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Ryanair not honouring flights booked via Lastminute.com

My elderly parents were on a big trip which involved a Ryanair flight between Ireland and England. They booked through Lastminute.com. 24hrs before the flight they got the email to check in with the disclaimer that they MUST check in online. However they could not access the booking. They went to the airport early and was told that the should not book with a third party as they won’t be able to check in online with Ryanair, and were charged for whole new tickets. This feels incredibly unfair to me and wondered if anyone could shed any light on whether this is acceptable or whether my parents have any recourse to getting their money back? Surely if Ryanair isn’t allowing third party bookings to check in, these shouldn’t be being sold? Thanks in advance for any help.

Comments

  • la531983
    la531983 Posts: 2,538 Forumite
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    edited 25 September 2023 at 9:15AM
    jojebauk said:
    , and were charged for whole new tickets.
    Do you mean they were charged the fee for airport check-in (from memory €55 per person)?

    Sadly the Lastminute-Ryanair issue is a long standing one, and to be fair Ryanair are absolutely correct

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k9784734-Lastminute_com_Ryanair_Issue-Air_Travel.html

    Use third parties to book budget flights at your peril. Your parents beef here is with Lastminute.com
  • saajan_12
    saajan_12 Posts: 4,452 Forumite
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    jojebauk said:
    My elderly parents were on a big trip which involved a Ryanair flight between Ireland and England. They booked through Lastminute.com. 24hrs before the flight they got the email to check in with the disclaimer that they MUST check in online. However they could not access the booking. They went to the airport early and was told that the should not book with a third party as they won’t be able to check in online with Ryanair, and were charged for whole new tickets. This feels incredibly unfair to me and wondered if anyone could shed any light on whether this is acceptable or whether my parents have any recourse to getting their money back? Surely if Ryanair isn’t allowing third party bookings to check in, these shouldn’t be being sold? Thanks in advance for any help.
    Were they able to check in at the airport (and incur the fee for this)? 
    Perhaps new flights were cheaper than this, but that doesn't mean the original flights couldn't be used with the resulting fees in the fine print. 

    If not and they physically weren't permitted to check in at all, then you may have an argument, but remains to be determined whether that's against the agent or airline. 
  • la531983
    la531983 Posts: 2,538 Forumite
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    edited 25 September 2023 at 9:20AM
    saajan_12 said:

    but remains to be determined whether that's against the agent or airline. 
    Clearly its the agent at fault. They used a third party website, and were at their mercy. 

    Lastminute.com would have booked flights with Ryanair using one of their email addresses, one their customers havent a hope of accessing, so wont be able to check in online unless you go via Lastminute, and there is no guarantee they would pick it up before the flight.
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,731 Forumite
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    jojebauk said:
    However they could not access the booking. 
    Did they contact Lastminute.com when they found they could not access the booking? Were they trying to access with the Lastminute reference or did they have a Ryanair reference?
    I would have expected if the Ryanair reference was used they would have been asked to verify the booking https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb/sections/12488866220305-Check-In-When-Booking-Made-Through-a-Third-Party
  • Westin
    Westin Posts: 6,209 Forumite
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    edited 25 September 2023 at 11:57AM
    RyanAir do allow you to still check-in online (and you must if you wish to avoid airport check-in fees) but you need to verify your booking ahead of departure if you booked with a 3rd party ticket seller.
    https://onlineform.ryanair.com/gb/en/customer-verification


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