On The Beach’s successful £2m dispute with Ryanair ‘sends an important message on how refunds should be handled’

Online travel agent On the Beach has successfully sued Ryanair millions over failures to refund package holidays from COVID-19 times. 

In a ruling today, High Court judge Nigel Cooper KC calculated OTB group’s claim to have succeeded over £2m. 

On the Beach, who were joined by Sunshine.co.uk and Classic Package holidays, argued the budget carrier should pay for refunds offered by the group to passengers whose flights were disrupted over the pandemic.

The claimants instructed City firm Fox Williams to file a claim in October 2021, shortly after OTB targeted the Irish airline with a competition lawsuit. The judge today upheld the claimant’s summary judgment but dismissed all of Ryanair’s notable applications in the case.

Shaun Morton, chief executive of On the Beach, welcomed the “decision to uphold our application for Ryanair to pay back what was owed”.

“Today’s outcome sends an important message on how refunds should be handled and emphasises the industry’s responsibility to holidaymakers,” Morton said.

The ruling comes amid a long-running feud between European online booking agents and Ryanair, who have been embroiled in numerous verbal and legal spats over third-party bookings.

Low-cost carriers prefer when customers book direct as they can offer add-ons such as extra luggage space. They argue direct communication with passengers is necessary to handle customer complaints and issues during the booking process.

OTA’s claim airlines are engaging in aggressive tactics aimed at removing consumer choice from the market, so they can rake in more cash.

Last week, On the Beach wrote to the UK competition regulator, the aviation watchdog and a host of senior transport ministers, urging them to take action and naming Ryanair as one of the worst offenders.

The submission called for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to begin a full market review into budget airline practices and create a code of conduct for the groups to work together in future. 

Responding to today’s ruling, Ryanair DAC chief executive Dara Brady said: “Even pirate OTAs must demonstrate that they have refunded customers before any monies are released to OTAs by airlines.”

“This has been Ryanair’s long-standing practice, following numerous cases of refunds paid by airlines to OTAs during Covid not being passed on to passengers. Passengers whose bookings were made by OTA bots can avail directly of Ryanair’s enhanced-security refund procedures to ensure they receive any applicable refunds directly, rather than via these OTA digital pirates.”