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Why are Ryanair making it more difficult to book flights with them?

Peter Flynt

I went to book a Ryanair flight online recently. What an ordeal. After the initial booking it was required that I register with Ryanair either through my Google account or setting up an account with them. In the past this was always something that could be skipped and the booking continued until completion. Now this seems to no longer be the case. Signature verification, "Liveness" check, uploading of documentation were among some of the obstacles presented to the point that I just discontinued booking with them. Ryanair are the only airline I've booked with now, seemingly, requiring all this mandatory information before completing a booking.

What is going on here?

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Ed44

I am having the same problem, I had an account years ago with an obsolete email address so set one up with my gmail address on Thursday. I can see the account but it insists "In order to make a booking with Ryanair you are required to create a verified myRyanair Account". I can select the flights but at the last stage it comes up with a window wanting to verify the account before payment, there are 2 options Express and Standard - neither work. Express costs 69 cent but does not request payment, I also tried standard and uploaded my id and signature. I spent 3 hours today and the last chat I had the representative typed "I believe I have already provided all the necessary information. Thank you for contacting Ryanair and have a nice day!" He didn't tell me how to do anything, what a waste of time, I had to cancel my hotel and trip.

grimm2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121594498#Comment_121594498

Google Flights also lists third party booking sites in results. They no longer show up for Ryanair results but if you click an Aer Lingus flight, you'll see quite a number of third party booking options on both Google Flights and Skyscanner. Both sites have an "Airline" tag beside the direct booking link but I guess the issue is that people will automatically click the top cheapest link, even if its only €5 - 10 cheaper and its not always the direct booking option.

crisco10

My wife had to give up as well last week. She couldn't pass the liveliness test, after an incredibly frustrating hour.

I also noticed the other day Ryanair weren't on my corporate flight booking system (Concur) or Skyscanner. Might have been a temporary thing, but made my trip to Spain a lot harder to organise.

naughtysmurf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565549#Comment_121565549

I had to go through the process recently including facial recognition despite being logged in on the app while purchasing, have account years

Nolimits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565899#Comment_121565899

Ryanair like Google flights, and have gone on record as saying it's good. They like it because Google flights redirects you to booking with the airline. I suspect the only thing keeping Sky Scanner out of their good books is they also link to buying the flights from the likes of ebooker and other third parties.

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121566581#Comment_121566581

Not always - many of the ones who use carriers such as Ryanair make it clear near the end that they have booked separate flight and accommodation bookings which don’t qualify for ATOL or equivalent protection.

mondeoman72

By booking a flight package of flight and hotel together, you get package holiday protections

trellheim

No idea why they want to stop channel bookings , i mean its literally ticket money.

Ryanair couldnt give a damn about the experience so the only answer left is they think they're losing out on ancillary upsell

grimm2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565569#Comment_121565569

They still show up on Google Flights (my go to for price comparison) and Skyscanner, and I would have thought these are the two big players when it comes to price comparison? Unless you're talking about travel agent type sites that actually re-sell rather than just search and point you in the right direction or the results themselves, which don't give you any re-sellers now?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565710#Comment_121565710

People looking for package holidays I imagine, book hotel and flight in a single transaction, or if they only want to pay a deposit and pay the rest later. I'm not a fan myself, I prefer the DIY method. Also letting a third party look after my flight and hotel booking would make me nervous given some horror stories I've heard in the past.

Geuze

"Before the pandemic, online travel agents accounted for about 10pc of Ryanair’s ticket sales. By 2021, they accounted for 20pc, Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary revealed that year."

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ryanair-shares-tumble-after-online-travel-agents-stop-selling-its-tickets/a208167301.html

Can anybody explain to me what any pax would book a Ryanair flight through an OTA?

Why add an unecessary third-party into the booking?

