A German court has ruled that online travel agency eDreams’ presentation of prices misled consumers.
Hamburg Regional Court found that eDreams displayed airline seat and baggage prices without clearly disclosing its own additional fees, and that its claimed savings through its “Prime” service could not actually be achieved by consumers.
In its rulings, the Court stated that eDreams’ “price display for seat reservations without disclosing the additional fee… is in any case misleading” and further noted that this constituted “a misleading practice by omission.”
Regarding checked baggage, the Court found eDreams had been “misleading about the service fee,” and in relation to its Prime product the court held “the announcement of the concrete savings… represents a misrepresentation… since the specifically stated savings cannot actually be achieved.” (by consumers).
Wecloming today’s rulings, Ryanair’s Dara Brady said that these Hamburg Court decisions reinforce what Ryanair has long advocated, transparent pricing for consumers.
“Despite Ryanair’s repeated objections, eDreams continues to scrape our fares and overcharge consumers. eDreams remains the only large OTA that refuses to follow the transparency standards already adopted by Booking.com, Lastminute, Kiwi and others,” said Mr Brady.
“Ryanair has offered to provide eDreams with free, direct access to Ryanair’s inventory — should they wish to compete on a level playing field, if/when they adopt the same transparency standards as their main OTA competitors, and desist from “misleading” or overcharging consumers,” he said.