DUBLIN — Less than two months after its official launch, Ryanair Holidays has officially suspended service due to “illegal screenscraping and mis-selling of flights” by its software provider.
According to TravelMole, the suspension is temporary and will hopefully be lifted by the end of February.
In an official statement, the low-cost airline said: “Ryanair today confirmed it has temporarily suspended its Holidays service, and terminated its agreement with the software provider who was found to be unlawfully scraping Ryanair’s low fares.
“All existing Ryanair Holidays bookings are secure and Ryanair is currently finalizing an agreement with a new software provider, who it expects to appoint shortly.”
The airline also issued an apology to its customers for “any inconvenience caused” but also re-emphasized that it will “not allow any third party software provider to ‘screenscrape’ and unlawfully re-sell Ryanair’s low fares.”
Spain-based Logitravel, the software provider in question, confirmed that Ryanair terminated their agreement, reports TraveMole, but also denied it had used screenscraping.
Ryanair Holidays first launched on Dec. 1, 2016 with the promise of offering flights, accommodation and transfer packages on its website. It was launched in partnership with Logitravel and World2Meet in the U.K., Ireland and Germany, with plans to debut in other markets this year.