back to article Ryanair faces GDPR turbulence over customer ID checks

Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched an inquiry into Ryanair's Customer Verification Process for travelers booking flights through third-party websites or online travel agents (OTA). The concerns center around Ryanair's practice of demanding extra ID verification from customers who don't book directly …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I never fly Ryanair

    due to one ultra-shit experience where they dumped me to fend for myself in France, just because they made more money that way.

    But, I have sympathy for objections to unauthorised re-selling of their tickets

    1. Lee D Silver badge

      Re: I never fly Ryanair

      I don't use RyanAir because I think they're the worst airline possible.

      It's like when I see the comparison sites for broadband and they tell me "You could save X by switching to TalkTalk!". Yeah, there's a fecking reason I would never do that, and it's nothing to do with saving money. (This is actually a disease that all comparison websites suffer from... sure, I can "save a few quid" but that race to the bottom comes at enormous cost elsewhere. I'd far rather just pay a *decent* price and get *decent* service).

      I don't understand people who want to bookend their entire HOLIDAY with one of the worst customer service experiences possible. Pay the extra and get something half-decent. You know, splash out on the extra £50 on that £2000 holiday and actually go with an airline that gives a damn about you.

      I mostly fly late-night BA flights now. They're still cheap. 50% of the time I get an entire row to myself. I have plenty of legroom. I have no arguments over cabin-allowance (I can take my entire luggage in the cabin!). There's no advertising at me and constantly bothering me for upsell. The staff are pleasant. I even get a little free meal most flights.

      If my airline abandoned me, you can be sure I'd blacklist them forever, but you should always be thinking "What would this airline do if I was in real trouble abroad through circumstances that aren't my fault?". In that situation, RyanAir / EasyJet etc. would be the last people on Earth I'd want to be giving money to.

      1. Jurassic.Hermit

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        I have plenty of legroom

        Are you a dwarf?! BA's leg room on shorthaul A321neo is shocking these days, a mere 29" but it seems that I have a good 1" of extra space with easyJet's 29", must be the overall design of the seat and the positioning of one's arse in it.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          Do you mean leg room or seat pitch because if BA are offering 72cm leg room on shorthaul then I’ve never seen it.

        2. Evil Auditor Silver badge

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          Often, it's not the length of your legs but the lard in your arse that reduces leg space inconveniently.

          1. Tom66

            Re: I never fly Ryanair

            Tall people exist. Generally with longer legs rather than longer torsos.

      2. ThatOne Silver badge
        Unhappy

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        > Pay the extra and get something half-decent.

        Assuming "half-decent" still exists. Unfortunately the race to the bottom has just begun, soon the "serious" companies will look like discounters, and the discounters will, well, I'd rather not think about it. Probably resell half their passengers to slavery and butcher the other half for organs.

        1. xyz123 Silver badge

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          Bold of you to assume RyanAir wouldn't use your organs as inflight meals if given the opportunity.

          The only reason passengers don't wake up in a bath filled with ice is because that would take away a couple of paying seats and the bath would have more than a gnome's worth of legroom.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I never fly Ryanair

            And charge you extra for them.

        2. Guy de Loimbard Silver badge

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          Interesting point there.

          I used to fly with Emirates a lot in the past, due to work and I noticed on the last few times I've flown with them, they're now operating EasyJet/RyanAir upsell on some things, such as seat selection/allocation and other minor things, just to make an extra few bucks off your already not so cheap, long haul flight.

          1. MarkTriumphant

            Re: I never fly Ryanair

            We have just holidayed in Japan, and were lucky enough to be able to fly business class with BA. Even that wanted us to pay extra to choose our seats.

            1. Elongated Muskrat Silver badge

              Re: I never fly Ryanair

              I've heard horror stories about BA, to be honest. Ryanair levels of service, at much higher prices.

              I was chatting with someone from Kerry at the weekend, we both agreed that the Aer Lingus flight to Cork was vastly preferable to the Ryanair one, despite being on the "vomit comet" ATR-72, although my wife bemoaned the fact that you no longer get a biscuit the size of your head...