MrMusician18

Worth noting that Ryanair isn't an airline on the travel comparison sites anymore. It is believed that this is due to a permanent injunction Ryanair has on one of them

Peter Flynt

I booked eventually through their mobile app after extensive rejected efforts to verify who I was. Their system repeatedly rejected my passport photo/provided signature.

grimm2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565480#Comment_121565480

Makes sense, presumably not required for anyone with an existing active account

Noxegon

They announced it a few weeks ago – the aim is to stop screenscrapers/OTAs booking their filghts.

https://www.ryanair.com/ie/en/lp/explore/third-party-hub/my-ryanair

grimm2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565146#Comment_121565146

If you ever clicked "continue with Google" at a prompt (like below), you're logging into a Ryanair account, Google just manage the logging in part:

Probably when you downloaded the app, you signed in this way and the app has you signed in permanently. You can check this by clicking on the account bubble top right of the app home screen, it would usually show up as your initials, and you can see all your account info in here.

If you're on a computer where you're not already signed into Ryanair, you might see the above prompt, or if you're using a different browser or have cleared the browser cache/history, it would require you to login again. Clicking continue with Google will open a Google login prompt.

Not sure if that makes things any clearer but hopefully it makes sense. I can't comment on the facial recognition stuff, I've not seen that before

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565123#Comment_121565123

I definitely setup a Ryanair account in the past although always felt that I just went through google to complete the booking. As others have stated perhaps I should persist with Ryanair and complete the facial recognition etc... to make bookings much more straightforward in the future (which is obviously their reason for requiring accounts). Their mobile app doesn't seem to require any of this though and pretty much all of my bookings in the past went through that.

grimm2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565093#Comment_121565093

Yeah I use the Google account option, it creates a Ryanair account for you via your Gmail so you probably do have an account without realising it. A lot of 3rd party websites and services use the "login via Google" as an option for creating a user account, as it saves time filling out a form to setup an account and pulls the information from your Google account. You can check this by going to https://myaccount.google.com and sign in with your gmail details. Click "Data and privacy", then under Apps and services, there's a "Third-party apps and services" panel that shows you which websites you have an account with via your Google account.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565059#Comment_121565059

It's definitely their own website. Besides I'd never book any airline through a third party website. I don't even use travel agents. Usually I'd book on their mobile app and am certain I have done so for many years without the requirement for logging in. Now they could have given me the option to log in via my Google account but a Ryanair account was never fully required to complete a booking.

bikeman1

The facial thing, is to login into your account more securely and faster. I've just done it there and it takes a few seconds. I went and did a dummy booking to Lapland and all was good!

grimm2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565015#Comment_121565015

I'm pretty sure I had an account before they made it compulsory (https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/travel-news/ryanair-announces-compulsory-account-sign-ups-for-all-online-bookings/35160055.html) so never had any issue but it was fairly well documented that an account was required from that date in 2016. Not sure how you've managed to avoid it as I sometimes look up prices on an office computer I'm not logged into and it always asks you to sign in at the last step before you can purchase. You will get the same splash screen on the app to login or create an account at the last step. Have you been booking through a third party possibly?

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058329367/why-are-ryanair-making-it-more-difficult-to-book-flights-with-them

Had a similar issue last night, with new facial recognition etc. Preserved and got there in the end.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565039#Comment_121565039

Presumably you did all the verification stuff I mention in the opening post on setting up your Ryanair account?

Quags

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564983#Comment_121564983

This happened me over Christmas when I was booking a flight for a family member. First time I ever seen it

bikeman1

I can book a flight and pay with Apple Pay on their app in approximately 90 seconds. They have a world class app and super fast booking system. I actually dread going to other airlines! Email confirmation flies into the inbox in seconds. And yes, I have a Ryanair account, and all my upcoming flights are there in one handy place to see.

I wish they were harder to book with, then I wouldn't have so many trips!

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121565015#Comment_121565015

Could be a requirement depending on where you’re travelling? Or just to avoid hassle at the airport.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121564983#Comment_121564983

That thought did cross my mind and never booked as a result. I know that Ryanair accounts have been available for many years now (as you state) but these have always been optional with bookings allowed to continue to completion without having an account or logging in. Indeed have booked Ryanair many times since 2016 without using a login account. I notice that their app is not requiring such details. Perhaps I'll use that instead.

grimm2005

You've needed a Ryanair account to book flights since around 2016. Not sure what you're referring to when you say "Signature verification, "Liveness" check, uploading of documentation". None of this was needed on my recent booking.

Are you sure you are going through their official website?