RYANAIR SAYS the problems that have bedevilled its website since a revamp last weekend have been overcome and most bookings can now be handled without delay.
Some further "bedding-down problems" can be expected, it warned, but these would be so small that few would notice.
The airline also claims its website is fully compliant with a requirement by the British authorities to show fare prices inclusive of taxes and charges at all stages during the booking process. An inclusive fare now appears on the right of the page once a flight is selected.
The Office of Fair Trading in Britain said last night it was aware Ryanair had changed its website and welcomed the steps taken by it and other airlines towards greater price transparency.
A competitive market required consumers to be able to easily choose between prices that were comparable, fair and not misleading, it said. The airline closed ryanair.com for two days last weekend to allow the installation of new software, but the website was plagued with glitches and delays when it reopened on Monday. Customers reported frozen screens and system crashes.
The company blamed a surge in traffic following the closure, after it announced the sale of one million seats at 1 cent each, including tax.Yesterday, it reported significant improvement and said the delays had largely been eliminated.
Spokesman Peter Sherrard said the website was now handling more than 30,000 bookings an hour at peak periods and booking speeds were three times faster. "By this weekend, we expect the new booking engine to be running to its full and improved capacity."
In contrast to its original website, developed by two students for less than €20,000, the latest revamp of the server and front- end system is costing more than €2 million.
