Ryanair today (26 Sep) welcomed the European Commission’s decision to block Booking.com’s proposed anticompetitive acquisition of Etraveli. Booking.com’s ability to dictate commission levels to hotels all over the EU coupled with Etraveli’s advanced screenscraping technology targeting airline websites would result in more consumers being overcharged for their flights if these two digital giants were allowed to merge.

Consumers booking airline tickets are often lured into websites of online travel agents (OTAs) advertising “low fares”, only to later pay significantly higher fees for baggage, seat reservation and other services. Many OTAs also withhold customers’ payment and contact details out of fear that a customer may find out that the airline received much less for the booking than the customer paid to the OTA. The European Commission’s decision in the Booking.com / Etraveli case is therefore good news for consumers all around the world.