              You only need to pay a little more to get a vastly better service.

      3. anothercynic Silver badge

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        I gave up flying with Ryanair around 15 years ago, purely because I had camera equipment that I had to carry on at the time, and the process of getting that approved was a pain in the arse. Then there was the fact that Heathrow is arguably the closest airport geographically (and by public transport), so travelling an extra 2 hours just to save £50 (and be treated with contempt) was not worth my time.

        I switched to BA... never had an issue with heavy luggage - They'd sort of 'tell me off', and I'd shrug and explain and they'd let it zip down into the bowels of T3 and then T5. The on-board service was also decent. Nowadays, BA is still the most convenient and efficient for the destinations I fly to, despite the fact that Alex Cruz (and Willy Walsh before him) cheapened the brand immensely over the last decade or so.

        As much as Wizz Air gets the crown for being one of the most downvoted airlines in Europe, their service was decent (except when it came to delays) and Sleazyjet I don't mind that much either. We'll see how Eurowings is later next month (again, Heathrow to somewhere else).

      4. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        In that situation, RyanAir / EasyJet etc. would be the last people on Earth I'd want to be giving money to.

        I'd take EasyJet over Lufthansa, at least you'd have some chance of arriving on time and with your luggage.

      5. Mike007 Silver badge

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        For the record: Talk talk used to have a terrible reputation when they were the BT wholesale reseller with possibly the most congested pipes of any ISP, back when this was standard for budget providers. However the quality of the service on their own network has always been pretty solid as far as I am aware.

        You used the wrong example an of ISP to avoid at all costs.

        About 6 months ago a non-technical person who is a fellow long time talk talk customer asked me why they always hear other people talking about the internet slowing down at busy times... I replied "probably virgin media customers". He confirmed that indeed the reason he was asking is because there had been some argument between several virgin media customers saying you should use virgin because the connection is faster so even when it slows down things still eventually load, and the rest of the group asking what the fuck they were on about because the internet doesn't "slow down"...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          You seem to be replying to the wrong article

        2. Sparkypatrick

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          Talk Talk's service may have improved, but there are still plenty of reasons to avoid them.

          1. Their customer service is atrocious. This may be less of an issue if the service is more reliable and you don't have to deal with them as often, but chances are you'll have to at some point.

          2. They gave me a router whose configuration included my account password (and therefor my email password) in plain text.

          3. After their big breach, they insisted my credit card details hadn't been compromised. My provider replaced the card with a new number due to the attempted fraudulent activity detected in the immediate aftermath.

          Regulators may have forced them to tighten up their security, but no heads rolled. If you believe they've changed their attitude to security, I've a bridge I'd like to sell you. Or a Samsung appliance.

          1. Elongated Muskrat Silver badge

            Re: I never fly Ryanair

            I could tell horror stories about my experiences with Talk Talk, but I'd just be repeating myself, and not for the first time. Needles to say, their customer service is some of the worst I have ever experienced, and I'm now with Vermin Media, so the bar is high.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I never fly Ryanair

          Friends don't let friends do talk talk.

      6. 0laf Silver badge
        Flame

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        All of the shittiest travelling experiences I have had have been with BA flights.

        Flying used to be glamorous now it's to be avoided if at all possible.And BA have a monopoly on some routes so you've no choice but to use them.

        Ryanair are at least honest bastards. They don't hide that they are utter shits and out to scam you. It's up front. If you fly with them you know what you're getting into.

        TBH I've only used them a couple of times and it was ok. I got what I expected but I also got where I needed to go.

        But BA still like to live on their postcard image from the 60s whilst giving RyanAir levels of service and Keystone Cops levels of organisation and planning.

        I think the only thing they have invested in is making sure the dark patterns on their websites are working as intended.

        They're also quite comfortable breaking the law with regard to delays and complaints.

        Airlines and rail companies, together keeping car sales up.

