Ryanair Says it Will NOT Accept Boarding Passes Issued by Kiwi.com

The low-cost airline Ryanair will not accept tickets and boarding passes that have been sold through the Czech aggregator Kiwi.com.

The Irish company Ryanair has long criticized the Czech portal for reselling tickets, which the air carrier forbids. “Threatening customers not to board on board with our boarding pass is a petty and immoral practice,” said Kiwi.com airline spokeswoman Nina Černá.

“As of August 18, no passengers who have purchased their tickets through Kiwi.com will be allowed to board Ryanair aircraft,” the company said. “Ryanair is urging customers to buy tickets through the company’s official website and to avoid using third parties, such as Kiwi.com, who have no right to sell Ryanair tickets,” the company said in a statement.

The Irish airline bases its approach on European regulation, which requires passengers to complete check-in directly at Ryanair, due to safety and regulatory procedures.

“We discovered these fake boarding passes when a smaller number of passengers booked through Kiwi.com arrived last week without an official Ryanair boarding pass,” said Ryanair Marketing Director Dara Brady.

“If you make a reservation through Kiwi.com, we recommend that you contact Kiwi.com and obtain the necessary information from them so that you can complete the check-in process according to the security protocols,” he added.

“There is no such thing as a fake boarding pass,” said Kiwi.com spokeswoman Nina Černá. Tickets differ only visually, the data remain the same, added Černá. “We will do everything in our power to support our customers during this reprehensible Ryanair act, which punishes travelers simply because they cannot accept the existence of a competitive environment.”

According to a Kiwi.com spokesperson, nothing should change for the passenger. “So far we have not noticed any complications, our customers receive a copy of the original Ryanair boarding pass, which they can print out,” Černá told the E15 daily.

“Ryanair made this exit only to discourage passengers from booking platforms other than its own, trying to defend itself against the competition. Ryanair has already confirmed to some media that it will allow customers to fly if they have a valid booking,” Černá said.

Ryanair has long criticized Kiwi.com. In 2019, the airline even filed a lawsuit against the portal for the resale of tickets, which it prohibits in its business conditions. Over the past year, the two companies have been blaming each other for disputes over ticket refunds, which have remained largely unused due to the global pandemic.

“These servers provide us with fake customer data, adding the names of passengers to virtual payment cards. This prevents us from paying this money directly to Ryanair’s customers, “criticized Ryanair boss Eddie Wilson at Kiwi.com.

“As long as Ryanair lives, there will be disputes with him. Not just ours, but everyone who distributes his flights. He will always abuse the European judicial system to get to the front pages of the media. But no one can sue us because of the resale of tickets, “Oliver Dlouhý, the head of the Brno company, rejected any mistake earlier.