A Hamburg court has decided to uphold Ryanair’s injunction against screenscraper/ticket tout websites that the airline claimed actually ripped off consumers by between 200pc and 300pc.
Earlier this week, Ryanair released findings that showed screenscraper websites overcharged consumers by up to 370pc.
An example of a Ryanair flight on a Bravofly.com price works out at €60.93, up €40.95 or 205pc. A €106.87 Ryanair flight works out at €385.97 on Edreams.com, up 260pc or €279.10. A €10 Ryanair flight cost €37 on Weglo.com, up 370pc or €27.
The Hamburg case this morning concerned Vtours.de, which was previously selling Ryanair tickets, with inflated hidden mark-ups, to German consumers.
Vtours.de had appealed against Ryanair’s original injunction and this case was heard in the Hamburg Court last week. In today’s judgement, the Hamburg Court confirmed that Ryanair’s injunction remains in place, which will prevent the Vtours.de website illegally screenscraping Ryanair’s website and unlawfully selling Ryanair’s tickets to its customers with unauthorised hidden mark-ups.
“We welcome this latest successful Hamburg Court decision against the Vtours.de screenscraper/ticket-tout website,” said Ryanair’s Jim Callaghan.
“Ryanair is continuing to cancel bookings made through this unauthorised ticket-tout website, and has called on the European Commission, as well as national governments to take action to prevent this illegal and unlawful mis-selling to consumers.
“Sadly, we are still waiting for the European Commission to take any action to protect consumers, but we live in hope,” Callaghan said.
By John Kennedy
Caption: Michael O’Leary, chief executive, Ryanair
