As Ryanair battles search engine Google and website eDreams, customers are still in the firing line. The Irish airline has long complained about eDreams, which it claims masquerades as Ryanair to sell its seats at inflated prices and causes problems with bookings. In December Ryanair then launched legal action against Google in an attempt to stop it promoting these allegedly “misleading and deceptive” ads.
But as the battle rumbles on, customers continue to suffer.
Reader JG has written to warn readers yet again of what can happen. “When attempting to book four Ryanair flights to Seville, I went to the first site on Google’s list which had all the appearances of an official Ryanair site,” he wrote.
“Having booked the flights I realised I was having to pay ‘service charges’ of £48.50 per return flight. Thinking this was just another Ryanair extra, I went ahead. Clearly this was a mistake, as I realised when I checked with Ryanair. I am informed by the credit card company and the police that eDream’s activities are legal, but I consider them fraudulent and immoral.
“Of course, the charges are non-refundable. I mention this as a warning to your readers to be more cautious and less gullible than I was. The company justifies the charges as payment for finding the cheapest flights, but of course the way to do that is to go straight to Ryanair, which is what they had misled me into believing I was doing.
“I understand Ryanair is attempting to challenge legally these activities, but sadly any successful outcome will be too late for me and I suspect many others.”
While it “disagrees strongly” with Ryanair’s position, eDreams has said little else. Be warned.
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