Kirsty Nutt couldn’t have been more wrong in her letter complaining about Ryanair’s booking line (Travel Weekly January 27) .
It is not for Ryanair “to make a decision”to go direct or go through travel agents, it is up to the travel agents.
Ryanair positively supports travel agents; our standard rate of commission at 7.5% is higher than British Airways’, and we make all of our fare promotions available through the trade.
However, any travel agent which doesn’t want to sell Ryanair is free to do so. (As was the case with Lunn Poly last year when it stopped selling Ryanair. Our customers – the travelling public – simply moved their business elsewhere and continue to book with Ryanair in recordnumbers).
Kirsty would not have had this problem if she used Ryanair’s recommended CRS system Worldspan, and we will continue to encourage all Sabre travel agents to consider using the Worldspan options.
In the meantime, sincere apologies to any of our travel agent clients who have experienced difficulty in getting through to us. This is due to the massive success of Ryanair’s ‘Friends Fly Free’ promotion, which has resulted in an avalanche of calls and bookings. Normal service will be resumed on February 9 when this promotion ends.
Ethel Power
Head of Communications
Ryanair
Dublin