Calum’s Wee GNOME Blog

I usually go on the defensive when people are quick to slag off Ryanair‘s
customer service– if you’re only willing to shell out a few coppers
for your flight, it’s a bit rich to go looking for compensation or
overnight accommodation if it’s a few hours late or cancelled, or moan
when they charge you for every ounce of overweight baggage. (Fates
which have never befallen me on any of the dozens of Ryanair flights
I’ve taken, I have to say.)

I did find an insidious little addition to their online booking form
last week, though… a “purchase insurance” checkbox, checked by
default, that when unchecked changes your country of residence from
Ireland (or whatever) to Other. ‘Oh, I need to change that back to
Ireland’ you think, only to notice (if you’re lucky) that when you do,
the insurance checkbox is checked again.

Even if you work out that it’s perfectly acceptable to leave the
insurance box unchecked and your country of residence as “other” (you
have to enter it in an unconnected box as part of your address further
down the page anyway), you get another ‘We really think you should
purchase insurance from us’ popup before you’re allowed to continue to
the next page. All rather intimidating really.