RYANAIR CALLS ON ALL EU REGULATORS TO TAKE STRONGER ACTION AGAINST EDREAMS AFTER ITALY’S LIGHT‑TOUCH €9M FINE FOR “CLEARLY DECEPTIVE”, “UNQUESTIONABLY MANIPULATIVE” AND[...]

Ryanair today (4 Feb) calls on consumer and competition regulators across the EU to take decisive action against eDream's Prime scheme following today's €9m fine in Italy.

While Italy has imposed a €9m fine on eDreams, Ryanair believes this sanction is too lenient. It leaves Italian and EU consumers exposed to the same harmful practices, especially as eDreams continues to inflate airline fares and/or ancillary services with undisclosed intermediary fees.

The Italian investigation found that "Prime users access, in almost all cases, a higher Prime price than that shown to non-subscribing users" and stated that "the actual extent of the discounts associated with the subscription was misrepresented, and price differences were not transparently disclosed, depending on whether consumers accessed eDreams directly or through metasearch engines, or on their Prime subscription status." Internal documents of eDreams even "comment on the suitability of reverse psychology to facilitate significant increases in subscriptions…" The Italian investigation further said that there are "numerous reports… that [consumers] are unwittingly subscribed… without any warning… that the free trial period does not apply."

This investigation confirms that eDreams' approach to pricing is "clearly deceptive", "unquestionably manipulative" and "misleading" - setting it apart from most other online travel agencies such as Booking.com, Lastminute, and Kiwi, all of whom have adopted Ryanair's price transparency standards. For access to fares that are not "misleading", we encourage all customers to book directly on the Ryanair.com website, or through one of our approved OTA partners-where consumers always see the true, accurate Ryanair price.

Ryanair's Dara Brady, said:

"Today's Italian decision confirms what we've been saying for years: eDreams' business model depends on "clearly deceptive", "unquestionably manipulative" and "misleading" practices, while disguising its own intermediary fees inside inflated airline fares and ancillary services. In Germany, the Hamburg Court has already ruled these displays are "misleading", and now the Italian authority has independently documented these same abuses against consumers in Italy.

Despite Ryanair's repeated objections, eDreams continues to scrape our fares and ancillary services to overcharge consumers. eDreams remains the only large OTA that refuses to adopt the transparency standards already adopted by Booking.com, Lastminute, Kiwi and others. Ryanair has offered to provide eDreams with free, direct access to Ryanair's inventory - if they wish to compete on a level playing field - but only if/when they adopt the same transparency standards as their main OTA competitors, and desist from "misleading" or overcharging consumers."