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Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

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Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#41

Post by [deleted] »

fragmede wrote: post #30
bojangleslover wrote: post #2

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.

[deleted]

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#43

Post by wongarsu »

Cider9986 wrote: post #36

Someone should make an extension that clarifies everything, kind of like the anti-enshitification extensions for youtube. https://unhook.app/

Last time I booked I was actually impressed with how well Ryanair was explaining everything. There is not much to clarify. You can see the same in the video in the post (which also features much clearer UX than the 8 year old example of the option in the country selector the article leads with).

If anything, RyanAir's strategy is to overexplain things, in hopes that people are unwilling to read what's on the screen and just click the first thing that advances the process

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#44

Post by jwpapi »

I wonder if this makes the world a fairer place actually. Because it allows people that are attentive and have time to dig through this to save money. The lowest price would be higher without these patterns.

It’s a polarizing idea, but frankly it’s what the world moves too and seem to work on the market. Some people are lazy or don’t have time and pay more money and some people have less time and dig through dark patterns, collect coupons or utilize ramp up subsidizing.

All those people that actually "work" through it will have less of a prime as if these patterns wouldn’t exist.

The question still remains would the world be a better place without these patterns,as it wastes time and acts against user intent.

It’s just a fascinating question to me, because a lot of things are not as simple as they seem of the first glance.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#45

Post by cryptonym »

sverhagen wrote: post #6

Oh, don't get me started on Ryanair, but alas. You go through what seems the entire check-in process, you get what seems like a summary at the end, with a link to a UK government site where you need to go next to get a travel authorization, I spend an hour doing that, finally finish that, I show up to the airport the next morning to be told I'm not checked in, having to pay a hefty fee to do a late check-in for each…

Bad UX (online, onsite, customer service) is not a bug. Ryanair makes you feel like livestock so you experience their cheapness. You must feel like they are milking everything they can to offer absolute lowest possible price.

This include never taking accountability when shit hits the fan.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#47

Post by wongarsu »

thimabi wrote: post #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.

To be fair, that is described as an 8 year old example. Their current UX is much more clear.

Their current pattern is more about playing into the fear of what happens without insurance, without selecting your seat, when you don't pay for early check in and forget to do it online on the day before the flight, or what happens if you show up with more or larger luggage than what you booked. Fears they themselves create with high fees for showing up with too much luggage or for checking in at the airport

There is still a bit of praying on people who are in a hurry or are impatient, don't read the screens and just click the most prominent button. The most obvious is the seat selection. But it's no longer the most prominent way they get you

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#50

Post by matt-p »

bojangleslover wrote: post #9
wodenokoto wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That math is completely off. Those incidentals would not increase your fare 5-8 times. So that some passengers fall into the dark patterns cannot possibly make up for the price difference nor can the price difference to US be the base for your cost savings.

>Those incidentals would not increase your fare 5-8 times Oh I see what you're saying. What I'm saying is, what's the alternative? Another more expensive airline whose online check-in takes 5min instead of 10min? I'm contending that even with the dark patterns, my downside is only 1.5x cost, which is still far, far below a non-budget airline. >nor can the price difference to US be the base for your cost savings Yeah…

I think that sometimes we think just in terms of the raw price of the incidentals rather than the effect of reducing demand for incidentals.

The main reason Ryanair is so cheap is that they have the fastest turn around time in the industry. This means the utilisation rate is far higher. Part of the reason they're able to turn around so quickly is that they take less hold luggage (so unloading/loading is not holding them up), un-allocated seating means they get to overbook/bin pack better, worth thinking through the second order effects.

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