Flight Centre Travel Group reported financial results Wednesday, with executives expressing optimism about future growth despite some headwinds.
27.08.2024 - 22:01 / skift.com / Dennis Schaal / Dara Brady
Ryanair chastised online travel agencies for years for scraping its fares and unilaterally charging higher prices, as well as booking fees and overcharging for ancillary services like checked bags.
But the low-cost carrier in 2024 has made peace and partnered with a handful of online travel agencies, including Expedia, eTraveli Group, lastminute.com, Kiwi, loveholidays.com and, most recently Omio. Ryanair is Europe’s largest airline.
Ryanair has approved all of these online travel agencies to sell its flights on their own websites, although several of these partnerships have not been implemented yet because there is technical work that needs to be completed.
But what has given the airline the confidence to allow these third parties to sell Ryanair flights after all these years of railing against “OTA pirates” and their excesses?
Omio, which enables travelers to patch together and bundle flights, rail tickets, bus rides and ferry trips to create their ideal travel itineraries, detailed a key step in the booking process that contributes to giving Ryanair confidence.
Prior to travelers completing their Ryanair flight bookings, whether on Omio’s desktop or mobile platforms, “there is a step directly from Ryanair that displays all the flight details,” Omio told Skift. “This step and integration ensures all details are verified by the airline itself. In turn, this booking experience allows Ryanair to rely on Omio” to handle customer care for flyers.
Omio said its partnership with the airline enables Ryanair to broaden its ticket sales, and to distribute tickets through approved online travel agencies “in a controlled manner.”
Asked what Omio was required to do to get approved as a Ryanair authorized online travel agency, Omio said the two companies have a shared vision about customer care and affordable travel. “The partnership between the two has been a natural and standard contracting process,” Omio said.
In a statement, Ryanair Chief Marketing Officer Dara Brady welcomed the partnership, adding that Omio customers will get the “guarantee of full price transparency and full access to their booking.”
Omio, which currently doesn’t have Ryanair directly integrated into its platform, said the partnership is slated to go live in late September and early October.
Expedia, too, is among the online travel agencies waiting for their Ryanair partnerships to be implemented.
Founded in 2013 and based in Berlin, Omio offers “multimodal travel” in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. Its two largest brands are Omio and Rome2Rio.
Flight Centre Travel Group reported financial results Wednesday, with executives expressing optimism about future growth despite some headwinds.
It has been a very eventful summer and we're all sad to see it go. As we soak up these final days in the sun, endless deals from some of our favorite travel-friendly brands are here to help you prepare for pumpkin spice season. Labor Day sales are in full swing and that means steep discounts on fall-ready clothing, new footwear, outdoor gear, beauty products, and more. We've rounded up all the top deals for travelers, whether you're looking to refresh your fall wardrobe, prep for autumn camping trips, or restock your skincare essentials. There are plenty of deals to shop now through the weekend—and some even running through mid-September. Below, find the best Labor Day sales from Brooklinen, Calpak, Cozy Earth, Monos, and more.
Traveling during hurricane season, which spans from June to November, can be both thrilling and precarious.
The Skift Research team recently unveiled its State of Travel 2024 report, a 400-page that documents the consumer and business trends in various sectors of the travel industry — including hotels and online travel agencies.
Tensions are growing between two of Europe's top budget airlines after the Ryanair CEO called Wizz Air's unlimited flights pass a "marketing scam."
The rapidly brightening sky was painted with swaths of orange, pink, and yellow. The early-morning light revealed a city that seemed to be little more than a patchwork of haphazardly planned mid-rise buildings in varying states of repair, punctuated with sprawling bushes, trees quivering in the morning breeze, and lawns sloping toward the nearby sea. The nocturnal beep-beep of tree frogs gave way to the insistent chirp of morning birds that rose from the trees to swoop across the sky like animated chevrons. As I watched the Senegalese sunrise on my first day in Africa, I was vibrating with anticipation. Dakar was waking up, and I was here to witness it.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ray Zahab, a 55-year-old Canadian explorer and ultra-distance runner who has traversed nearly 12,400 miles across Earth's most extreme environments, from the Arctic to the Sahara. It's been edited for length and clarity.
Amtrak is making it easier to travel up the East Coast and experience fall and winter fun with less traffic with a new Auto Train sale, offering tickets starting as low as $34.
American Airlines has not offered flights to Tel Aviv, Israel since the conflict began in the country in October 2023, and the airline has announced that it doesn’t plan on operating any flights between the U.S. and Israel until the end of March 2025.
Nestled in Stokmarknes, the birthplace of Hurtigruten, stands a testament to Norway's rich maritime heritage - the Hurtigruten Museum. At its heart is the MS Finnmarken, a 1956 vessel that now serves as a living monument to the country's coastal voyages.
Alaska Airlines is the latest U.S. airline to launch a travel portal allowing frequent flyer members to book nonflight purchases — everything from hotel rooms and rental properties to car rentals and activities.
Full-size liquids are among the items travelers most frequently forget to remove from their belongings before passing through U.S. airport security — the Transportation Security Administration's 3-1-1 liquid rule prohibits travelers from carrying liquids, specifically gels, aerosols and spreadables larger than 3.4 ounces.