Court Reaffirms Order: Ryanair Must Stop Denigrating eDreams ODIGEO
July 29 2024 - 7:24AM
Business Wire
- The Barcelona Commercial Court issued interim measures
against Ryanair, mandating the immediate cease of its denigrating
behaviours towards eDreams ODIGEO and its products.
- This urgent pre-trial order is based on strong evidence that
Ryanair has engaged in a months-long smear campaign against eDreams
and its Prime programme, using false claims to mislead consumers
and compete unfairly, in violation of Article 9 of the Unfair
Competition Law (LCD).
- This decision builds on a previous definitive ruling,
confirmed by Spain’s Supreme Court, which had already mandated the
airline to halt its denigration tactics and anti competitive
behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO.
- eDreams ODIGEO has also achieved a legal victory against
Ryanair in Germany, where Courts have ordered the airline to cease
multiple anti-consumer and misleading practices.
eDreams ODIGEO (hereinafter, ‘the Company’ or ‘eDO’ for short),
the world’s leading travel subscription company and one of Europe’s
largest e-commerce companies, today welcomed the interim measures
issued against Ryanair, which mandates an immediate halt to its
denigrating practices.
This pre-trial order by the Barcelona Commercial Court No. 12 is
based on compelling evidence that Ryanair has engaged in a
long-term smear campaign against the Company and its Prime
programme, disseminating multiple false claims to mislead consumers
and compete unfairly, in violation of Article 9 of the Unfair
Competition Law (LCD). The Court has acknowledged the urgent need
to approve the measures due to Ryanair’s ongoing denigrating
statements against eDreams and its products.
The judge has determined that Ryanair's lies against eDreams and
eDreams Prime are a "perfectly organised campaign designed to
promote Ryanair.com for booking flights and associated services”.
According to this ruling, this campaign is denigrating advertising
as it gives consumers false information about eDreams and eDreams
Prime.
This decision builds on a previous definitive ruling, confirmed
by the Spanish Supreme Court, which had already mandated the
airline to halt its denigration tactics and anti-competitive
behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO.
Ryanair’s defamation strategy, which has also targeted multiple
other online travel agents, aims to coerce competitors into signing
anticompetitive and anti-consumer distribution agreements. This
tactic is also intended to deflect scrutiny from Ryanair’s own
abusive practices and ongoing investigations by authorities across
Europe.
Ryanair’s anti-consumer practices under
scrutiny
eDreams ODIGEO has long championed consumer rights against
Ryanair’s anti-consumer practices and is actively leading or
participating in multiple cases against the airline in defence of
consumers. One such case involves antitrust proceedings in Italy
for alleged abuse of market dominance. This case, supported by
eDreams ODIGEO and the vast majority of the Italian travel
industry, including federations, trade bodies representing
thousands of travel businesses, and consumer associations, prompted
Ryanair to launch a smear campaign targeting the complainants,
particularly eDreams and its Prime programme.
The Italian Antitrust Authority (AGCM) defined Ryanair’s actions
as a smear campaign aimed at dissuading consumers from using travel
agents, highlighting the airline’s use of false and misleading
claims.
Additionally, data protection authorities from several European
countries are probing Ryanair’s discriminatory practices towards
customers. These investigations in the United Kingdom, France,
Spain, Belgium, and Poland include allegations of privacy-invasive
practices that breach GDPR, such as requesting unnecessary
biometric data and imposing additional fees on consumers based on
their booking channel of choice.
Recently, eDreams ODIGEO celebrated a legal victory against
Ryanair in Germany, where the courts ordered Ryanair to cease
multiple anti-consumer and misleading practices in which it
currently engages. This includes charging consumers for the use of
specific payment methods, lacking transparency in providing the
final price throughout the booking process, requiring consumers to
create a user account to purchase tickets, enforcing Irish laws and
Courts to European consumers, and automatically selecting agreement
to terms and conditions without active selection from the user,
among others.
The legal and regulatory pressure on Ryanair for its
anti-consumer practices is further evidenced by the landmark fine
imposed by the Spanish government—estimated at around 100 million
euros according to consumer bodies. This fine is the highest ever
issued by Consumer Protection authorities to a single business, 17
times larger than the previous record. Additionally, French courts
have recently issued a severe sentence against the airline for
deliberately violating passenger rights regulations. This includes
infringing on consumer rights, failing to compensate for flight
cancellations and delays, and engaging in deceptive and aggressive
practices.
eDreams ODIGEO remains committed to defending consumers and
protecting them from Ryanair's anti-consumer approach.
-ENDS-
About eDreams ODIGEO
eDreams ODIGEO is the world’s leading travel subscription
platform and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe.
Under its four leading online travel agency brands – eDreams, GO
Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo – it
serves more than 21 million customers per year across 44 markets.
Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with
nearly 700 airlines. The business conceptualised Prime, the first
subscription product in the travel sector which has topped 6
million members since launching in 2017. The brand offers the best
quality products in regular flights, low-cost airlines, hotels,
dynamic packages, car rental and travel insurance to make travel
easier, more accessible, and better value for consumers across the
globe.
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