Ryanair has branded an effort by online leisure giant Booking.com to countersue the airline in a US court case as being “largely unactionable grumblings”.
Ryanair initiated legal action against Booking.com and its subsidiaries – Kayak.com, Priceline.com and Agoda.com – in 2020 in Delaware.
It has claimed that the defendants are depriving Ryanair “of the opportunity to maximise its revenues” from its own website.
The carrier, whose chief executive is Michael O’Leary, claimed that Booking.com had bypassed the airline’s website security and engaged in so-called screen-scraping of its fares.
Screen-scraping involves a third party accessing an airline’s website and often offering fares to its own customers via its own website.
Booking.com has denied the allegations made by Ryanair in the case filed in Delaware.
Late last year, Booking.com asked the court to award it damages because of Ryanair’s behaviour.
“Ryanair’s wrongful conduct – including its defamatory accusations and misrepresentations to Booking.com’s customers – harms what Booking.com has built,” the online travel group alleged in its counterclaims against the airline.
But Ryanair has now asked the court to dismiss those counterclaims.
“Booking.com’s counterclaims are largely unactionable grumblings that Ryanair has implemented verification procedures for customers who booked Ryanair flights through online travel agents,” the airline notes in its plea to the court to dismiss the counterclaims.
“But Booking.com does not allege that any of Ryanair’s procedures themselves are unlawful,” it claims. “Rather, Booking.com complains that Ryanair speaking about its procedures is unlawful. That does not make sense and cannot stand.”
Booking.com claims that Ryanair has “publicly disparaged” it and other online travel agents, and sent “accusatory and disparaging emails” to Booking.com customers who have booked Ryanair flights over the online travel group’s website.
But Ryanair has insisted that it has not made any false statements about the leisure giant.
“Ryanair’s statements to customers are not false, nor does Booking.com allege them to be,” the airline has claimed.
“Each of the counterclaims must therefore be dismissed.”
It adds: “Further, Booking.com has not alleged special damages or that any damages are the proximate cause of Ryanair’s statements.”
Booking.com alleges that in its communications with the online travel group’s customers,
Ryanair stated that Booking.com may be applying “massive mark-ups” to the fares it sells via its website, has provided the airline with “false customer details”, and has used “screen-scraper” software to “mis-sell” Ryanair flights.
Booking.com has insisted it does none of these things and that it has suffered “reputational and monetary harm caused by Ryanair’s defamatory statements”.
The airline has urged the court to dismiss Booking.com’s counterclaims for unfair competition and for defamation.
“None of the statements alleged in the counterclaim are actionable because Booking.com cannot prove that they are false,” alleges Ryanair.