Ryanair News

 
News Release
23.02.10

RYANAIR KRÆVER FORBRUGEROMBUDSMANDEN FJERNET

 

 

Efter politianmeldelsen mod Ryanair indklager flyselskabet den danske forbrugerombudsmand for EU-Kommissionen og kræver ham fjernet fra posten
 
Ryanair reagerer skarpt på den danske forbrugerombudsmands politianmeldelse af flyselskabet. Det irske lavprisselskab svarer igen med at indklage forbrugerombudsmand Henrik Øe for EU-Kommissionen og kræver ham afskediget.
 
Samtidig offentliggør Ryanair en næsten årelang og meget omfattende brevveksling mellem Forbrugerombudsmanden og lavprisselskabet.
 
Ryanair mener, at ombudsmanden ikke skal blande sig i, hvad der står i selskabets annoncer, og Ryanair mener ikke, at Henrik Øe har ageret upartisk i sagen om annonceringen af flybilletter i sommeren 2009.
 
Juridisk direktør Juliusz Komorek fra Ryanair siger, at det er i strid med lovgivningen, når den danske forbrugerombudsmand kræver, at Ryanairs annoncer skal indeholde bookingomkostninger, som er unødvendige for forbrugerne.
 
Oplysningerne er ifølge Ryanair unødvendige for flypassagererne, hvis de vælger den af Ryanair anbefalede betalingsform – nemlig VisaElektron.
 
-Vi mener ikke, at Henrik Øe har ageret upartisk og uafhængigt, og under disse omstændigheder bør han forlade sin stilling, siger Juliusz Komorek.

 

 

Ryanair Reports Danish Consumer Ombudsman To EU Commission 

CALLS FOR HIS DISMISSAL ON GROUNDS OF BIAS AND UNLAWFUL RULINGS

Ryanair confirmed today (Tue, 23rd Feb) that it has filed a formal complaint with the European Commission against repeated bias by the Danish Consumer Ombudsman (Henrik Øe), following his repeated refusal to deal with Ryanair’s pro-consumer complaint against mis-selling of airline tickets by screenscraper websites, and his equally unlawful campaign to force Ryanair to overstate its advertised prices by including optional/discretionary fees which can be avoided by passengers during the booking process.

Mr Øe’s campaign to force Ryanair to overstate its advertised prices arose in correspondence following the publication of this advert in May 2009:

This advert promoted a seat sale to Danish consumers, with fares starting from DKK79 one way. Thousands of Danish consumers availed of Ryanair’s incredibly low prices and those who paid for their tickets using Ryanair’s free of charge payment option (Visa Electron) were able to avail of the advertised price. Those passengers who paid with a different credit card chose to pay a small fee of €5. Te Danish Consumer Ombudsman in subsequent correspondence has claimed that Ryanair should have advertised a higher fare which would include this handling fee, thereby overstating Ryanair’s lowest fare and misleading consumers in advertised prices.

Ryanair also brought to Mr Øe’s attention numerous breaches of consumer protection legislation by mis-selling screenscrapers in the Danish market. Sadly, the Danish Consumer Ombudsman has refused to investigate these breaches, leaving consumers exposed to repeated overcharging by screenscraper websites in Denmark.

Ryanair believes that the intervention by the European Commission is now necessary to rectify the failure of Mr Øe to require screenscrapers to comply with consumer protection legislation in Denmark, and also end his blatant misinterpretation and misapplication of EU laws on price transparency. In the interests of transparency Ryanair has today released copies of correspondence with the Consumer Ombudsman.

Ryanair’s Juliusz Komorek said:

 “We believe that the failure of the Danish Consumer Ombudsman to take any action against mis-selling by screenscraper websites in Denmark is a clear breach of the consumer protection legislation which he is responsible to uphold in Denmark. Furthermore, his insistence that Ryanair’s advertised prices should mislead consumers and overstate our fares by including avoidable or discretionary charges is both illogical and in our view unlawful.

Despite his unlawful and untenable claims Mr Øe has this week threatened to report Ryanair to the Danish police and has also threatened Ryanair with adverse publicity in the form of a draft press release (attached) if Ryanair does not agree to his unlawful demands to overstate our advertised fares and mislead Danish consumers.

We believe that Mr Øe lacks the impartiality and independence necessary to be a consumer ombudsman and in these circumstances we believe he should step down or be dismissed.”
 
Attachments:

 

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