Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair has welcomed an Irish Hight Court permanent injunction, preventing screenscraper Flightbox from using automated data collection technology to scrape its website for online travel agents (OTAs).
Noting that the Ryanair website is the only website authorised to sell the carrier’s flights, Ryanair’s Dara Brady added: “OTAs have for years relied upon screenscrapers (such as Flightbox), fake customer accounts, single-use payment cards and fake customer email addresses to make bookings on Ryanair’s website in breach of the Terms of Use”. He added that the High Court ruling will help ensure customers have access to the lowest fares, cannot be charged by OTAs, and have direct access to manage their bookings.
Ryanair estimates that in December 2023, unsuspecting customers booking services via unauthorised third-parties were being overcharged by as much as +252% for baggage and +203% for priority booking compared to Ryanair’s direct prices.