Ryanair HQ visited by consumer watchdogs
OFFICIALS from both the Irish and Italian consumer watchdogs carried out an inspection of Ryanair’s offices yesterday as part of an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive practices.
The carrier is under investigation by the Italian consumer watchdog over the airline’s stance on online travel agencies (OTAs) which Ryanair says are overcharging consumers.
Yesterday’s inspection by the organisations was supported by members of An Garda Síochána.
In a statement, Ryanair confirmed that its Dublin headquarters was visited by the consumer organisations.
The statement read: ‘Ryanair today received a visit at 12.30pm from a team from the Italian AGCM (competition authority) together with the Irish CCPC [The Competition and Comsumer Protection Commission] and as part of an investigation in Italy into claims made by Italian OTAs and travel agencies about Ryanair’s long-running campaign to protect consumers from digital piracy and OTA overcharging.
‘Ryanair and its team are happy to fully cooperate with this investigation into its long-running and increasingly successful campaign to prevent digital piracy and consumer overcharging by Italian OTAs.
‘In recent weeks a number of these OTAs have signed “approved” OTA distribution agreements with Ryanair under which they agreed to stop screen scraping the Ryanair.com website and to stop overcharging consumers with inflated air fares, inflated ancillary fees and invented fees for non-existent services.
‘The Milan Court of Appeal in February 2024 dismissed false claims by Italian OTAs that Ryanair was in breach of Italian competition law.’
Ryanair has previously strongly complained about onlin travel agencies selling its flights without permission.
In January, it highlighted companies such as Kiwi.com, Opodo, eDreams and lastminute.com overcharging passengers.
There is also an issue with passengers’ contact details not being passed on, making it difficult to provide travel updates and process refunds.