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Ryan Air to forbid booking through third parties
I heavily rely on multiple booking sites like Atrapalo, WeGoLo, Kayak, Rumbo, Orbitz, Expedia and CheapTickets. I find that 80% of the time, they are the best way to choose a route and flight to a destination. So reading that Ryan Air is not going to accept bookings from these sites, was an annoying blow.Starting August 11, Ryan Air has announced plans to cancel all flight bookings through these intermediary sites (also called "screen scrapers"). Why? Apparently, these sites function against their terms and conditions, and are illegal. In addition, they want to ensure that passengers get the lowest rates, to avoid the Ryan Air's website server be overloaded, and to be able to have direct contact with their customers. On the business front: When people book flights on intermediary sites, websites like Ryan Air lose sales on services such as travel-insurance, hotel-bookings, car-rentals, etc -- probably the main reason for this action.
For the moment, BravoFly, V-tours, Opodo, Atrapalo, and OTbeach, are the main ones Ryan Air is taking action against.
I think passengers have the right to choose how they want to book their flights. There are more pros than cons booking with third parties, and if the customer is willing to pay the extra buck, the airline is no one to interfere with that. Anyhow, only 0.5% of Ryan Air's bookings come through these booking engines; since Ryan Air will no longer appear on the flight options of these "screen scrapers", they are bound to lose that business. Looks like they are just making an unnecessary inconvenience for everyone.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott Aug 9th 2008 12:59PM
Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity (also known as the big three) are not screen scrapers. They attain their fare information from a central marketplace called a GDS. This the standard way that all airlines provide their fares to travel agents both online and offline.
Merrill Aug 10th 2008 9:08AM
The correct spelling of the company is Ryanair.
Pamela Johnston Aug 9th 2008 10:53PM
Nice scoop, I saw the articles in The Independent and The Telegraph and was waiting to see when U.S. folks were going to notice. I thought deplorable news would travel more quickly. It will be interesting to see the coverage and how people react to Ryanair. We have to assume they know just what to expect. And they're ready and waiting.
chefoodesign Nov 16th 2009 1:14PM
I arrived at the airport this evening to catch my flight from Nice, France to Helsinki and discover that my flight booking was cancelled by the company I booked it through (Rumbo.com)! Although the company has sent a message to tell of the cancelation, I did not receive the information today as I was not with the internet at all today. It's when I showed up to the KLM/Air France desk at the airport I discovered it and they said it was Rumbo's fault and that any price-comparing website does this, but after reading your news maybe it was Air France that did the canceling? I have had to book another flight directly at the desk of Air France to leave tomorrow and pay twice the price as it is now a last minute booking! Who covers the cost of tonight's hotel?