Ryanair claims victory over screenscrapers
Ryanair is claiming victory in the latest round of its battle against screenscraper websites after a German court ordered Cheaptickets to stop reselling the airline’s flights.
The Hamburg Higher Regional Court found the screenscraping website guilty of obstructing fair competition by entering and disrupting Ryanair’s exclusive distribution channel and failing to pass on passengers’ contact details to the airline, said Ryanair.
Ryanair has been fighting various cases across Europe to block websites from re-selling its flights, which it claims subject passengers to excessive charges, sometimes through hidden mark-ups as part of packages, and prevent Ryanair from being able to communicate directly with customers in the event of a flight change or delay.
It claims thousands of passengers were left without any information during the 2010 volcanic ash airspace closures as travel agents and screenscrapers failed to forward information from Ryanair.
It also said it was unable to refund passengers as the screenscrapers failed to provide it with their credit card details, and they didn’t tell the airline if passengers needed special assistance or make passengers aware of Ryanair’s terms and conditions.
Ryanair does allow "price comparison only" websites to access its timetable and pricing information, for an annual charitable donation of €100 but Cheaptickets has not signed up.
The airline’s spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "The Court described the situation as unreasonable for Ryanair as Cheaptickets failed to provide the correct email addresses and credit card details of passengers who had made bookings and we hope that this Court victory will deter other screenscrapers from mis-selling Ryanair’s low fare flights. Screenscraper websites have caused a number of difficulties for passengers."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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