Ryanair passengers may find their tickets cancelled

As a consequence of a controversial move by Irish low cost carrier Ryanair, thousands of passengers may discover that their booking has been cancelled, simply because the tickets in question were  purchased through a third-party, comparator website. According to a report on the RTE news site, as many as 1,000 Ryanair passengers each day may find themselves without a ticket on their selected flight, even though they made a reservation through an intermediary company. Ryanair, however, has now effectively issued a warning that it will begin to cancel such tickets starting next Monday and the carrier’s chief, Michael O’Leary, has indicated that the airline has every right to do so. O’Leary also noted that his goal was to “cause as much chaos for the screen scrapers [the intermediaries] as possible.” The outspoken Ryanair executive argued that passengers who book through these sites are getting the short end of the stick, as the prices quoted are very often higher than those available through Ryanair’s own website.

Since Ryanair has no contact information whatsoever for people who use intermediaries to book their tickets, the carrier will issue refunds to the affected companies and it will then be up to them to ensure that the actual client gets his/her money back for the cancelled ticket. This, however, may lead to an administrative nightmare for websites that have booked many  tickets for clients. The Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) has also expressed concern that passengers will end up suffering, as it may be difficult for them to receive their refund and their travel plans will also be badly disrupted.

Thank you to RTE Business for the direct quotes.

www.ryanair.com