RYANAIR CALLS ON MINISTER BUSTINDUY & FACUA TO PROTECT SPANISH CONSUMERS FROM EDREAMS’ HARMFUL OVERCHARGING AND USE OF FAKE CONTACT & PAYMENT DETAILS TO HIDE THEIR UNAUTHORISED BOOKINGS

Ryanair, Spain’s No.1 airline, today (Mon, 14 Apr) called on Consumer Minister Bustinduy and consumer association, FACUA, to take action to protect Spanish consumers from eDreams’ harmful overcharging. Over the past year, Ryanair has received thousands of complaints from eDreams customers who were induced into buying Ryanair (and other airline) flights at inflated prices, from this unauthorised OTA who are not legally permitted to sell Ryanair flights, but do so unlawfully by screen scraping Ryanair’s website, inflating Ryanair’s prices, while using fake customer emails and fake payment info to hide this consumer harm. eDreams has repeatedly failed to provide customers with real Ryanair prices or to pass on important safety and security updates regarding their flights.

Ryanair’s CMO, Dara Brady said:

“It is inexplicable that both Minister Bustinduy and FACUA stand idly by while eDreams continue to harm Spanish consumers by overcharging them for flights and their services, while they make unauthorised bookings using fake emails and false payment info that do not belong to the customer.

Ryanair does not authorise eDreams to “scrape” its inventory or resell it at inflated prices. To protect Spanish consumers from eDreams’ harmful practices, Ryanair has released a dossier of complaints from eDreams customers who were overcharged by eDreams but were unable to access their Ryanair bookings or receive important flight information due to eDreams using fake customer contact, and fake payment details, to make these unauthorised bookings.

We call on both Minister Bustinduy and FACUA to take urgent action to protect Spanish consumers from eDreams’ harmful practices and to outlaw the selling of flights by non-approved OTAs without airlines’ authorisation. If OTAs want to offer Ryanair flights for sale, they can do so on agreed terms that guarantee transparency for consumers, as Ryanair’s “Approved OTA” partners already do. The real question is, why won’t eDreams agree to these transparent terms and why won’t Minster Bustinduy or FACUA protect Spanish consumers from eDreams harmful practices?”

ENDS