Those booking airline seats as families and want to be sure they sit together are being squeezed by the airlines for extra charges, amounting to £390 million.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) 22 million passengers paid extra to reserve seats together lastyear and 10 million of them didn’t need to since they would have been sattogether anyway, an aspect concealed by the airline when the charges were made.On this basis the CAA has concluded that up to £175million was paid when itdidn’t have to be.

The CAA is currently investigating passenger claims that families are deliberately being split up to generate charges for sitting together.