Martin Lewis has spoken out after Ryanair announced a major change to its seating policy. Last week (Thursday, June 25), the budget airline announced that parents will now have the option to sit with children under 12 free of charge.

The 'minor policy tweak' came after an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which looked into the Irish airline - which is Europe's biggest in terms of passengers carried - and its policy of requiring parents pay between £4.50 and £13.50 per flight to reserve what is referred to as a mandatory family seat, which up to four children can sit next to without charge. Ryanair had described the investigation, which found that the fee for a mandatory family seat was typically about £8 each way, as 'bogus'.

But the low-cost carrier has now said that adults would be offered free seats next to their children after they have checked in for their flight, albeit at the rear of the plane. Children will then be allocated seats next to them for free.

Mr Lewis spoke out on the matter, saying: "Ryanair to finally allow an option for parents to sit with children for free."

An update on the MoneySavingExpert site said: "If you're travelling with a child under 12 on a Ryanair flight, you can now sit next to them for free instead of having to pay to reserve a seat. It follows the launch of an official investigation into Ryanair's seat charges for parents.

"Under Ryanair's old policy, it was compulsory for at least one adult in the group to pay for a seat reservation, which the airline called a 'mandatory family seat'.

"This could cost between £4.50 and £13.50 per flight, and you could then reserve seats for free for up to four children. But this has now changed."

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said it would "reluctantly adjust to this industry standard", but insisted its long-standing policy fully complied with laws and had given families "certainty".

The airlines said its policy had given families certainty of where they would be sitting at the time of booking, which they had valued. It said the "free parent seats" will now be available at the back of the aircraft, as front rows tend to be reserved.

He had earlier hit out at the CMA investigation, claiming that the body had 'targeted' the airline. He said: "The CMA has now targeted our family seating policy which has been universally embraced by consumers as the most progressive and transparent in Europe.

“Instead of promoting competitiveness and lower fares for consumers, the CMA is on a mission to force Ryanair to adopt the less transparent and less consumer-friendly family seating policy applied by most other airlines – just because it’s the industry standard.

“We will reluctantly adjust to this industry standard as we don’t want to waste time explaining to misguided regulators how badly they misunderstand what is in the best interest of UK and Europe’s consumers.

“Under our revised family seating policy, families may have to wait until after they have checked in to find out their seat allocation and are more likely to be seated at the rear of the cabin but at least the CMA will be able to claim they have done something for consumers, but sadly most consumers won’t notice.”