      7. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        Most definitely not safe for work; the obligatory HitlerRantsParody regarding Ryanair and legroom needs to be watched.

    2. Madre O'Fender

      Re: I never fly Ryanair

      Three good reasons to fly Ryanair:

      1. There's no other airline flying the route you want (such as to/from small airports in Ireland).

      2. er, can't think of 2

      3. see 2

      1. Elongated Muskrat Silver badge

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        Aer Lingus fly from small airports in Ireland. Just saying...

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. Potemkine! Silver badge

      Re: I never fly Ryanair

      RyanAir flies with Boeing, especially the 737 MAX. By itself it's a good reason not to go with RyanAir.

      1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        yet another example of aresholes attracting...

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

    5. Ian Johnston Silver badge

      Re: I never fly Ryanair

      Ryanair are fine, as long as you don't expect much. Think of it as a bus service, look at the price on your ticket and don't complain that it isn't a limo.

      Thirty years ago, when they started, I used to buy EasyJet tickets from Edinburgh to London for £29 (their lowest price then) each way. That's still what the trip costs by budget airline, and thirty years of inflation has to be soaked up somewhere.

      1. Elongated Muskrat Silver badge

        Re: I never fly Ryanair

        Yeah, if I book a seat on a bus, I don't expect to turn up to find someone else sitting in it, and being told to wait for the next bus.

        TBH, I've heard horror stories about BA doing this as well. Overselling of seats should be illegal. If someone has bought a seat on a flight and doesn't turn up, that seat should sit empty, not have another warm body put into it (the airline has received the fare, what teh customer chooses to do with their booking is none of their business), and if everyone who has paid for a seat turns up, they should all get a seat.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a fan of Ryanair to be honest but what exactly are they supposed to do in this situation? Trust the third party has done everything correctly? I'm pretty sure it's the airlines responsibility to ensure someone has the legal right to fly to the place they as in their passport is in date and so on. They also need to submit passenger lists beforehand.

    I really don't understand why they are checking for GDPR compliance because if they weren't compliant they would already have been investigated when selling tickets direct. I also can't see what identification they could possibly be asking for that could be deemed not appropriate for an airline. I also don't understand how people could lose their flights for not being able to supply this identification unless they are asking for a picture of your first pet or your mums signature in her maiden name.

    1. CountCadaver Silver badge

      .....ryanair staff REALLY have too much time on their hands apparently

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You think I'm Ryanair staff? Last time I flew with the clowns they tried to charge me extra at the gate because I had two bags. I then proceeded to put the laptop bag in the other bag and drop it into the bag size slot with no problem. Also, fuck their check-in rules.

    2. plunet

      API data can be collected in advance for convenience but is only required at check in and is often tweaked/corrected at check in with a passport scan. Absolutely no requirement for it to be submitted ahead of travel for the kinds of places Ryanair fly to.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Then it wouldn't be possible to have online-only hand-luggage check in if people had to scan their passport at the check-in desk.

        Also they're not using this to collect API data, they're verifying the My Ryanair account just after it is created in an effort to make things more difficult for OTAs. Probably from repeated IPs or IP blocks belonging to OTAs.

    3. doublelayer Silver badge

      The identity of the traveler can be and is checked when they arrive. If it wasn't, I could find someone else's ticket purchased directly through Ryanair and impersonate them, since if the ticket was purchased using their site, this process gets skipped. They are doing additional checks on a subset of their passengers that are not required for other travelers.

      Maybe they have another reason for doing it, but in the absence of an explanation and the presence of many airlines who don't do this and have no legal problems about it, I have to fill in the gaps. It seems like they're trying to make the process more difficult for sites that allow passengers to book tickets through a third party, and there's a clear reason why they might. Those sites make it easy (easier) to compare prices across airlines and see all the various options for traveling between some locations. If Ryanair's options are sometimes preferable but not always, a passenger who used such a service would only buy Ryanair tickets some of the time. If they can get those passengers to go to the Ryanair site first, they might always buy a Ryanair ticket even when another airline is providing a better option or a better price just because the effort of price comparison is much harder and if the traveler spends too much time doing it, the price could increase.

