Ryanair in Legal Dispute Over Facial Recognition Use

Irish budget airline Ryanair is facing legal action over its use of facial recognition, which digital advocacy group NOYB says violates customers' data protection rights.

Facial recognition systems require people's biometric data - a category, that's specially protected by law. NOYB has filed the complaint against Ryanair with the Spanish AEPD, stating that booking a Ryanair flight through an online travel agent, rather than directly on the company's web site or app, requires a 'verification process' - outsourced to an external company named GetID - involving invasive facial recognition. NOYB says that based on Ryanair's turnover of EUR4.8bn in 2022, the Data Protection Authority could issue the airline with a fine of up to EUR192m.

After booking a Ryanair flight through the online travel agency eDreams, the complainant received an e-mail from Ryanair requesting she complete the 'verification process' - which involved the choice of either verifying through facial recognition, or going to the check-in counter at the airport more than two hours before departure. The complainant would not have been able to board the flight if she had refused to comply with these instructions, and she was charged a small fee to complete the 'verification process'.

NOYB, headed up by Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Max Schrems, says that there is no reasonable justification for Ryanair to implement this system, which it claims violates customers' rights to data protection. Felix Mikolasch (pictured), Data Protection Lawyer at the organisation, comments: 'The information provided by Ryanair is so confusing that travellers may even think their booking is invalid. By nudging customers to go through its intrusive facial recognition process, the airline manages to both violate their customer's privacy and ensure that they don't book via external providers another time'.

Web sites: www.ryanair.com and www.noyb.eu .