Ryanair Aug. 11 began implementing a policy under which thousands of customers could end up at the airport expecting to take flights for which their tickets are no longer valid.

Under a new policy announced last week, as of Aug. 11 Ryanair is rejecting the tickets of thousands of customers who bought them from screen-scraper fare-comparison Web sites that book the flight themselves, instead of directing the customer to Ryanair’s Web site to make the booking directly with the airline.

Ryanair’s action also could leave thousands of travelers without a legitimate ticket for a flight they thought they’d already booked, even weeks or months ago – and many of them may not find out until they show up at the airport.

That’s because Ryanair is notifying customers by sending a notice to the e-mail listed with the booking; for screen-scrapers making their own bookings usually list the e-mail address of the screen-scraper, not the customer, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said. In that case, it will be up to the screen-scraper to notify the customer, he said.

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