Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (14 Feb) welcomes the judgments of the Milan Court of Appeal conclusively rejecting Lastminute and Viaggiare’s claims that Ryanair’s exclusive online distribution model constitutes an abuse of a dominant position.  

The Court confirmed that Ryanair’s exclusive online distribution model was justified “in terms of containing operating costs and eliminating the costs associated with intermediation in ticket sales. This has contributed to the application of competitive fares – which undoubtedly benefit consumers as well – and to the possibility of having a direct channel of communication with them for any possible need for information and updates on flights. No harm to users, therefore, was established…”

Ryanair has long campaigned to protect customers from price gouging by OTAs who continue to dupe unsuspecting consumers by unlawfully scraping Ryanair’s website, including by overcharging for air fares and ancillary services, using fake customer accounts, fake customer payment cards and fake customer emails. This can be hugely detrimental to customers who, apart from being overcharged, cannot access their Ryanair bookings, make the necessary security declarations, access refunds, or receive direct email communications (such as online check-in reminders) from Ryanair. This historical and precedent-setting Court ruling is a major step forward in protecting unsuspecting consumers from being overcharged by OTAs, and will help to ensure that Ryanair customers always get the lowest fares, the best customer service, and real time email communications.

Ryanair has recently concluded pro-consumer deals with the OTAs Love Holidays and Kiwi so that they can market our flights to their customers, without hidden mark-ups and with full transparency for passengers to protect them against overcharging.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“We welcome these Milan Court rulings which establish that Ryanair’s exclusive online distribution model is pro-consumer.

OTAs have for years relied upon screenscrapers, fake customer accounts, single-use payment cards and fake customer email addresses to make bookings on Ryanair’s website in breach of the Terms of Use. This can cause huge inconvenience and expense to customers as often OTAs not only overcharge for fares, bags and seats, but they also block customers from managing their bookings or receiving important flight updates from Ryanair (such as online check-in reminders).

This historic Court ruling has reinforced Ryanair’s determination to pursue justice for our customers to ensure they get access to the lowest fares, cannot be overcharged by OTAs, and that they have direct access to manage their bookings and to receive up to date flight information.

We encourage our customers to book directly with us through ryanair.com or our mobile app.  Ryanair strongly objects to OTAs mis-selling our flights and overcharging consumers but are willing to deal with any OTA that undertakes not to overcharge and dupe our passengers, as shown by our recent pro-consumer deals with Love Holidays and Kiwi.”