but Ryanair Web HQ clearly think they are still justified.
I'd guess that the screenscrapers are still out there, watching the Ryanair website, waiting for any sign of defences being lowered. If you have a Google around from May this year when FR removed Captcha for about 2 weeks, you'll see a few blogs where someone's written something to the effect of
"Captcha's gone ! Screenscrapers fill your boots !"