Customer account or facial recognition: Ryanair harasses air travelers

If you want to book a Ryanair flight via an online travel portal, you have to go through a complicated verification process including facial recognition. The low-cost airline apparently wants one Create a competitive advantage by pushing users to a Ryanair customer account.

The Irish Data Protection Commission has launched an investigation into Ryanair following numerous customer complaints. The reason: If you want to book a Ryanair flight via an online travel portal, you have to go through a complicated verification process including facial recognition.

Facial recognition: Ryanair urges air travelers to open a customer account

However, the procedure does not only raise questions about data protection law. Ryanair also justifies it with an extremely flimsy reason.

Background: The investigation was initiated by Ryanair due to a controversial verification process. Users who booked flights with the low-cost airline via external websites or online travel portals were subsequently asked by email to confirm their identity with Ryanair – including using facial recognition.

Due to numerous customer complaints, data protection officers had already sounded the alarm – including the data protection organization noyb in July 2023. The accusation: The company wanted to gain a competitive advantage by urging users to open a Ryanair customer account – at the risk of suspected data protection violations.

Questionable justification

Spicy: According to Ryanair, the process is intended to check contact details. However, the company already has all the necessary information when booking via online travel portals. When booking via its own website, the low-cost airline also does not require biometric scans.

The fact that facial recognition systems are used to verify faces and not data such as email addresses makes Ryanair's justification even more questionable. The company previously wanted to sue online travel portals because they offer Ryanair flights.

Now the low-cost airline has apparently changed its strategy and wants to secure its market position at the expense of its customers' privacy. It seems obvious that the company is only asking users to complete the “verification process” via online travel portals in order to encourage them to book directly via the Ryanair website.

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