Summary
- Ryanair partners with On The Beach to supply low-cost flights without overcharging customers
- The 2 firms have previously confliced publicly.
- This was the fourth partnership with an OTA that Ryanair has announced up to now few months.
Ryanair has announced that the low-cost carrier and the net travel agency (OTA) On The Beach have begun their partnership, enabling the agency to supply the airline’s flights to its customers online as a part of their holiday packages.
Guarantees for Ryanair
The idea of the partnership was that On The Beach would offer its customers Ryanair’s flights, seats, and bags without them being overcharged for On The Beach facilitating the sale. Moreover, the OTA has committed to making sure that the airline’s information might be directly provided to the client, including pre-departure details, Terms & Conditions (T&C), and knowledge regarding flight disruption.
Photo: MC MEDIASTUDIO | Shutterstock
Lastly, On The Beach will display Ryanair’s prices with none markups and only pass all relevant customer contact and payment details to Ryanair. Consequently of the partnership, On The Beach customers will get access to Ryanair’s low prices as a part of the OTA’s packages, which also include free lounges and fast-track options at airports.
Dara Brady, the Director of Marketing, Communications, and Digital at Ryanair, highlighted that this was the fourth partnership with an OTA that the airline has signed up to now few months. The chief reiterated that On The Beach customers will now receive full transparency about their Ryanair itineraries while booking through the OTA.
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Backwards and forwards
The 2 parties clashed in October 2023, when On the Beach issued a press release that the UK’s Competition Market Authority (CMA), the competition regulator within the UK, should investigate airlines over their practices. In response, Ryanair said that the OTA had continued to mislead travelers by overcharging them on flights and ancillary services.
Photo: Piotr Mitelski | Ryanair
As well as, the OTA had made bookings through the low-cost carrier’s website with fake customer bank cards and emails to cover passengers’ details. Michael O’Leary, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Ryanair, said that it was hypocritical for On The Beach to call for fair play while at the identical time the OTA had been overcharging customers once they book Ryanair flights.
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Fighting other OTAs
Nonetheless, On The Beach has not been the one OTA that Ryanair has been fighting against. For instance, the airline praised a choice by the Milan Court of Appeal, which ruled against two OTAs, Lastminute and Viaggiare. The 2 firms claimed that exclusive distribution of the airline’s tickets was an abuse of its dominant position.
Photo: InsectWorld | Shutterstock
The court determined that the business model was justified since exclusive distribution has eliminated extra costs related to selling tickets on third-party web sites while also helping Ryanair keep down its costs. As such, no harm to users was established, the low-cost carrier cited the court’s decision.
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