Court orders eDreams to change how it sells Ryanair flights
Online travel agent eDreams has been ordered to change the way it sells Ryanair flights by the Regional Court of Hamburg.
In the latest round of a long-running battle between the airline and the flight booking website, the German court has ordered eDreams to display the final price of flights at the beginning of the booking process and to include all surcharges.
It has also prohibited eDreams from charging excessive credit card fees and directed it to provide a payment option that doesn’t incur a charge.
Ryanair said the Court ruled that eDreams ‘violated consumer protection law’ and was ‘overcharging customers on payment fees’.
This is the fifth Hamburg Court ruling against eDreams in the last three years, as part of Ryanair’s campaign against screenscraper websites.
The low-cost airline says these sites cause problems for its customers by failing to pass on vital information, which has led to missed flights and repeated problems for customers.
Legal proceedings continue in the Irish High Court against both Google and eDreams.
Ryanair claims consumers are being misled by the advertising of non-existent Ryanair fares on the eDreams website and Google search adverts, practices which are prohibited by Irish consumer legislation.
Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said of the latest court decision: "This is an important victory for consumers, particularly those who have been subjected to additional fees at the hands of screenscraper websites such as eDreams and we will continue to pursue these websites to prevent Europe’s consumers from being misled.
"It’s important to note that Ryanair has no commercial agreement whatsoever with eDreams, who continue to engage in unauthorised screenscraping and mis-selling of Ryanair’s low fares. We again urge customers to avoid eNightmares and book directly on the Ryanair.com website."
An eDreams ODIGEO spokesperson said: "This initial ruling is still subject to legal process and appeal and it is therefore too early for us, or anyone else, to comment.
"We invest in ensuring that our customers in Germany value and trust our service. Ryanair are desperately trying to stand in the way of the millions of people using online travel agent sites like ours, to get the best deal and the most convenient combination of flights possible. They are actually threatened by the fact that close to half of our customers book a combination of flights which cannot be booked on any single airline website.
"Ryanair will soon be undergoing a CAA investigation in the UK into ‘unfair charges’, and face the threat of a class action lawsuit from over 5,000 unhappy consumers on the same issue."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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