Ryanair last in online shopping survey

by stuart2468 on Mon 3 Dec 2007 - 10:22

Ryanair's website has been placed bottom in a survey of 25 popular shopping sites by online consultants AMAS. The airline was criticised in a study carried out to measure how clear the sites are, whether sites require customers to opt out of extra charges and other shopping criteria.

The company said Ryanair's low score arose partly because consumers repeatedly have to opt out during the booking process to avoid extra charges for travel insurance, baggage and priority boarding.

Fiachra O Marcaigh, director of AMAS, said: 'Ryanair fell down on several points of good practice. It is very difficult to avoid paying for extras as consumers have to opt out repeatedly. It takes a very determined effort for a web-savvy user to book a flight without any additional charges.'

AMAS managing director Aileen O'Toole said that consumer watchdogs such as the National Consumer Agency have concerns that consumers unintentionally incur extra charges when booking online because of opt-out practices.

The study of online shopping sites was part of the firm's quarterly 'State of the Net' review. The results are available at www.amas.ie. The story comes on the same day that the budget airline claimed it is top for service and punctuality.