Michael O’Leary’s relationship with online travel agents is... complicated.
After accusing them of being “bloodsuckers” and “unauthorised, illegal ticket-tout scams” in 2008, the Ryanair boss began a 17-year crusade against websites he has accused of overcharging customers.
O’Leary has made the case that these agents, by “illegally” scraping data from Ryanair’s website, are akin to pirates – further placing “inflated air fares and hidden add-ons” on his company’s prices.
Just this week, Ryanair published data accusing sites such as eDreams of overcharging customers by as much as 125 per cent on seat reservations.
However, O’Leary has punctuated the week by signing a deal with one of the biggest sites in the sector.
The low-cost airline announced on Thursday during the company’s annual general meeting that it has given Skyscanner direct access to Ryanair flights on the provision that its customers will have full price transparency of Ryanair’s flight and ancillary products.
So what changed?
Artificial intelligence got involved. No, some plucky travel agent intern didn’t ask ChatGPT to assume the role of an expert negotiator and write a speech to change O’Leary’s mind. Instead. AI threatens the existence of these “bloodsuckers”.
Speaking to the media after the AGM, O’Leary said: “They all recognise that AI is going to come along and eat their business models. Nobody is going to be scrolling on comparison websites.
“AI is the reason why they have come to the table,” he revealed, noting consumers in coming years will just “ask Alexa”.
However, the fast-talking airline chief recognises that AI could be a double-edged sword.
“I worry that whoever wins in AI – say Google or ChatGPT – if they start selling 60 per cent our seats... they’ll turn around and try and charge us for distribution.
“The frontier 30 years ago was travel agency distribution, then it became online travel agents’ distribution that was trying to get in between us and the passenger. Now, in the next decade, it could be AI.”
Ryanair’s honeymoon with the online travel agents has barely begun and already he has set his eye on the next challenge.
