Jul 23, 2024 20:30:00

Ryanair wins case against Booking.com after booking site found to be illegal for scraping and reselling flights from legitimate sites

In a lawsuit filed by Irish airline Ryanair against the major booking site Booking.com for

scraping the Ryanair site and reselling it at an additional charge, a Delaware court in the United States ruled in favor of Ryanair. In connection with this lawsuit, Booking.com counterclaimed that Ryanair had denigrated its booking platform and engaged in unfair competition, but the court dismissed Booking.com's claim.

RYANAIR WINS ITS CASE AGAINST TRAVEL GIANT BOOKING.COM IN DELAWARE COURT RULING – Ryanair's Corporate Website
https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-wins-its-case-against-travel-giant-booking-com-in-delaware-court-ruling/

Ryanair wins case against Booking.com in US court
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/0719/1460807-ryanair-wins-us-court-case-against-bookingcom/

US court rules against Booking.com in Ryanair screen-scraping case | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-court-rules-against-bookingcom-ryanair-screen-scraping-case-2024-07-19/

Ryanair said Booking.com was using software to scrape the airline's website and then resell the tickets at an extra cost.

A Delaware jury unanimously found that Booking.com violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by allowing third parties to access parts of Ryanair's website without authorization 'with intent to defraud.'

Ryanair's Michael O'Reilly issued the following statement following the verdict:

'Ryanair and its customers wholeheartedly welcome the comprehensive, unanimous jury verdict in Delaware State Court, which establishes that travel industry giant Booking.com illegally scraped Ryanair's website with the intent to defraud Ryanair and the public, in violation of the CFAA. We hope that this verdict will bring an end to internet piracy and the illegal overcharging of airlines, other travel companies and the public caused by the unlawful conduct of 'OTA (online travel agency) pirates' like Booking.com.'

'It is unacceptable that a large global company with a market capitalization of $133 billion like Booking.com has engaged in such illegal and deceptive conduct for many years with the intent to mislead both Ryanair and consumers. Ryanair has fought to protect consumers and ensure they have access to low prices and low fares directly, without going through OTAs such as Booking.com, because unsuspecting consumers who believe they are 'booking directly with Ryanair' are actually being tricked into booking at inflated prices through OTA pirates such as Booking.com, and are being overcharged.'

'We are also pleased that the Delaware court dismissed Booking.com's counterclaim for defamation by calling them 'OTA pirates.' We hope that the court's verdict puts an end to illegal screen scraping by OTA pirates and forces consumer agencies in the UK and Europe to act to criminalize illegal screen scraping and overcharging for flights and ancillary services.'

'This verdict is a huge win for low-cost air travel and a huge win for travelers. We are incredibly grateful to the Delaware court and the jury. This verdict fully endorses Ryanair's lawsuit against Booking.com on behalf of our customers. We now demand that Booking.com's heavily compensated CEO Glenn Fogel (receiving $46 million in 2023 compensation) stop scraping Ryanair's site and stop overcharging consumers for airfares and ancillary services now that we have found that Booking.com is in violation of the CFAA.'

Booking.com is unhappy with the verdict and plans to appeal.