Ryanair has dismissed Booking.com’s attempt to sue the airline in a US court case as “largely unactionable grumblings”. Ryanair had earlier initiated legal action against Booking.com and its subsidiaries for depriving the airline “of the opportunity to maximise its revenues” from its own website. The airline has alleged that Booking.com had bypassed the airline’s website security and sold Ryanair fares on its own website using screen-scraping. Booking.com, however, has denied the allegations.
In response, Booking.com had asked the court to award it damages because of Ryanair’s behaviour. The online travel group had argued that Ryanair has caused harm to its reputation and business. But the airline has denied making any false statements and has asked the court to dismiss the counterclaims.
Ryanair has argued that Booking.com has not alleged that any of its procedures themselves are unlawful, and that Booking.com is simply complaining that Ryanair speaking about its procedures is unlawful. The airline also notes that Booking.com has not alleged special damages or that any damages are the proximate cause of Ryanair’s statements.
Booking.com has alleged that Ryanair has publicly disparaged the online travel group and its customers, and sent accusatory and disparaging emails to its customers who had booked Ryanair flights over its website. However, Ryanair has maintained that its statements to customers are not false, and that Booking.com’s counterclaims should be dismissed.
