Posted on August 11, 2008 by Fiona Hilliard

Flying to Europe with Ryanair?  You might want to double check that your tickets were bought directly from the company’s own website.  The no frills carrier has just announced that it will turn away passengers who have booked their flights through third party price comparison websites from today.

The row centres on what it calls the “screenscraping” of websites, which can compare prices and book flight tickets on behalf of other passengers.

The carrier is insisting that bookings made through third party websites are against the airline’s own terms and conditions.

Ryanair says third party sites make it impossible for the airline to contact passengers in emergencies and to notify othem of flight cancellations.

The budget airline has said it will refund the fare, but not the commission paid to any third party.

Have you been affected by the “screenscraping” controversy?  What do you think about being turned away at the airport?  Leave us a comment and tell us what you think.