Article from BTNews 21 NOVEMBER 2016
Ryanair victory over 'false' ads
Further action by the CAA against “misleading” airline advertising and mis-selling of “non-existent” fares was called for by Ryanair last week after the company scored an initial victory over the practices.
Ryanair said it welcomed the enforced changes made to the websites and advertising practices of screenscraper sites eDreams and Opodo, both part of the Odigeo group.
The airline said the sites had been using misleading subdomains and copycat websites with identical Ryanair branding, which deceived consumers into visiting the websites and booking flights at non-existent fares, with inflated charges.
Ryanair said following its submissions, the CAA among other things has now forced eDreams and Opodo to change their Google adwords practices to ensure consumers searching for an airline website are shown clearly that the search result relates to eDreams.
The two sites have also been ordered to change their website appearances to ensure consumers are aware they are booking on eDreams and Opodo’s websites and not on airline websites.
However, Ryanair said some practices were continuing and has now called on the CAA to take further action to prevent eDreams and Opodo advertising fares “which simply don’t exist”. It said all customers should book directly with the airline.
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