Ryanair seems to collect even more personal data than before

QQQ

Booked a flight with Ryanair. Now instead of providing my passport number they seem to want my signature, a photo of my passport via web cam (not even jpeg) and of course extra payment. Is there a way to avoid going through those shiny new hoops?

Westin

QQQ said:

Booked a flight with Ryanair. Now instead of providing my passport number they seem to want my signature, a photo of my passport via web cam (not even jpeg) and of course extra payment. Is there a way to avoid going through those shiny new hoops?

Book direct on www.RyanAir.com?

bagand96

QQQ said:

Booked a flight with Ryanair. Now instead of providing my passport number they seem to want my signature, a photo of my passport via web cam (not even jpeg) and of course extra payment. Is there a way to avoid going through those shiny new hoops?

This seems very odd indeed and is certainly not routine.  As above, did you book direct with Ryanair, and are you sure what you're being asked for is legitimate and actually from Ryanair?

Caz3121

this sounds like the Verification process when you have not booked direct
Ryanair say - "Where a booking appears to have been made through a third-party travel agent who has no commercial relationship with Ryanair, the booking may be blocked. As third-party travel agents often do not provide Ryanair with the passenger’s correct email address and payment details, we need to verify the passenger’s identity before they can manage their booking and check-in online. Ryanair needs to carry out this verification process in order to ensure we can comply with safety and security requirements."

you can avoid all this by booking direct

QQQ

Caz3121 said:

you can avoid all this by booking direct

...and paying through my nose, their prices for the same flights are higher  

eskbanker

QQQ said:

Caz3121 said:

you can avoid all this by booking direct

...and paying through my nose, their prices for the same flights are higher  

Who did you book through and what was the price difference?

la531983

Pay more through the official channels and dont provide this extra info. The solution is simple.

bagand96

eskbanker said:

QQQ said:

Caz3121 said:

you can avoid all this by booking direct

...and paying through my nose, their prices for the same flights are higher  

Who did you book through and what was the price difference?

+1 interested in what the price difference was.  Given that the Ryanair website is the only way to book a Ryanair flight, even those agents that discount by a few pounds as a loss leader have to pay the Ryanair fare.

@QQQ in future I'd strongly suggest only book direct with Ryanair, too many potential issues going through a third party.

Suzycoll

QQQ said:

Booked a flight with Ryanair. Now instead of providing my passport number they seem to want my signature, a photo of my passport via web cam (not even jpeg) and of course extra payment. Is there a way to avoid going through those shiny new hoops?

do they ?? i just checked in for my Ryanair flight and only asked for my passport number and personal detail's name, address etc. Did you book with Ryan Air directly ?

I personally would not upload any of these details if asked without checking with customer services first .

Wonka_2

QQQ said:

Caz3121 said:

you can avoid all this by booking direct

...and paying through my nose, their prices for the same flights are higher  

At the time it's very unlikely that anyone could get the flight cheaper than you could have done by booking direct. Obviously when you look now the price is likely to be higher as more seats are likely to have been sold.

Unless one of the esteemed regulars can say otherwise there should never be a way that booking Ryanair through a 3rd party would be cheaper (other than by virtue of exchange rate/handing fees)

bagand96

Wonka_2 said:

Unless one of the esteemed regulars can say otherwise there should never be a way that booking Ryanair through a 3rd party would be cheaper (other than by virtue of exchange rate/handing fees)

Some OTA's have been known to sell the fare at a few quid (literally) cheaper than Ryanair so they got to the top of the list on sites like Skyscanner.  Small loss leader to win the booking.  They then put a markup on all the extras like seats and bags.  They also charge their own admin fees for things like flight changes, cancellation refunds etc which is where they make most of their money I guess.