RYANAIR
has been accused of misleading the public after launching a range of holiday
‘packages’ that do not include flights.
The
carrier has teamed up with Northern Ireland-based Travel Eurosport to launch
Ryanairbreaks.com, offering what it describes as golfing, spa, outdoor and
concert ticket “value for money short-break and event packages”.
Destinations
include Spain, France, Italy and Austria with advertised prices starting from
as little as £14 per person.
However,
despite appearing to be a normal package, the small print shows flights aren’t
included in the price and, although the site is Ryanair branded, it is
independent of the carrier, removing any liability.
ABTA
described the brand as “outrageous” and accused the airline of flouting the
spirit of package regulations.
A
spokeswoman said: “I think this is misleading. If they are calling this a
package it goes against the spirit of the law and this is typical of Ryanair.
It shows O’Leary has little regard for consumers.”
Civil
Aviation Authority Consumer Protection Group deputy director David Moesli said
the move highlighted the need for widened ATOL regulations to cover scheduled
airlines.
He
said: “No doubt the majority of these breaks are designed to go with a Ryanair
flight and the brand re-ignites the need for airlines to offer some sort of
financial protection.”
Ryanair
said the brand was “adding value” for customers.
Meanwhile,
low-cost airline Planet Air has folded with the loss of a ‘handful’ of jobs.
The
carrier, which launched in February last year with weekly services from Leeds
Bradford to Alicante, Malaga, Faro and Tenerife, went into voluntary
liquidation blaming competition from rival Jet2.
The
failure followed a warning this week from O’Leary that some European low-cost carriers were in a
perilous position.