Ryanair, Google and eDreams seal agreement to end legal proceedings
Ryanair Hldgs Plc Eo-,006
€20.57
17:30 18/03/24
Low budget airline Ryanair together with Google and eDreams reached a settlement to end legal proceedings in the Irish High Court, concerning eDreams’ online adverts on Google’s AdWords platform, the companies confirmed on Thursday.
Litigation stemmed from an accusation in 2015 by Ryanair about the search engine Google permitting online travel agency eDreams to use the "misleading" subdomain www.Ryanair.eDreams.com, as well as a website with branding matching that of Ryanair's, to sell plane tickets at a higher prices than those on its own website.
Conditions of the settlement were to be kept confidential between the parties concerned, Ryanair said.
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said: "We will continue to offer our customers the lowest fares in Europe and we welcome these measures, which will ensure transparency in relation to the online advertising of air fares, to the benefit of our customers. We are pleased to have resolved this issue and we welcome these commitments to consumer-friendly advertising on Google’s AdWords platform."
On behalf of Google, a spokesperson said: "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Ryanair and eDreams. We have clear policies on the type of ads we allow on our platforms and we remain committed to enforcing them to best serve consumers."