Ryanair, the low-cost Irish airline, has cancelled thousands of reservations made for today, Monday, which were made via certain travel agents on the internet.
The travel agents in question account for 0.5% of Ryanair reservations, around 1,000 per day, and they are astonished by the decision taken by Ryanair.
The problem relates to the fact that the travel agents use a technology whereby, through various links, the customer completes his or booking without ever having to leave the travel agent website. Ryanair say this practice is illegal and slows down their own website. They are hoping that their action in cancelling reservations will stamp out this practice.
Ryanair also say that people who via these travel agents also run the risk of incurring extra charges or paying over the odds for flights. The airline will, on this occasion, pay compensation to those passengers whose reservations have been cancelled, but they say it is up to the travel agents in question to inform the passengers about the changes as Ryanair themselves do not have the contact details for these types of transactions.