Ryanair has adopted the Prime title for a new subscriber discount scheme despite the name being used by OTA eDreams Odigeo for an existing subscription scheme.
The budget carrier has long berated eDreams for ‘screen scraping’ its fares and as most recently as February accused the Europe OTA of overcharging for reserving seats.
Amazon also uses Prime as the name for its global subscription service introduced into the UK in 2007.
EDreams last month announced that its Prime service, touted as the “world’s first and largest travel subscription club”, had surpassed seven million members and was on track to gain 7.25 million by March.
Ryanair said its Prime scheme would be limited to 250,000 members on a first come, first served basis.
Europe’s largest airline is charging £79 for a 12-month subscription, offering members reserved seats, travel insurance and monthly exclusive seat sales.
A Spanish Supreme Court ruling previously confirmed that eDreams was legally entitled to distribute Ryanair flights as part of its offering, exercising its legitimate role as a travel agent.
Ryanair chief marketing officer Dara Brady said: “Ryanair has been delivering the lowest fares in Europe for the last four decades, and we’re now extending our price leadership with the launch of our exciting new subscriber discount scheme – Ryanair ‘Prime’.
“Ryanair ‘Prime’ is a new subscriber discount scheme for frequent flyers that want to fly regularly but don’t want to break the bank to do so.
“This will deliver great savings of £420 for members who fly 12 times per year, but even ‘Prime’ members who only fly three times per year will still save £105 – more than the £79 cost of becoming a ‘Prime’ member.”
Ryanair low fares rival Wizz Air introduced an annual ‘all you can fly’ season ticket for an annual fee of £534 last August.
Travel Weekly has approached eDreams Odigeo for comment.