Must-opt imperatives and other stories make passengers of low cost carriers’ feel put-upon: User perceptions of compliance with EU legislation

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.