As a Ryanair user would you use this service

TBeckett100 · 15 November 2008 at 12:33PM

I am contemplating setting up a service via ebay for £2.00 whereby customers can use my electron card to pay for flights. obviously i cant give my card details but say you wanted to buy a flight but wanted to save £30 in charges, would you use a service where you pay over to someone the flight money and they book it for you to save the costs?

bluemorph · 15 November 2008 at 12:38PM

Yes for sure, what a great idea.

famous.last.words · 15 November 2008 at 1:36PM

yeah, i think that could be a really good idea. Just make sure you are covered on all angles and that you get and clear payment before you book otherwise you will end up with loads of random flights and covering the cost!

PixiePie · 15 November 2008 at 2:35PM

The fact that it's via Ebay would make me very suspicious of it in the first place - there are so many scam artists and illegal sellers on there that anything out of the ordinary would appear to (admittedly cynical ole) me as a scam. A separate website would be better imho, but then there are loads of people who happily walk into a scam on Ebay each day, so guess it could have legs.

But you might also have issues with RyanAir - have you trawled through their T&Cs to see if this is allowed? Sounds stupid I know, but the last thing you need is to book hundreds of flights, then RyanAir turn around and sue you and your clients be left without their flights. Do you need to be registered as a travel agent or similar? I would make sure you visit Business Link and get some free legal advice on it. And they probably wouldn't let you use their name on anything, def not their logo (at the end of the day, you are taking some of their money) so there might be issues there.

Good luck, but it might prove more hassle than it is worth for just £2 a pop

hula-hoops · 15 November 2008 at 2:42PM

The most stupid idea I have ever heard of!

Haven't you been reading about Ryanair and the 'screen scraper' row? In their Ts and Cs it clearly states that they will cancel any booking where it has been made for commercial gain or by a third party.

Aside from that, what licence do you have to sell air travel? It's a strongly regulated business. If the Ryanair flight were cancelled or if they went bust would you have the financial protection as the re-seller to refund your customers? Thought not.

Also, not many people are aware that paying for your flights through one source and your accommodation through another means that you have no protection at all. So your customers will lose out if something were to go wrong.

I have worked in the industry for 10 years and I can assure there is a lot more to selling travel than putting a bank card number through a website.

What you are proposing verges on illegal.

annie-c · 15 November 2008 at 3:33PM

I don't know enough to advise about legalities but from a personal perspective I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Things can get complicated even when using a family member/friend's card for bookings if refunds are needed or problems arise. Aside from the financial pitfalls, there's no way I would share the kinds of personal information required for booking, with someone I don't know. I wouldn't trust a stranger on ebay at all, with any aspect of it, sorry.

amcluesent · 15 November 2008 at 4:58PM

Why, when it's easy enough to buy a pre-paid card which is classed as an Electron?

chja · 15 November 2008 at 5:40PM

I've not booked with Ryanair, but I don't understand why I would save £30 if you booked it with a debit card instead of me booking it with a debit card.

Would this not make you a travel agent, in which case you might want to look into ABTA / IATA protection, client money rules, etc.

hula-hoops · 15 November 2008 at 8:21PM

Registering with IATA is not necessary to sell Ryanair tickets as you would not be issuing tickets.

However, you would need an ABTA licence to take money from someone in return for booking them some form of travel.

Who would take responsibility if the wrong flights or names were booked in error? Who would take responsibility of notifying the passengers of a flight schedule change?

The more I think about this, the more I realise how dangerous a game you would be playing. Maybe you should ask the forum admin to delete this thread?