Ryanair has reached a preliminary agreement with the booking platform. The Irish airline has repeatedly described these players as “pirates” in recent weeks.
The deal was concluded with loveholidays, the UK's third largest holiday provider and largest online operator. A travel agent may now be selling Ryanair flights as part of holiday packages. Customers are guaranteed that they will pay the ticket price charged by Ryanair.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary once again criticized online travel agencies such as kiwi.com, Opodo, eDreams and last minute.com during a press conference in Brussels last week. According to O'Leary, these “pirates” make customers pay more than necessary by charging extra for services that Ryanair does not offer or offer at a much cheaper price, such as a “premium” service or seat reservation.
Guaranteed refund
“We've always said we're happy to work with booking platforms if they follow our rules,” says marketing and communications director Dara Brady. “In this case, no one wants to overcharge customers and no one wants customers not to get the correct information. And if something goes wrong, there is a procedure in place to ensure customers get refunds.”
In December, Ryanair announced that most booking platforms, including Booking.com, would no longer offer its flights. In the short term, this will reduce the occupancy rate by 1 to 2 percentage points.
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