Ryanair has uncovered overcharges of up to 125% from online travel agents, found in its January 2024 OTA Pirate survey.
The report stated that online travel agent eDreams was the number one offender in January, overcharging by 125% for a reserved seat. It also found Opodo overcharged customers by 108%, and On the Beach overcharged customers by 63%.
The damning report also condemns these online travel agents for reportedly fake extra requests and premium service fees – a service not offered by Ryanair. On the Beach is charging customers £30 for such services whereas eDreams and Opodo are charging just over £15.
Ryanair director of digital & marketing Dara Brady said: “this is just one of hundreds of examples where OTA Pirates are unlawfully scraping Ryanair’s website (an act of digital piracy) and then using this unlawfully obtained info to dupe and scam unsuspecting consumers with overcharges for products and services, which are free of charge on Ryanair.com.”
Ryanair continues to call upon UK and Irish governments and EU consumer agencies to take action against third party travel agents.