Corporate Traveller have had to exercise a policy regarding the booking of Ryanair content and subsequent booking support, which is now consistent across our European markets.

To continue to provide our customers with the widest range of fares, we are able to provide our customers with Ryanair content through an online booking platform provided by Corporate Traveller, but in doing so, we wish to provide the following warnings.

• We have seen examples of customer bookings having online check-in functionality removed, forcing the customer to check in for their flight at the airport on the day. This adds complexity and time to the journey, and could also come with a charge from Ryanair for airport check-in, which the traveller would be required to pay at the airport.

• Ryanair has also recently introduced an online verification tool, which uses facial recognition technology, at a small fee payable by the customer (€0.35 in the most recent example we have seen), to re-enable online check-in. Nothing can be done to the booking until the customer has completed this online verification, so this must be done before check-in or before any changes can be made. An example of this email is provided alongside this message.

We have heard of cases whereby Ryanair are refusing to allow customers to travel on an existing booking if this customer had previously used a chargeback through their bank or debit/credit card provider to recoup a payment to Ryanair for flights which they could no longer take during the pandemic. Ryanair will allow the customer to travel if they pay back this outstanding amount from the chargeback. Any customer who believes they have used this chargeback functionality on Ryanair should make new bookings with caution.

• Ryanair is insistent that all refunds are processed directly to the passenger, regardless of the original form of payment. This means that if Ryanair cancels a flight, booked through CT, they will only refund to the passenger’s personal bank account. This inevitably causes unnecessary confusion and complexity to the customer, and has valid commercial implications, including:

• Fraud concerns for our customers

• Audit trail complexity for CT and our customers. Customers could continue chasing CT for refunds while unaware that their traveller has already received a refund from the airline.

• Form of refund - it has been widely publicised that Ryanair has provided some refunds to passengers in the form of overseas bank cheques, for which there are large fees associated with redeeming. An example could include a refund being due for £130, however, Ryanair issues a cheque from a German bank, for which there are bank charges costing the traveller €100. This significantly reduces the value of the refund.

As a result of the online verification process Ryanair has implemented on third-party bookings (described above), customers should access their booking on the Ryanair website and complete this process before checking in or before contacting CT to make any changes to the booking. These actions cannot be done until the verification process is completed by the customer.

Provided customers have completed the online verification process on the Ryanair website, they can contact their CT travel consultant to make changes to their booking.

What if customers need to cancel their booking?

For the reasons listed above, once a Ryanair booking has been made, CT will not be able to provide any further support for cancellation and refund. Customers should instead seek support for these actions with Ryanair directly, where necessary.