Spain launches investigation into Ryanair cancellations

Spain’s Ministry of Transport has decided to launch an investigation into Ryanair’s recent decision to cancel the ticket reservations of thousands of travelers, who booked their seats  through third-party, comparator websites. The Irish low-cost carrier announced this week that effective Monday, it would no longer honour reservations that were made through comparator sites and that passengers who booked through such companies may find their tickets cancelled. Ryanair argues that passengers are being short-changed by many of these sites and that the move is meant to cause the portals in question administrative chaos as they seek to reimburse clients.

One of the comparator sites to be most heavily affected by the Ryanair decision is eDreams, and it happens to be based in Spain. The company told journalists earlier today that it considers Ryanair’s move to be an example of “”irresponsibility and negligence” and that it would respond with some type of action. A Spanish consumer lobby group was also highly critical of the Irish carrier’s decision to unilaterally cancel seat reservations and it is likely that their concern-along with that of eDreams-motivated the Spanish Ministry of Transport to investigate the matter. Government officials, however, clearly indicated that the investigation serves first and foremost as a fact finding mission into Ryanair’s decision to cancel reservations that had already been paid for.

Thank you to the Sydney Morning Herald for the initial report.

www.ryanair.com