There was about as much chance of RyanairPlus being able to carry on unimpeded as the carrier it is trying to wind up also scrapping bag fees and the infamous cabin crew calendar.
Just a few days after Tnooz highlighted a successful attempt by a third party website to get around the dreaded CAPTCHA on the Ryanair website, a letter was sent to RyanairPlus from the carrier's legal department.
Inevitably, Thomas McNamara of Ryanair's legal and regulatory affairs section, says RyanairPlus is "infringing Ryanair's name and trademark and the illegal operation of this site is damaging to Ryanair's reputation and misleads consumers who wish to book Ryanair flights".
Although the letter concentrates on the brand name aspect, behind the scenes the airline is probably than a bit miffed that a group of techies somewhere (domain registration is in Poland) has found a way to get hold of fares and timetables without a user having to go through the CAPTCHA process.
McNamara continues:
"We therefore request that you confirm by Wednesday 11 April 2012 the identity and contact details of the current operator of RyanairPlus and also confirm that you will immediately de-register this domain name."
In an email back to McNamara, "R+ Team" says:
Using a style which could be straight from the marketing department at Ryanair, the email says:
"We do not sell tickets, DO NOT USE your logos etc. Because our site is registered in Poland, let us conclude in Polish. We bet your headquarter[s] has many talented people, who speaks fluently this language."
A rough translation for the subsequent paragraph says RyanairPlus, "in its opinion", does not affect the interests of Ryanair.
"Please note that like many other sites on the Internet, such as RyanairOnline.com, IHateRyanair.org, ILoveRyanair.com, RyanairTickets.com, RyanairUK.com, Ryanair-bilety.pl and hundreds of other contains the word "ryan" so what is the damage to Ryanair?"
It ends, rather cheekily:
"Anyway, we are big fans of Ryanair airline."
Not sure how messy this is going to get before it's over. Ryanair has still not responded to queries regarding the spat between the pair.
NB:Ryanair aircraft image via Shutterstock.
NB2: Thanks to PlaceKnow for the Polish-English translation :)