Fiavet: a new judicial procedure against Ryanair is underway

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The governing council of Fiavet – Confcommercio has decided to launch a legal action against Ryanair and its online sales policies. The subject of the dispute is the purchase procedure on the site which, in fact, prevents travel agencies from purchasing the carrier’s ticket office. According to Fiavet, Ryanair has in fact activated a cumbersome passenger identity verification system. On its website, the carrier explicitly states that bookings made through travel agents can 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 the carrier has entered are a “quick” check at a cost of €0.59 which provides for facial recognition and a copy of the passenger’s identification documentation. The practical issues of subjecting the passenger to facial recognition such as group and educational travel become an obstacle to the agency’s ability to purchase. In addition, the “standard” check requires 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 a camera are still required. An exclusive procedure for tickets purchased through travel agencies. There is also another element: for many destinations towards tourist destinations, the low-cost company has direct flights operated “in a monopolistic and dominant way – continues Fiavet – and for those who work in tourism intermediation it has become impossible to sell the ticket office of this company ».

Fiavet’s decision

Thus the National Council of FIavet has unanimously assumed the resolution to proceed judicially against the carrier to protect the rights of travel agents, and their customers, to book Ryanair’s ticket office, claiming the right to exercise the activity of intermediary, agent of one’s client, a right recognized among the typical activities by the regional legislation governing travel agencies. «We have been dealing with this thorny issue for years, in the past we have contested, with various warnings to Ryanair, incorrect behavior towards travel agents – underlines the President of Fiavet Confcommercio, Giuseppe Ciminnisi -. In 2011 Fiavet obtained a compensatory sentence for defamation against the Irish carrier, but now we are once again forced to deliberate a judicial action to defend the sacrosanct right to be able to buy Ryanair tickets». According to the president, we cannot accept being expelled from one’s own intermediation activity and being singled out as negligent subjects or subjects on which to raise suspicions such as to have to verify the identity of our customers, as if we were counterfeiters». It is clear that Ryanair wants to pass a disparaging message towards travel agencies with the sole purpose of forcing all customers to contact the carrier directly to acquire their personal data in order to then be able to sell ancillary or additional services, in addition to the transport service , in clear unfair competition with the category of travel agents conclude from Fiavet.