European LCC Ryanair has won a court case in Delaware against OTA (online travel agent) Booking Holdings and its subsidiaries.

Ryanair has been involved in a significant dispute with Booking.com and other online travel agents. The conflict escalated after Ryanair accused these platforms of “screen scraping” its website to gather flight information without authorization. This practice led to legal action by Ryanair against Booking Holdings, the parent company of Booking.com, and its subsidiaries, including Kayak, Agoda, and Priceline.

The dispute intensified when Ryanair claimed that these online travel agents were using the scraped data to overcharge customers for Ryanair’s airfares and ancillary services. Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, referred to these agents as “OTA Pirates” and criticised them for creating bookings using fake customer emails and payment cards.

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The Delaware jury unanimously ruled that Booking.com had violated the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) with the intent to defraud Ryanair. The court also dismissed Booking.com’s counterclaims against Ryanair, which included defamation and unfair competition.

Describing practices he described as ‘illegal and deceptive’, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair and our customers warmly welcome yesterday’s unanimous jury ruling in the Delaware Court, which comprehensively found in favour of Ryanair, proving that the travel industry giant Booking.com had illegally “scraped” our website, and did so with an intention to defraud both Ryanair and ordinary consumers, which was in breach of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. We expect that this ruling will end the internet piracy and overcharging perpetrated on both airlines and other travel companies and consumers by the unlawful activity of OTA Pirates like Booking.com”.

This legal victory for Ryanair is expected to have significant implications for the travel industry, particularly concerning the transparency and legality of data usage by online travel agents. Ryanair has emphasized its commitment to ensuring that customers have direct access to its low fares and services without being overcharged by intermediaries.