29 August 2008

TravelMole eWire Comment by Dinah Hatch

A friend once told me that all Ryanair workers, from check in staff to executives, were trained to act in a combative manner, no matter who they were dealing with.

So from the passenger at check in to the potential business partner in a boardroom meeting, everyone gets treated the same ââ¬' with suspicion bordering on contempt.

This, the theory goes, puts them on the back foot and creates an atmosphere that has them too busy watching their own backs to stop and think what Ryanairââ¬â¢s weaknesses might be.

A colleague I know in the industry echoes this, recalling a meeting he had lined up with a Ryanair middle manager. On entering the meeting, the colleague was not met with a handshake or a professionally-put polite opener but instead asked: ââ¬ÅâœSo, what do you want?ââ¬~

So the budget carrierââ¬â¢s present forthright stance on screenscraping, cancelling all bookings made in this manner, should not come as a surprise to anyone.

While Flybe has attacked the problem of scraping slowing down its siteââ¬â¢s efficiency by creating an XML-based Web Services outgoing feed which will allow third party sites to directly access its pricing and booking engine without going through its website, Ryanair has launched all out war on the likes of Irish price comparison website Bravofly.com and German Vtours.

Both have stopped selling Ryanair flights on their sites after successful injunctions were taken out by Ryanair, claiming the scraping infringed copyright, was detrimental to customers who were often not informed of flight changes (since they had not bought direct) and were often made to pay unspecified extra charges (although this last bit did make me laugh, given the ridiculous list of ââ¬Åâœextrasââ¬~ such as luggage that Oââ¬â¢Leary charges for).

For what itââ¬â¢s worth, I donââ¬â¢t think Ryanair is half as bothered about passengers getting charged extra by third party sites and not being informed of flight changes as itââ¬â¢d have you believe.

Having seen a Ryanair big cheese in action at a travel industry conference not that long ago, Iââ¬â¢d say the real beef here is that the selling of its flights by third parties through scraping takes away control over how its product is distributed and that is anathema to Oââ¬â¢Leary and team Ryanair.

But is this a head-in-the-sand approach? Flybeââ¬â¢s head of sales Stephen Hobday has been quoted as saying he believes Web Services [technology allowing one system to talk to another] will become the ââ¬Åâœde facto messaging standardââ¬~ in the future and that itââ¬â¢s the carrierââ¬â¢s obligation to provide this.

Meanwhile, Easyjet has approached the scraping issue by jumping into bed with the GDSs to allow TMCs access to its flights (at Ã&#pound;7.50 a sector) and then tying up with travel technology specialists Comtec and Multicom to provide thousands of leisure agents with access too.

I canââ¬â¢t help feeling that the latter two airlines' approach is a little bit adult than Ryanairââ¬â¢s. They havenââ¬â¢t picked up their ball and gone home with it, simply realised its value and acted accordingly.

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• More to Ryanair story than meets the eye
  
  

  Ryanair is playing a very canny game. One minute it wants to exclude all 'third party' 'scrapers' and now it is offering an olive brand to the meta search sites it originally cut off. There is clearly a carefully plotted strategy in place here. I wonder if everyone has worked it out yet? As we have pointed out a few times, Ryanair's actions often automatically incur the wrath of the travel trade simply because it is Ryanair. This is rather petty, but it's probably true. Travolution is not a Ryanair apologist, but if Virgin or BA cancelled what it believed were invalid tickets under their terms & conditions, would their have been such an outcry?

  By Travolution Blogger, Wednesday, September 3, 2008
• If they don't want to play, let them play by themselves
  
  

  I agree that XML services will be the defacto messaging standard. However, I don't agree that airlines should be obliged to provide the service. If the airline wants to provide the service, then they benefit from the added exposure. If a company like Ryanair doesn't want to play with the rest of the travel community, then so be it. You can only succeed in a silo for so long before outside pressures, especially in the travel business, force you to start playing nicely with others.

  By Stephen Joyce, Monday, September 1, 2008
• easyJet surcharge applies to Leisure Agents too
  
  

  Just wanted to point out to the readers that the easyJet surcharge of ⬠7,50 (Euros) per return trip (not per segment) does not only apply to bookings made via a connected GDS, but also to those made via the other technology suppliers mentioned in the article. Prices via XML are higher than those available on the easyJet website. This approach is starting to create a precedent with now other LCCs going down the same route of offering XML links, but applying a surcharge to the trade to sell their product (albeit for now lower than easyJet's) Our customers tell us this is not a business model they are willing to subscribe to.

  By Roberto Da Re, Monday, September 1, 2008
• Have I missed something?
  
  

  ...the more I think about this, the more I wonder about Ryanair's motives. Could it be as simple as a wish to avoid comparison? If a customer knows that Ryanair operate a route & goes to Ryanair.com to check flight & fare, they would see what they want & decide whether it looks reasonable or not. More often than not, I suspect the customer stops there & doesn't bother looking further. What aggregators do is expose Ryanair to the glare of competition, comparing their fares to the competition far too openly for their liking. Perhaps the open market isn't a space that carrier is too keen to visit...

  By Mike Tawil, Friday, August 29, 2008