Skift Take
Booking.com can argue that it doesn't used banned screen-scraping to access Ryanair flights. Meanwhile, Google, "an honest/transparent OTA," can do no wrong in Ryanair's eyes.
Ryanair said Wednesday that "most of the larger OTA Pirates" abruptly stopped selling its flights in early December. But at least one of them — Booking.com — was back offering Ryanair's flights today.
Europe's largest airline stated that Booking.com, sister company Kayak, and Kiwi were among the major online travel agencies that took Ryanair flights off their websites in early December. The carrier would therefore see load factors diminished by 1% to 2% in December and January. The airline doesn't expect the loss of these bookings to materially impact its 2024 traffic or guidance.
Ryanair labels the online travel agencies "pirates" for allegedly stealing what the airline considers its proprietary information and intellectual property. The online travel agencies counter that they are trying to give their custom