The company stated that aggregator sites, monitoring the fares of its own website, hinder its operation. The airline also has no way to inform such passengers about schedule changes. In addition, according to Ryanair, when purchasing tickets through such sites, passengers pay not only the fare itself but also a commission to the third-party site.
As noted by Travel.ru, Ryanair's decision not to let passengers with such tickets caused numerous protests. The issue of this decision was brought to the European Commission, but it found nothing illegal in it – since the company had previously declared such bookings invalid.
About a year ago, Ryanair officially refused to sell tickets through any sites other than its own. The European Commission, however, recommended that the airline serve passengers who already hold such tickets purchased before August 11.
According to competitors from airline EasyJet, all these steps by Ryanair are caused by the carrier's reluctance to lose revenue from selling on its website ancillary products – insurance, hotel bookings, and car rentals – alongside the air ticket. EasyJet itself allows other sites to book its tickets, but charges an additional €7.5 as compensation for lost profit.