Easyjet UK based, has finally decided to take action against screen scrapers. At least with Easyjet you have an option - which is to pay the license fee and then you can get access. Like Ryanair it explicitly forbids this activity on its website. For more explicit explanation go here:
http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/acceptableuse.html
As I understand the Easyjet programme - a developer can have access to the Easyjet host if they pay a license fee and generate a specific number of transactions. If you generate a significant number of bookings this cost can drop to zero.
Specifically Easyjet has decided to take Interes a German based IBE vendor to court and has filed suit in a Hamburg court.
Interes has a string of customers some of whom are high profile. Specifically again TUI - Europe's largest tour operator company (in part owned by a Russian Oligarch) is a major customer. Indeed TUI is also an investor into Interes (going back to approx 2002).
Are we clear?
In response to InteRes’s activities, easyJet said it had invited the company to connect to the airline’s Application Programming Interface (API), which gives real-time access to easyJet flight inventory.
But InteRes had rejected the invitation.
easyJet’s distribution development manager, Jerry Dunn (no relation I hasten to add) stated: “We offer screen scrapers (and others) a commercially viable and fully licensed alternative form of distribution, which a majority of former scrapers have already signed up to." He also added “We will not accept that some scrapers continue to go about their business to the detriment of our customers."
Then he pointed out the harm element of the complaint. "Screen scraping causes many technical problems, mis-selling of our flights and consequently to numerous customer service problems.”
Multicom - are you listening?
Cheers
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