Ryanair Ends Momondo Relationship Over Website Links

Low-cost airline Ryanair has revoked its licensing agreement with metasearch website Momondo over what it alleges is a breach of contract.

The disagreement concerns Ryanair’s long-running battle with so-called screenscraper websites. The Irish airline is furious that Momondo has offered links to a number of them, including Opodo, owned by eDreams, and CheapOair.

Ryanair’s deals with the likes of SkyScanner, Hipmunk and Dohop are unaffected.

In the past Ryanair has engaged in legal action against eDreams and it even took on Google. The airline’s main concerns have been alleged problems with ticket sales and failure to pass on accurate flight information to customers.

Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said: “As Momondo was in clear breach of the terms of our contract by actively linking to screenscraper websites, we have revoked its license in an effort to prevent any more customers being misled.

“It’s important to note that Ryanair has no commercial agreement whatsover with Opodo or CheapOair, who continue to engage in unauthorized screenscraping and sell on Ryanair’s low fares. We again urge customers to book directly on the Ryanair.com website.”

Momondo is part of the wider Momondo Group, which also includes Cheapflights.

In response its Managing Director, Pia Vemmelund, said: “Our primary purpose has always been to show the lowest available price to provide our users with transparency. Therefore, we won’t compromise on that transparency by taking out specific travel agencies from our search results just because an airline like Ryanair tells us to. That would be against our principles.

"We can confirm that we no longer have a license agreement with Ryanair, but we cannot confirm a breach of contract or that we agreed to exclusively show Ryanair prices through Ryanair’s website only.

"So, we continue to show Ryanair flights when these are sold through travel agencies, and we’re happy to continue to show our users the lowest prices and offer transparency.”