Ryanair ratchets up screenscraper dispute with poll claiming consumers feel duped

Ryanair has released the results of a survey which it claims shows that 82% of consumers assume the eDreams website is operated by the carrier.

Ryanair has released the results of a survey which it claims shows that 82% of consumers assume the eDreams website is operated by the carrier.

The Red C poll of more than 2,000 UK adults conducted last week asked participants to identify the company operating the eDreams website, with 82% of respondents stating that the site was operated by Ryanair, and 8% stating it was run by eDreams.

The airline has had several legal tussles with screenscraper websites in Europe and a German court has ruled that eDreams should stop using a subdomain that Ryanair felt implied it had an official partnership with the airline.

Ryanair’s survey also found that 10% of participants said they were sure that the eDreams website was not operated by Ryanair, with the remaining 90% saying they were “somewhat sure” that the site was operated by the carrier.

Part of Ryanair’s call is for Google to enforce “greater transparency” to prevent screenscraper websites “misleading customers into thinking they are booking flights with Ryanair”.

Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs said: “Since we’ve started our campaign to ‘Avoid eDreams Nightmares’, we have had some positive results.

“The brand no longer displays as the first search term on Google in Ireland, but this is still the case in the UK.

“We have had an overwhelming response from customers sharing their eNightmares with us and we’ve have been able to show them exactly how to complain to Google about this type of advertising.

“We are asking all affected customers to direct their formal complaints to Google.”