Ryanair ticket chaos for home owners in Spain

August 28, 2008

Thousands of people have been hit by low-fares airline Ryanair’s decision to cancel all flights booked on third-party websites. Ryanair announced at the weekend that due to the problems caused to its own website by so-called screen-scraping retailers, it was cancelling all bookings made via these sites as from Monday. The airline, which also accuses the sites of charging extra costs to the customer, is identifying, cancelling and refunding all bookings made from websites automatically lifting bookings from its site. The main problem for such customers is that Ryanair does not have their details and it will be up to the third-party company to make the refund. In addition, Ryanair cannot contact these customers directly and hundreds are turning up at airports expecting to fly only to find their booking has been cancelled and they have no alternative available. Ryanair has launched an advertising campaign against screen-scraping sites in which it accuses UK site On The Beach Holidays, Spanish agent Atrápalo, French webpage eDreams and Irish retailer Bravo Fly of ‘ripping-off’ customers. Although some agents have agreed to stop selling Ryanair tickets, others have criticised the decision as ‘short-sighted’. They estimate these pages represent around 0.5 per cent of Ryanair bookings, the equivalent of 1,000 per day. The general management of Spanish civil aviation, part of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, has opened an investigation file to determine whether customers’ rights have been violated. The European Commission has announced similar measures. Spanish consumers’ association Facua has filed an official complaint against Ryanair. For an extensive choice of new and off plan property for sale in Spain on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida, visit the Novocasa website.