Ryanair News

News Release

25.11.11

Improved site security protects consumers

RYANAIR’S IMPROVED WEBSITE SECURITY FORCES EDREAMS AND BRAVOFLY TO STOP DISPLAYING RYANAIR’S PRICES AND SEATS ON THEIR SCREENSCRAPER WEBSITES

RECAPTCHA IMPROVES CONSUMER PROTECTION AGAINST SCREENSCRAPERS

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline today (25 Nov) hailed the improved internet security provided by the reCAPTCHA feature on the Ryanair.com website as an outstanding success, after Spanish screenscraper websites (Edreams and Bravofly) today stopped displaying Ryanair’s prices and seats on their websites. This welcome move means that Edreams and Bravofly no longer offer their customers the lowest fares in Spain.

Ryanair urges all Spanish consumers – if they want the lowest fares to/from Spain - to book their flights only on the Ryanair.com website, where they will have no difficulty complying with the reCAPTCHA security feature. By eliminating unauthorised screenscraping, Ryanair has improved consumer access to, and the response times of, the Ryanair.com website for genuine consumers/passengers. Ryanair welcomes the decision by Edreams and Bravofly to no long display Ryanair’s fares and seats and hopes they will continue to desist from unauthorised screenscraping.

Ryanair’s 75m passengers already know that the only place they can guarantee themselves Europe’s lowest air fares, without suffering hidden fees or misleading terms and conditions, is by booking them directly on the Ryanair.com website. Contrary to travel trade rumours, Ryanair’s bookings this week have increased as a result of the new reCAPTCHA security and Ryanair attributes this improvement to the faster response times which ordinary consumers are now getting from the Ryanair.com website as a result of getting rid of this unlicensed and unauthorised screenscraper activity.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair is delighted that our new reCAPTCHA security feature has finally persuaded Edreams and Bravofly to stop displaying Ryanair’s prices and seats. These websites no longer display the lowest fares in Spain. Ryanair will continue to implement measures to get rid of unauthorised screenscrapers and travel agents from our website, so that we can maximise consumer access and continue to improve the response times for ordinary passengers who want to book Europe’s lowest air fares without doing it through unauthorised screenscrapers or middle men such as Edreams and Bravofly. We hope now that Bravofly and Edreams have finally stopped their unauthorised screenscraping of the Ryanair.com website, that passengers in Spain will now realise that the only website where they can be guaranteed the lowest air fares is the Ryanair.com website, where they won’t pay any hidden handling fees or be misquoted higher air fares, as has been the case with many unauthorised screenscrapers to date.”