be forced to pay out €400 (£342) for the claim.

The ruling will also set a precedent for passengers to claim flight delay compensation for children under the age of 2 on other airlines.

In a statement a spokesman from Ryanair said: “We have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal this daft ruling.

“This is another significant judgement that will assist UK passengers in claiming the compensation to which they are entitled.”

Earlier this month, Ryanair customers were left frustrated after its website closed for maintenance after it launched a £5 flash sale.

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