Pirates are swapping the Red Sea for the skies apparently.
That’s according to Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE:RYA), whose crusade against "OTA pirates” has brought travel group On the Beach Group (LSE:OTB) firmly in the Irish budget carrier’s crosshairs.
For the uninitiated, OTA (online travel agents) pirates, as Ryanair calls them, are price aggregators that unfairly overcharge customers for plane tickets.
Alongside On The Beach, Ryanair has accused Lastminute.com, eDreams, Opodo and Booking.com of overcharging and mis-selling tickets, calling on UK and Irish governments and EU consumer agencies to take action.
Pirates attacking a Ryanir aircraft (dramatisation) – Credit: Dalle 3
On The Beach won the dubious honour of being the “No. 1 Pirate” for February, with Ryanair singling out a “rapacious” 117% (£125) change fee charge that costs just £45 on ryanair.com.
Ryanair’s director of marketing Dara Brady commented: “Our Feb survey continues to expose the scams and overcharging of OTA Pirates, with On The Beach highlighted as Feb’s No.1 Pirate for its egregious 117% overcharge of £125 for a £45 flight change fee on Ryanair.com.”
Opodo also attracted ire for charging a €60 service fee “for a non-existent service”, while eSky was slammed for charging a €33 cancellation fee “for flights that cannot be cancelled”.
“These are just the latest examples of hundreds where OTA Pirates are unlawfully scraping Ryanair.com to overcharge, dupe and scam unsuspecting consumers for Ryanair products and services,” said Brady.
“It is unacceptable that the UK and Irish Govts and EU consumer agencies continue to ignore this rampant digital piracy and anti-consumer mis-selling.
“Ryanair will continue to campaign against these OTA Pirates, exposing their digital piracy and overcharging scams and will continue to call for these OTA Pirates to be outlawed and their scams ended.”
Ryanair recently signed approved OTA partnerships with loveholidays and Kiwi.
Proactive has approached On The Beach for a comment.