RYANAIR has accused travel agent Kiwi.com of selling invalid boarding passes to British holidaymakers.
The airline said that from today, anyone with flights issued by Kiwi.com will be stopped from boarding.
Ryanair said that all passengers must complete the check-in process online which informs travellers of the safety protocols when flying with the airline.
However, the airline states that the Kiwi.com boarding passes do not require this, meaning they have not complied with the safety protocols and are therefore not valid.
The only way for passengers to do this, they warn, is to book through Ryanair.com or through the Ryanair app.
Earlier this year, Ryanair even introduced their own "Verified Seal" to prevent their flights from being sold by third parties.
Ryanair’s Director of Marketing, Dara Brady, said that they became aware of the problem with Ryanair flights through Kiwi.com after a "small number of passengers" tried to board without official Ryanair Boarding Passes.
He said: "It is an obligation under EU regulations that an airline informs passengers directly of all safety and security policies regarding their flight, Kiwi.com are circumventing this by checking passengers in and replacing the Ryanair Boarding Pass with a fake Boarding Pass issued by Kiwi.com.
"Any passenger presenting a Kiwi.com Boarding Pass will be refused boarding on Ryanair flights."
However, a Kiwi.com spokesperson said the claims from Ryanair were "petty and evil" and refuted claims they were selling fake boarding passes.
They told Sun Online Travel: "There is no such ‘fake’ boarding pass – Kiwi.com complies with all the requirements to ensure safe travel for our customers and have done so for years.
"As well as providing customers with the Ryanair boarding pass we have also placed it on a Kiwi.com branded background – all the information is the same, just the colours are different. Threatening not to board customers is petty and an evil Ryanair practice to try and stifle customer choice."
They also claimed that the ban was due to Kiwi.com selling "Ryanair tickets cheaper than Ryanair," adding: "They don’t like it."
They finished by saying: "Ryanair’s behaviour is nothing short of cruel by putting profit ahead of consumer choice. We will do everything in our power to support our customers through this despicable behaviour from Ryanair who are punishing travellers just because they don’t like competition."
Despite this, Ryanair has also said that anyone who has booked a flight through Kiwi.com can contact the travel agent directly to get the booking refence to allow passengers to check in – meaning it will then be valid to fly.
Mr Brady said: "If you made a booking through Kiwi.com we urge you to contact Kiwi.com to obtain the necessary Ryanair booking reference and email address so that you can complete check-in in line with our safety and security protocol."
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