  3. abend0c4 Silver badge

    Trust the third party has done everything correctly?

    Having booked for other airlines via an OTA (I don't recommend it if you care if the flight is cancelled/delayed as the interposition of a 3rd party really complicates things, but you can sometimes save some money), the responsibility of the third party stops at selling a ticket and providing a booking reference. You still have to go through the airline check-in procedure and that's the point at which they collect nationality and passport details. Some other airlines at that point allow the passenger to provide alternative contact details so they get notified about late changes to the itinerary rather than relying on the OTA passing on the messages, but they don't do additional verification checks - ie they accommodate OTAs and don't try to frustrate them and their customers.

    This seems to be solely a feature of Ryanair and, if other airlines aren't doing the same, their explanation of why it's necessary and proportionate should be quite interesting.

    1. yoganmahew

      Re: Trust the third party has done everything correctly?

      All the OTAs either:

      1. Go through a traditional GDS to make their bookings that has the capability to collect and pass on journey contact details. This capability was introduced during Covid and has been retained as useful in disruptions.

      2. Go directly to the airline using a private or NDC API. In the case of NDC, passenger contact is also available.

      Any OTA that fails to provide this is shite.

      Any airline that demands direct update of contact details is shite.

      1. claimed Silver badge

        Re: Trust the third party has done everything correctly?

        This looks like an interesting piece of information but I don’t know what the acronyms mean

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Bertieboy

    I flew Ryanair once. nuff said.

    1. FILE_ID.DIZ
      Trollface

      How'd you get back home?

      1. R Soul Silver badge

        "How'd you get back home?"

        Several hundreds of kms of swimming and walking: a far more pleasant experience than flying with Ryanair.

    2. Bertieboy

      Time of the Icelandic volcano ash - Got Swansea Ferry back.

      1. The commentard formerly known as Mister_C Silver badge

        Well played, but I don't think you can blame Ryanair for the Eyjafjallajökull eruption

        1. Gene Cash Silver badge

          No, but it is still their responsibility to take care of their customers.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            By not flying them through an active volcano?

    3. HMcG

      I know someone who flew Ryanair once. nuff said.

    4. HandlesMessiah

      I've flown Ryanair zero times and they still managed to jerk me around:

      https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/03/ryanair_email_misdirection/

  5. captain veg Silver badge

    A Ryanair spokesperson said: "We welcome this DPC inquiry into our Booking Verification process, which protects customers from those few remaining non-approved OTAs, who provide fake customer contact and payment details to cover up the fact that they are overcharging and scamming consumers.

    He added "Everyone knows that overcharging and scamming consumers is what we do best, and we reserve first dibs on it."

    -A.

  6. Gene Cash Silver badge

    "losing entire holidays"

    Good. If that happens to enough people, Ryanair will go under.

    Edit: actually the ability of people to completely ignore things just to squeeze a few pennies amazes me. I had an acquaintance that would buy the cheapest toughest meat, then complain the grocery store had the worst food. I'd pay a buck more and she didn't understand why I didn't hate my meal.

    1. R Soul Silver badge

      If that happens to enough people, Ryanair will go under.

      Nope.

      This so-called airline has pissed off a large percentage of its customers/victims and employees for 20+ years. Yet it's still growing and profitable.

      Ryanair don't (have to) give a shit about customer service. They know that every mug punter they piss off gets replaced by 5-10 gullible fuckwits hoping to get a cheap ticket.

    2. Boring Bob

      Re: "losing entire holidays"

      Plenty of people understand, "bad service = cheap price". Reports of abusive behaviour to customes works out as great, free advertising for Ryan Air.

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: "losing entire holidays"

        Except it's not.

