Airline CEO slams OTAs over dodgy refund practices

Airline CEO slams OTAs over dodgy refund practices

Online travel agencies (OTAs) using ‘screen scraping’ are preventing passengers from receiving refunds from cancelled flights, according to the boss of Ryanair.

The airline has continued its stance on insisting travellers and agents book direct, this time citing difficulties in providing refunds to those who have booked through an OTA.

In a video posted to YouTube earlier this month, Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said that while the airline is making “great progress” in processing refunds for almost 30 million passengers, it was having trouble contacting guests who booked through a third party.

“Customers who booked direct through Ryanair.com or through the Ryanair app… will have already received a voucher, a flight change or a cash refund,” Wilson said.

“Unfortunately, it has been a different experience for those customers who didn’t book directly with Ryanair but booked through screen scraper websites, sometimes inadvertently.

“Many of you have been contacting Ryanair customer care team looking for help with the booking you made through websites like Kiwi or On the Beach but none of these screen scrapers have a licence or permission to sell Ryanair flights.”

A ‘screen scraper’ is an OTA that uses screen scraping software to imitate copy from a website to display on their own so they can appear as authorised sellers.

However, according to Wilson, they often neglect to share customer details with airlines such as email addresses, payment details and postal addresses. This makes it difficult for the airline to contact passengers about their booking or refund them directly.

“They substitute your email address with a fake email and credit card details you gave them with a fake virtual credit card that is not yours,” he said.

“The reason screen scrapers go to all this trouble to hide your email from Ryan air with a fake one is because they may have added extra charges over and above the fares which they don’t want you to know or to prevent you from adding Ryanair’s ancillary products without paying a huge screen scraper mark-up.

“Or indeed just as an excuse to charge you for processing any refunds that might be due to you.”

To combat this, the airline has created a new Customer Verification Form which will allow customers to request a refund directly.

This comes as the airline said it will shut its base at Frankfurt Hahn airport after German pilots refused to accept pay cuts, BBC News reported.

The airline’s UK pilots have accepted pay cuts to reduce job losses.

Latest News

  • Aviation

Low-cost Indian carrier SpiceJet continues to burn cash

It’s not just low-cost Australian carriers that are facing hardship. SpiceJet, India’s version of Bonza, recently announced a 72 per cent reduction in its net loss versus last year. But, despite this improvement, the airline has posted losses for six straight years. But it has secured board approval to raise up to INR 30 billion […]

  • Attractions

SAKA Museum recognised in TIME magazine’s World’s Greatest Places 2024

AYANA Resort Bali’s newly-opened cultural and events centre, SAKA Museum has been recognised in TIME magazine’s World’s Greatest Places list for 2024. Part of AYANA Bali’s resort destination, the museum integrates Bali’s rich history with state-of-the-art facilities, making it the centrepiece for the island’s spiritual and cultural heritage. TIME magazine’s inclusion of SAKA Museum in […]

  • Cruise

Silversea taps Barbara Biffi as senior vice president for global sales

Ultra-luxury and expedition cruise travel brand, Silverseas, has announced Barbara Biffi as its new senior vice president of global sales. Biffi joined the company in 2007, holding numerous positions and gaining a deep understanding of the brand, the preferences of its guests and its strategic goals, the company said. An Italian national with a wealth […]

  • Technology
  • Travel Agents

Amadeus welcomes FCM Travel as new reseller partner of Cytric Easy

Cytric Easy, the travel management tool embedded in Microsoft Teams, is to be integrated into FCM Travel portfolio. Amadeus and FCM Travel have extended their Cytric distribution agreement to include Cytric Easy. With this new agreement, global travel management company FCM Travel, becomes a reseller of the innovative travel management collaboration solution embedded into Microsoft […]