A Ryanair customer was left stunned when he was sent a security code featuring an expletive that is 'about as offensive as a word can be'.
Joseph, from Chessington, Kingston-Upon-Thames, created an account on the Ryanair website last Sunday (19 March), with the intention of buying tickets to fly visiting relatives into Stansted Airport.
However, the 43-year-old was left in 'shock' when he received a 'clearly unacceptable' confirmation email.
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Said email opened by welcoming the project manager to myRyanair, before encouraging him to verify his account by using the eight digit security code - 'd9c*ntg5'.
That's right, d9C*NTg5. And just to be absolutely crystal clear, that '*' was not a '*', it was a 'u'.
Joseph couldn't believe what he was seeing and said he would have been certain it was a hoax if he hadn't just signed up for the account.
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"In my line of work we have to have filters to ensure that we're covered in things like that," he said.
"I was shocked that a company of that size doesn't have [the correct] measures in place. I think it's clearly unacceptable and about as offensive as a word can be.
"If I hadn't been doing it [signing up for the website], I would have assumed it was a hoax. I was really shocked and just surprised that I could receive such a thing."
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He continued: "You don't know what sort of words can go out to other people, and other people may be more easily offended by words of that nature.
"If people have kids as well. You don't want it to be going to underage people. If I had a son and he was signing up, I wouldn't want him to be privy to those sorts of words.
"I know there's no malice from Ryanair's side - it's just a really poor oversight in their IT vetting.
"They should strengthen their IT systems to prevent anything like this from happening in the future."
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Whether or not they take any action, Joseph will be doing his best to avoid using the airline.
"I've shown the email to a couple of friends. Their reactions were a mixture of comedy and utter disbelief," he said.
"I haven't had the best customer experience from Ryanair, period. I try to avoid them where possible.
"I guess after this, it certainly wouldn't draw me to using them anymore than I have been in the past."
But while Joseph argued that the 'offensive' security code was entirely avoidable, Ryanair did not admit fault or apologise to Joseph.
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A spokesperson for the airline told LADbible: "This customer did not receive 'an inappropriate word via email as his security code'; this is a standard security code mechanism in which customers receive a randomised sequence of letters and numbers generated using a third party to verify access to their accounts."
Jake Massey