Ryanair has struck a deal with online package holiday provider loveholidays and will start listing its flights on its website
The budget airline operator said the deal will allow loveholidays’ customers to "buy Ryanair flights, seats, and bags as part of a package deal, at Ryanair’s prices, without being overcharged".
Dublin-based Ryanair’s previous engagement with online travel agents or OTAs has largely been through the courts in a string of disputes where the airline has accused online sellers of being 'pirates' by marking up ticket prices and charging commissions on seat bookings.
The row came to a head late last year when several OTAs took Ryanair flights off their sites, though the airline told reporters today that this deal was unrelated.
“It guarantees that loveholidays’ customers will not be overcharged and they will have direct access to their myRyanair account for all customer info questions,” the carrier said in a statement.
Customers will be able to avoid Ryanair’s verification process if they go through loveholidays, it added, something OTA s have argued is designed to get passengers to book directly with the airline.
“This is about customer protection from our perspective,” Ryanair spokesman Dara Brady told reporters, adding other OTAs had been in contact about a partnership with the airline.
“We’re certainly open to working with anyone that wants to do it legitimately with this sort of OTA structure of the deal.”