One of a group of “pirate” OTAs which ditched Ryanair flights has forged a new deal with the budget airline a week after a fares distribution partnership was agreed with Loveholidays.
Europe’s largest airline confirmed a new agreement with Czech Republic-based Kiwi.com as an “approved” OTA.
The arrangement “guarantees that Kiwi will now have direct access to the Ryanair.com website without screenscraping, and Kiwi agree to provide their customers with low Ryanair prices for flights and ancillaries, and will see Kiwi provide the direct accurate customer contact and payment details to Ryanair,” the carrier said.
The OTA said that the strategic partnership will provide Kiwi.com with realtime Ryanair content and pricing across flights and ancillaries.
Ryanair has long campaigned against OTA “pirate overcharges and pricing scams” and has criticised third-party booking sites for overcharging passengers and preventing it from dealing directly with customers.
However, after revealing a cut in its annual profit forecast after OTAs suddenly removed its flights from their sites, the airline said: “This approved OTA partnership with Kiwi demonstrates how OTAs can work with Ryanair in a transparent way that eliminates the need for anti-consumer practices while giving Kiwi.com passengers direct access to Ryanair’s low prices with no overcharges or price scams.”
Kiwi.com, which claims to sell an average of 70,000 airline seats a day, was one of a group of OTAs which last August urged UK regulators to investigate Ryanair’s data requirements for passengers who do not book directly through its website.
Other signatories, including Booking.com, eDreams Odigeo, Expedia Group, lastminute.com, Skyscanner and On the Beach – members of Online Travel UK – claimed that Ryanair could be in breach of UK data protection rules.
Kiwi was heavily criticised by Ryanair in November as being “Europe’s biggest OTA pirate”, with the airline claiming the company was charging consumers €24.40 for an allocated seat which cost just €5.50 on Ryanair.com.
The airline then disclosed in early January that a number of OTAs, including Booking.com, Kiwi and Kayak, had removed its fares from sale on their websites.
Re-establishing a working arrangement with Kiwi.com, Ryanair said: “This new approved OTA deal means that Kiwi customers can now buy Ryanair flights/ancillaries at real prices, without mark-ups, via the Kiwi.com website, and Kiwi customers will have direct access to their myRyanair account and will receive all Ryanair flight info directly to their email from Ryanair.
“Kiwi customers will no longer need to complete Ryanair’s customer verification process which unauthorised OTA pirates’ customers must continue to do.
“In addition to these benefits, this deal also allows customers to enjoy [the] Kiwi virtual interline service which allows customers to book connecting flights, but if they miss their connection flight, Kiwi will re-accommodate passengers free of charge on the next available flight.”
Kiwi.com chief commercial officer Golan Shaked said: “The announcement of the co-operation with Ryanair is a positive one, ending a period of friction that has impacted our customers.
“It reflects our commitment to establishing relationships with all airlines for the benefit of customers and our long-term business objectives.”
He added: “This partnership will be welcomed by our customers, following our investment in our direct-to-consumer brand and growing popularity with ‘Generation Next’, who are not interested in airline loyalty and have grown to use Kiwi.com as their preferred app for finding the best flight options.”
Ryanair marketing, communications and digital director Dara Brady said: “We are pleased to announce this new approved OTA agreement with Kiwi.com.
“This is great news for Kiwi customers who will now be able to book Ryanair’s low-price flights, seats, and bags through Kiwi.com with full price transparency, safe in the knowledge that they will receive all important flight info directly from Ryanair and full access to their booking through their myRyanair account.
“Ryanair has long campaigned for all consumers to be protected from OTA pirate overcharges and scams, and to eliminate fake customer contact and payment info being provided to airlines.
“This new partnership with Kiwi represents a significant step in achieving that protection for all Kiwi customers who will now get access to Ryanair’s low fares and ancillary services with no overcharges, which will enable Kiwi to offer Ryanair’s low prices to all its customers.”