Ryanair Continues Pressure on eDreams Overcharging

Ryanair is continuing to apply pressure on online travel agent eDreams over continuous overcharging, dubbing their services as a “scam”.

In the recent pirate survey they released, they have gone as far as comparing this against their airline competitors.

Without further ado, let’s get into it…

Examples Laid Out by Ryanair over eDreams Overcharging…

Ryanair has disclosed that eDreams are not selling their fares, but have taken the opportunity to expose overcharging with other airlines.

Below is an image that outlines the overcharging that takes place, with a few routes as an example:

Ryanair has also outlined that the eDreams Prime Subscription, which claims discounts for flights and hotels, is still above the price that other competitors sell their fares for.

Adding to this further was Dara Brady, who said:

“It’s no surprise that eDreams has yet again been exposed as our June OTA Pirate of the month, overcharging even its “Prime” consumers up to 38% for flights.”

“It is shocking that consumers are being duped into believing that they are getting discounted prices when they sign up for eDreams’ “Prime” subscription (at a cost of €64.99), when in reality, eDreams is still inflating airlines’ fares to almost double the real price and offering fake Prime “discounts” which still result in higher fares than booking directly with airlines.”

“This is a consumer rip-off, and it is unacceptable that EU Govts and consumer authorities are sitting idly by, while EU consumers are being ripped-off repeatedly by this eDreams “Prime” scam.”

“Ryanair again calls on EU Govts and consumer authorities to outlaw eDreams Prime and protect EU consumers from these blatant anti-consumer OTA Pirate scams.”

The OTA Remains Persistent?: Airline Not Backing Down…

Ryanair has remained persistent over the overcharging that eDreams has been partaking in.

Back in April, CEO Michael O’Leary had this to say on the online travel agent:

“eDreams has lied to and misled regulators.”

“While they scam and overcharge Italian consumers, they falsely claim they cannot survive without digitally pirating our website.”

“They can sign an ‘Approved OTA’ deal with us, but they refuse because their rotten business model relies on overcharging.”

It does appear in this case that eDreams is not backing down from their continued practice, which has resulted in Ryanair continuing to be persistent in this regard.

Furthermore, the airline submitted a complaint to the Spanish Consumer Affairs Minister and called on him to outlaw eDreams and it’s “prime scam”.

Whether this will be taken seriously by governments around Europe is yet to be seen.

The Irish low-cost carrier has signed deals with other OTAs in the last few months.

This was to ensure that pricing remained the same as on the Ryanair website itself.

OTAs such as eSky, TUI, Kiwi.com, loveholidays and others have signed on with the Irish low-cost carrier.

Overall…

Whilst eDreams isn’t selling any Ryanair fares in June, the Irish low-cost carrier continues to exert pressure over overcharging.

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see whether the OTA will budge and sign an agreement with the airline.

This OTA has been very persistent in not signing agreements that the likes of TUI, Kiwi.com and others have signed.

But for now, all we can do is wait to see when the OTA will budge, because one thing is for sure: Ryanair certainly won’t.

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