Skip to main content

Must-Opt Imperatives and Other Stories Make Passengers of Low Cost Carriers’ Feel Put-upon: User Perceptions of Compliance with EU Legislation

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Complexity in Information Systems Development

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation ((LNISO,volume 22))

  • 820 Accesses

Abstract

Low cost carriers (LCCs) market their flights as low cost and aim to garner as much additional revenue as possible from ancillary services such as baggage and priority boarding. Therefore, airlines encourage customers’ purchase of these services. On account of this and other airline practices, the European Union introduced legislation to address areas of concern in order to protect the consumer. Airlines have responded to the legal requirement that all optional extras should only be presented to the consumer on an ‘opt-in’ basis by using ‘grey’ Web design patterns, such as the ‘must-opt’ presentation of optional extras, whereby the user must choose to accept or reject the item before continuing with the interaction. Through the method of verbal protocols, this study examines consumers’ perceptions of two LCCs’ level of compliance with the relevant European legislation.

A prior version of this paper has been published in the ISD2016 Proceedings (http://aisel.aisnet.org/isd2014/proceedings2016).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Daraban, B.: The low cost carrier revolution continues: evidence from the US airline industry. J. Bus. Econ. Res. 10, 37–44 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Alderighi, M., Cento, A., Nijkamp, P., Rietveld, P.: Competition in the European aviation market: the entry of low-cost airlines. J. Transp. Geogr. 24, 223–233 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Mertens, D.P., Vowles, T.M.: The southwest effect—decisions and effects of low cost carriers. J. Behav. Appl. Manag. 14, 53–69 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Franke, M.: Innovation: the winning formula to regain profitability in aviation? J. Air Transp. Manag. 13, 23–30 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Graham, B., Vowles, T.M.: Carriers within carriers: a strategic response to low-cost airline competition. Transp. Rev. 26, 105–126 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Shumsky, R.: The southwest effect, airline alliances and revenue management. J. Rev. Pricing Manag. 5, 83–89 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Rubin, R.M., Joy, J.N.: Where are the airlines headed? Implications of airline industry structure and change for consumers. J. Consum. Aff. 39, 215–228 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fageda, X., Jimenez, J.L., Perdiguero, J.: Price rivalry in airline markets: a study of a successful strategy of a network carrier against a low-cost carrier. J. Transp. Geogr. 19, 658–669 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sorensen, J.: CarTrawler Review of Ancillary Revenue Results for 2012. IdeaWorksCompany.com (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Harteveldt, H., Stark, E.: Airlines Need to Convince Passengers to Use Digital Channels to Buy Ancillary Products. Forrester Research, Cambridge, MA (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sorensen, J.: Planes, Cars, and Ancillary Revenues. IdeaWorksCompany.com (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ryanair Annual Report. https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Annual-Report-2015.pdf

  13. Aer Lingus Group Plc, 2015 Q2 & H1 Results. http://corporate.aerlingus.com/media/corporateaerlinguscom/content/pdfs/H1_2015_presentation_FINAL.pdf

  14. Sorensen, J.: CarTrawler Review of Ancillary Revenue Results for 2015. IdeaWorksCompany.com (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Torres, A., Barry, C., Hogan, M.: Opaque web practices among low-cost carriers. J. Air Transp. Manag. 15, 299–307 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. European Union: 1008/2008. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Common Rules for the Operation of Air Services in the Community (recast) (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  17. The Oxford English Dictionary. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/132049?redirectedFrom=opt+in#eid33209114

  18. Wikitionary. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/opt-in

  19. Johnson, E.J., Goldstein, D.G.: Do defaults save lives? Science 302, 1338–1339 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Madrian, B.C., Shea, D.F.: The power of suggestion: inertia in 401(k) participation and savings behavior. Quart. J. Econ. 116, 1149–1187 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. McKenzie, C.R.M., Liersch, M.J., Finkelstein, S.R.: Recommendations implicit in policy defaults. Psychol. Sci. 17, 414–420 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. European Consumer Centre Network (ECC-Net): ECC-Net Air Passenger Rights Report 2011. European Consumer Centre Network, Brussels, Belgium (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  23. European Union: Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 Concerning Unfair Business-To-Consumer Commercial Practices in The Internal Market. Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  24. European Parliament: Council of Common Rules for the Operation of Air Services in the Community 1008/2008 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Monk, A., Wright, P., Haber, J., Davenport, L.: Improving your human-computer interface a practical technique. Prentice Hall, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Holzinger, A.: Usability engineering methods for software developers. Commun. ACM 2005  (48), 71–74 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Nielsen, J.: Usability Engineering. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Cotton, D., Gresty, K.: Reflecting on the think-aloud method for evaluating e-learning. Br. J. Educ. Technol. 37, 45–54 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chris Barry .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Barry, C., Hogan, M., Torres, A.M. (2017). Must-Opt Imperatives and Other Stories Make Passengers of Low Cost Carriers’ Feel Put-upon: User Perceptions of Compliance with EU Legislation. In: Goluchowski, J., Pankowska, M., Linger, H., Barry, C., Lang, M., Schneider, C. (eds) Complexity in Information Systems Development. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52593-8_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics