INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW in order to display Ryanair’s flight information on their own websites. OTB is one of a number of online travel agents which do this, and has been doing it for ten years. Ryanair contends that this practice has caused wide-ranging difficulties both reputationally and economically. In the words of chief executive Michael O’Leary: “They are a real pain in the arse, these OTAs, disrupting our communications with customers.” First, due in large part to the fact that agents such as OTB do not provide Ryanair with the personal e-mail address of the customer but instead with an e-mail address generated by the agent, customers have experienced a suboptimal experience with the airline. Some customers have not been informed of cancellations, Ryanair has been unable to assist with customer service queries, and in one case Ryanair suffered adverse publicity when a letter of apology did not reach a customer. Secondly, it is said that screen-scraping interferes with Ryanair’s business model. Ryanair bears the significant costs involved in hosting and operating its website and regards the actions of the online travel agents as the unauthorised taking and use of its property at its expense, depriving it of the ability to sell ancillary products which is what enables it to operate its low-cost model. In addition, the airline contends that this practice by online travel agents has inhibited Ryanair from complying with its own regulatory obligations. To satisfy various regulatory obligations Ryanair needs to liaise with its passengers directly, and it requires customers’ own e-mail addresses to do this. Without the direct email addresses it cannot, for example, process refunds or provide information required by its regulator. Ryanair’s position is that screen-scraping constitutes a breach of the terms of use of its website and an infringement of its intellectual property rights. 3. THE RYANAIR PROCEEDINGS IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND A decade or so ago Ryanair took action against a number of online travel agents in its home courts in the Republic of Ireland. It made claims against OTB, the Romanian travel agent SC Vola.ro SRL, the German agent Billigfluege. de GmbH and the British company Skycsanner Limited, claiming various relief for breach of contract and for infringement of its intellectual property rights
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