        I spent a while flying London-Helsinki. The added costs of getting to/from Stansted at this end and getting from Tampere to Helsinki (over 100 miles from Helsinki) were vastly higher than the extra fares using BA directly from Heathrow to Vantaa, let alone the parking charges and 3 hours extra travel time

        Yes, I know BA are crap but As Fascinating Ada sang about, "cheap flights" often aren't - and BA didn't give gyp about baggage

        And yes I know Ryanair now fly into Vantaa. I still wouldn't use them and not just because I have to spend 90 minutes extra each way for Stansted by car (plus parking fees) because the flight from Finland arrives AFTER the last train to London has left (all added expenses which make Heathrow cheaper overall)

    3. Fred Daggy Silver badge

      Re: "losing entire holidays"

      How bad do you have to be that Ireland actually launches a GDPR complaint against you? I can already foresee the result being one of "No problem here Mr O'Leary, Sir" or "You've been a bad boy, Mr O'Leary, Sir. Please don't do it again". Probably one country that actually gives a shite (Germany? Austria?) was about to do the same and this was to "head them off at the pass".

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "losing entire holidays"

        Did an Irishman steal your girl or spill your pint?

      3. Cynical Pie

        Re: "losing entire holidays"

        Actually under GDPR as the 'home' authority for Ryanair the Irish DPA is the one responsible for all regulatory issues across the EU so the other national authorities will defer to them.

        It would operate the same with an Irish customer of Air France making a DP complaint - any regulatory action would be dealt with by the CNIL, the French DPA.

  7. Sub 20 Pilot

    Bunch of cunts that will do anyone over if they get away with it.

    They stiffed me for £1200 over flights during covid. I could do nothing about it, tried everything I could to reason with them but their attitude was 'tough shit we don't need to give you your money back so we won't.'

    Since then I have hopefully cost them a few £100k of lost business due to what I was doing and the number of people asking my advice on travel to different destinations to undertake those activities. Since then I have told people specifically to get any airline other that these cunts and will do so as long as I can.

    Everyone is entitled to make a living but don't be arseholes just because you think you can.

    1. Julz

      The

      Attitude steams directly from the top.

    2. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Clawback via your bank. They generally don't take any shit from vendors (joint and several liability for credit cards and the debit card guarantee for other cards)

      Consumer protection laws, etc

  8. FirstTangoInParis Silver badge

    SqueezyJet tips

    Having flown EasyJet a few times for biz and pleasure, and it was ok, some tips. Don’t bother pre-booking food vouchers, you won’t get your money’s worth since what you want will likely be less than 10 quid. Also don’t bother hiring a car through them unless you want lots of sucking of teeth at the hire company office, because the T&Cs don’t match theirs. But other than the inevitable late night flights, they are really quite ok, fly to places that you actually want to go to, and give BA a run for their money.

    1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

      Re: SqueezyJet tips

      Agreed - Easyjet are, like everyone else, too tight in the seats for this six foot plus passenger but for a couple of hours I can stand it. If only I could understand why 23kg of 'luggage' costs half the price of 15kg of 'sporting equipment' (aka my paraglider), unless I put it in a big bag when it miraculously turns into 'luggage'... They're reasonably convenient and cheap for a route I fly once or twice a year.

      And I won't touch Ryan air for all the reasons given by other posters.

      And while I'm grumbling: I don't buy flights, rail tickets, hotel rooms and the like from third parties. Always from the supplier directly.

      1. HMcG

        Re: SqueezyJet tips

        > If only I could understand why 23kg of 'luggage' costs half the price of 15kg of 'sporting equipment' (aka my paraglider)…

        Essentially, because Ryanair figure that if you are a paraglider, then you have a bit more dosh than the average punter, and they can wring you for a bit extra profit. Squeezing customers until the pips squeak for ‘extras’ like using the toilet is Ryanair’s whole business model.

        1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

          Re: SqueezyJet tips

          Yabbut... this was Easyjet. I suspect they are more concerned with insurance claims on lost baggage, though I suspect any enterprising passenger might be able to squeeze the value of their baggage - oh, those expensive designer shirts! - close to that of my glider. There's probably a claim limit...

