Class action against Ryanair brought by travel agents

Listen to the audio version of the article

Class action, a collective action for unfair competition (pursuant to art. 2601 of the civil code) against Ryanair. It is the one promoted by Fiavet-Confcommercio with summons before the court of Milan in defense of the entire category of travel agents who, when purchasing tickets from the low cost carrier, whose tickets very often do not have very low prices, have to face a real obstacle course. Fiavet requests that all forms and procedures of obstacle or discrimination in the purchase of intermediary ticketing through travel agencies be inhibited, including facial recognition procedures, the prohibition of screen scraping, procedures that are not required in direct non-intermediated purchases, as well as the cessation of publication of texts on the carrier’s website and sending of communications to customers who discredit travel agents with the intention of discouraging recourse to intermediation for the benefit of the carrier’s direct booking. Compensation for damages to the entire category is also requested in the summons. The notification was also extended to Adiconsum, one of the major consumer associations, members of the Cncu, so that it can appear in court in compliance with the Fiavet-Confcommercio theses, given the consumer’s interest in making use of their trusted travel agents to mediate the purchase of the ticket office and also assist them in after-sales in the case, for example, of rebooking or refunds.

Obstacle procedures

On many routes Ryanair operates in an exclusive regime and for those who work in organized tourism it is impossible to satisfy a customer who chooses some tourist destinations where the Irish company operates in a monopolistic way which has a cumbersome passenger identity verification system. On its website, Ryanair explicitly states that bookings made through travel agents “may be blocked”, motivating the statement with the fact that it has no commercial agreement with the agencies, forgetting that these operate as agents of their customers. The options that entered the carrier are a “quick” check at a cost of € 0.59 which requires facial recognition and a copy of the passenger’s identification documentation. Imposed “rules” that make it impossible to buy tickets for groups or for school trips. Precisely to make the procedures even more complicated, the control mechanism provides for the passenger’s signature to verify its authenticity, a practice that takes a maximum of 7 days and for which a copy of the passenger’s identification documentation and a device equipped with of camera. «A procedure that is applied only for tickets purchased through travel agencies» remarked by Fiavet.

“Already in 2011 Fiavet obtained a compensation sentence for defamation against Ryanair, and we would have liked to end this discriminatory behavior against a category that exists, is more alive than ever, and must be able to carry out its professional activity – recalls Giuseppe Ciminnisi, president of FIavet – . In addition, this method damages the consumer who clearly chooses to go to a travel agency and rely on an intermediary, precisely to be protected in his needs. Ours is an action that affects the whole category and all the acronyms that represent it, none excluded. I am certain that the many voices which in recent months have been urging the launch of this initiative will, in our opinion, join forces with Fiavet-Confcommercio to finally form a common front».