EDREAMS PRIME “DISCOUNTS” ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN BOOKING AIRLINES DIRECT

Ryanair today (Wed 7 Aug) issued its August OTA Survey which shows that eDreams, the Spanish OTA, continues to overcharge its eDreams Prime members, by up to 78% (€32) for an €18 10kg Bag on Vueling. Similarly, eDreams advertises an inflated price of €39.49 for a BA reserved seat that costs just €23 (+72%). While Ryanair notes that eDreams is not currently selling Ryanair fares in August, it is still overcharging its Prime members for other airline flights and products, which is causing real consumer harm.

This latest OTA survey proves that eDreams “Prime” service is inducing consumers into paying a yearly “Prime” subscription by promising non-existing  “savings” even though they are still overcharging “Prime” members as confirmed by Ryanair’s August OTA survey.

Ryanair continues to call for consumer protection from overcharging OTA’s, like eDreams. In April, Ryanair submitted a complaint to the Spanish Consumer Affairs Minister (Pablo Bustinduy) calling on him to outlaw eDreams “Prime” and to require all OTAs to offer consumers transparent pricing, just like Ryanair’s “Approved OTA” partners now do. Sadly, 4 months later, Mr Bustinduy hasn’t taken any action to protect Spanish consumers from these eDream overcharges.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“It is disappointing that eDreams has again been exposed by our August OTA survey, which shows that eDreams is overcharging its “Prime” members by up to 78% for airline flights and services. It is concerning that Spanish consumers are being induced into believing that they are getting discounted prices when they sign up for eDreams “Prime” membership (at an annual cost of €69.99), when in reality, eDreams is inflating airlines’ fares and ancillary product prices by up to 78% as set out in the above table while wrongly claiming to offer Prime members “discounts” yet it still results in higher prices  for these consumers than booking them directly with the airlines.

This is real evidence of consumers being overcharged and it is unacceptable that EU Govts and Spain’s Consumer Ministry stand idly by, while consumers are being overcharged / harmed by this eDreams “Prime” service. Ryanair again calls on EU Govts and Spain’s Consumer Authorities to outlaw these eDreams Prime overcharges and protect Spanish consumers from these harmful OTA overcharges.”