          1. tip pc Silver badge

            Re: SqueezyJet tips

            Yabbut... this was Easyjet. I suspect they are more concerned with insurance claims on lost baggage, though I suspect any enterprising passenger might be able to squeeze the value of their baggage - oh, those expensive designer shirts! - close to that of my glider. There's probably a claim limit...

            thats what travel insurance is for

          2. John McCallum
            Boffin

            Re: SqueezyJet tips

            There's probably a claim limit... yes there is it is called The Montreal Treaty (1926) IIRC

  9. xyz123 Silver badge

    Ryanair - we literally tried to sell photos and video of you attached to data on what you bought in-flight and what make of bank card you used to book your flight and purchase items, to scammers in China and Russia.

    What else could we do wrong?

  10. Cynical Pie

    On the plus side...

    As this is the Irish regulator they might actually do something other than issue a fake punishment (aka a reprimand) which is akin to a stern telling off for a 5 year old that the ICO are currently doing rather than enforce the law

  11. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Surcharge

    In true style, the Ryanair contingent should be allowed one sheet (A6 size) of evidence, that they can bring to the inquiry, for free.

    After than they should be charged £59.99 for every "oversized" extra piece of paper. Plus £40 per page to copy it to each of the other delegates.

    Plus their seats at the inquiry should be just large enough to perch a budgie on. With extra legroom available ... or not, for a price.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ryanair are a major operator of the deeply flawed 737MAX. Do you still fancy flying on them?

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Regardless of Ryanair's other issues, the 737MAX's flaws are significantly fewer than preceeding birds(*) and the crashes were a direct result of Boeing deliberately withholding details of critical system changes which actually improve overall safety when properly implemented. Now that pilots are aware of the runaway trim issue failure mode (and the worst of the incompetently designed software has been replaced) it's a non-issue and I'd be more worried about the 800 or so 737NGs still flying with defective fuselage ribs (paperwork falsified by the supplier in 1996-9, heavily metal-bashed on the line "to make them fit" and potentially prone to bursting like a Comet long before their designed cycle life is reached)

      (*) the 737 is a 1960s design rehash of a 1950s airframe (a cut down 727 with "new" wing which in turn was a cut down 707) that was originally a military tanker and if it had to pass _current_ certification at the time of introduction rather than being "grandfathered in", the 737 Classic would never have been approved when introduced in 1984 let alone the later NG or MAX - you can thank the USA's regulatory capture system for this happening - the home of the best laws money can buy

      That said, Ryanair are even worse than USA budget airlines, which is a very low bar to clear. I'm more surprised that they havn't been prosecuted out of existence over their repeated breaches of european air passenger rights laws than this GDPR issue

      (Hint: if you're silly enough to use RA and they cause issues where you're entitled to a refund but start giving a runaround, your fastest and most reliable course of action is simply to use the small claims system rather than letting them drive your blood pressure up)

  13. Ken G Silver badge
    Meh

    Since there's already a lot of off topic chat about Ryanair

    I first heard of them in a hanger at Weston airfield in 1984, when it was a new idea from Tony Ryan of GPA fame. I first used them in, I think, 1997 when I went from booking the back row seat 3 months in advance on an Aer Lingus flight for GBP119 to getting a flight with 2 weeks notice for GBP5, both one way. Back then, and until about 2005, Ryanair used 2nd hand 737's from bankrupt airlines. Some of the most comfortable flights I've had have been on Ryanair on an ex-Austrian airlines flight when speed and agility let me grab a leather clad formerly first class seat in the front rows. I've seen Michael O'Leary checking bags at a boarding gate in Dublin airport and wearing a blue streak at the check-in staff for taking too long.

    I no longer take them unless I'm travelling alone and the price difference is striking. Most of the time I can get a 'full price' airline ticket for about the same with cabin bags and a meal thrown in. I do still admire their single mindedness which has taken them to the largest airline in Europe. They serve a purpose and will continue to do so until we get our high speed train networks sorted out.

    So, yes, let's see if their contract terms and conditions include express consent for this purpose but don't attack the airline for doing what it's always done.

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