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Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

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21–30 of 207 posts

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#21
post #16

Your comment form is broken on mobile. It asks for a captcha but doesn't prompt one

Thanks very much for letting me know. I've just starting blogging again and the old Wordpress instance needs some love (or replacing...) I think I maybe enabled some background Captcha thing back in the day. It obviously doesn't work well as I have thousands of spam comments sitting in the moderate queue.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#23

No comment about how you must download the app and it is the only way to access your pass? There is not even a QR code or barcode for the pass available any other way?

Yes, great point. Privacy / dark pattern concerns aside, I used to like having a paper pass in case something happened to my device. I wonder what would happen in practice if you printed a screenshot of the app? After all, a screenshot on a phone works fine.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#24
It is crazy how dark patterns are happening everywhere, for instance, in my country on post office automatons: basically in their UI, when they are asking to input your email address (which does not work with self-hosted email addresses without DNS, namely with IP literals, BTW), you cannot "see" the button to skip that step, since the button is different from all the others and clearly 'melted' in the background.

I don't think this is a mistake, but something malicous clearly thought through.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#25
post #10

Unfortunately some of the airports I care about only have connections mostly with low cost, Ryanair and others. If regular lines would care to offer similar connections, I would gladly pay a bit more.

By now they have so many unique routes people with more willingness to spend have to fly Ryanair anyway (or do a layover with a “premium” airline).

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#26

No comment about how you must download the app and it is the only way to access your pass? There is not even a QR code or barcode for the pass available any other way?

Yes, great point. Privacy / dark pattern concerns aside, I used to like having a paper pass in case something happened to my device. I wonder what would happen in practice if you printed a screenshot of the app? After all, a screenshot on a phone works fine.

My qualm is that corporate apps like this are malware and I don't want them on my device. Especially when they know the only way to get me to install it is to force it on me. That makes me especially not want it. So even installing the app in the first place just to get the code doesn't sit right.

So this has nothing to do with where the code is, but that getting access to it at all requires the malware.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#28
post #14

The funny thing about our era is that there is no censorship on corporations, but the state is very active in censoring individuals. Sometimes I feel that legal action is needed against the UX dark patterns of these corporations

Sure there's censorship on corporations. Look at how PayPal and other payment processors have been treating Steam lately. And any other platform that promotes individual freedom. Corporations are no longer immune as long as they don't support the ideology.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#29
That “Don’t Insure Me” option hidden in the middle of a country list is pure evil. I’m used to seeing dark patterns everywhere but that’s a first for me.

From where I stand, it’s not fair to charge the hell out of people who fall for these tricks while giving steep discounts to the ones who don’t. Maybe there’s a “fool me once” aspect to Ryanair’s shenanigans, so at least their impact might be limited somehow.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#30

About 1/3 of their revenue is ancillary (the dark patterns are there to cause ancillary revenue). I just flew from Bournemouth to Alicante on Ryanair for £50. A similar flight in the US (DC to Miami, for example) would be easily 5x that, possibly 7-8x. The dark patterns took me about 10min to click through. Doing the math, that means my time would have to be worth $1500/hr which is higher than the take-home (not bill…

> would have to be worth $1500/hr which is higher than the take-home (not billable) of senior partners at law firms.

40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, that's only $3 million/yr. If you've been at OpenAI for 10 years, you'll net more than that this year after they IPO.

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