Ryanair takes battle with screenscrapers to Google

Ryanair has asked Google to enforce greater transparency on its online advertising after claiming its customers are being misled into booking its flights on third party websites ‘masquerading’ as Ryanair.

The airline says screenscraper websites such as eDreams pay Google to rank their websites rank above the official Ryanair website on Google searches.

As they include ‘Ryanair’ in their URL, the airline says customers are misled into visiting the third party sites and booking with them.

Ryanair says that as a result it has received ‘extensive’ complaints from customers.

Spokesman Kenny Jacobs said: "Customers end up paying more for their flights, thinking they’ve bought Ryanair flights with Ryanair, and often their contact details aren’t passed on, meaning they can’t be contacted if their flight changes, and they also have trouble checking-in online. This is a particular problem for customers in the UK and Ireland.

"Ryanair will continue to pursue screenscraper websites such as eDreams to prevent Europe’s consumers from being misled over price and booking conditions. We would again urge customers to book directly on the Ryanair.com website to guarantee the lowest fares and best customer service. In the meantime, we call on Google to enforce greater transparency of its advertising to prevent any more customers from being misled and overcharged."

Ryanair has been engaged in several legal cases against screenscraper websites across Europe.

In January, a court in Hamburg ordered eDreams to stop using the subdomain ryanair.edreams.de and to compensate Ryanair for trademark infringement.

"Many of these websites continue to cause problems for Ryanair customers and/or fail/refuse to pass on vital information to both customers and Ryanair regarding issues such as flight changes, web check-in, special needs assistance and contact details, which has resulted in missed flights and repeated problems for Ryanair customers," said the airline.