Ryanair welcomes ruling against eDreams website

German court found the travel website had been mis-selling airline’s flights

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Ryanair has welcomed another legal ruling against so called screenscraper website eDreams.

A German regional court found the website had been mis-selling Ryanair flights by failing to display the final price of flights.

The airline has long argued that eDreams unfairly imitates an official Ryanair website, sells its seats at inflated prices and causes problems with customers’ bookings.

Ryanair is taking action in the Irish High Court against eDreams and Google for displaying the website on its search.

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In its ruling, Hamburg’s regional court ordered eDreams to display the final price of flights at the beginning of the booking process and to include all surcharges as levied by eDreams.

It also prohibited the site from charging “excessive” credit card fees and directed that it provide a payment option that does not incur a charge.

"We welcome this Regional Court of Hamburg ruling preventing eDreams' unlawful practices and anti-consumer behaviour," Ryanair's Robin Kiely said.

“This is an important victory for consumers, particularly those who have been subjected to additional fees at the hands of screenscraper websites such as eDreams and we will continue to pursue these websites to prevent Europe’s consumers from being misled.”

“It’s important to note that Ryanair has no commercial agreement whatsoever with eDreams, who continue to engage in unauthorised screenscraping and mis-selling of Ryanair’s low fares,” he said.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times