Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

blog.osull.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 207 posts

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#121

Post by vachina »

Toutouxc wrote: post #113

I consider myself kind of sensitive to being forced to do stuff, but Ryanair just doesn't seem that bad. Of course, you get a million offers for things you probably don't need, but I genuinely don't feel like they're trying to scam me. It's like ad-supported Spotify or something. Annoying, but not actively trying to vacuum up my credit card.

Yeah. I fly budget and mid tier all the time, they’re all the same trying to upsell a bazillion services. Just click no/decline/reject all the way, what’s so difficult about it?

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#122

Post by marysol5 »

macintux wrote: post #105
Grombobulous wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I am conditioned but I totally agree. I think what makes this kind of stuff not feel like a dark pattern to me is that they are very up-front about this setup being their business model. They are offering a cheap seat which may even be below their cost if you avoid all the add-ons. The consumer who skips all these add-ons feels smart. They feel like someone else is subsidizing their flight. Perhaps we can even…

The dark patterns are one thing; the criminal customer service once you're booked, however, seems much harder to game. Stories from this thread mean I'd never fly them (admittedly, I'll probably never have the opportunity): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502935

But that was this persons mistake, I'm still not sure what a "Travel Authorisation" even is outside of COVID checks.

Not checking into a flight, because you wont onto an entirely different website, to complete an entirely different form isn't the airline....

Services for wheelchair are handled by the airport, not the airline, again, I don't see anything in this comment where they sorted out the services that are required prior.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#124

Post by square_usual »

rafram wrote: post #95
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…

> £50. A similar flight in the US (DC to Miami, for example) would be easily 5x that, possibly 7-8x. ??? Maybe round-trip at a peak time. But if you're talking about one-way flights, you can fly across the entire country (NYC to SFO) for <$150 without hunting for a deal. DC to Miami is $50 (£37) each way, all of next month.

To be fair, those are on Frontier, so it's roughly equivalent to Ryanair.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#125

Post by rafram »

square_usual wrote: post #124
rafram wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> £50. A similar flight in the US (DC to Miami, for example) would be easily 5x that, possibly 7-8x. ??? Maybe round-trip at a peak time. But if you're talking about one-way flights, you can fly across the entire country (NYC to SFO) for <$150 without hunting for a deal. DC to Miami is $50 (£37) each way, all of next month.

To be fair, those are on Frontier, so it's roughly equivalent to Ryanair.

Yes, GP was discussing Ryanair flight prices and claimed that a "similar flight in the US" would be more expensive. I'm pointing out that similar flights in the US are actually cheaper, and we have budget airlines too.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#126

Post by ahartmetz »

rsynnott wrote: post #76
rithdmc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find Ryanair much cheaper than Aer Lingus. In my experience there's up to a 20% premium, and I just cross checked the Alicante route for next week with the same results. Compared to the high likelihood of delays or cancelled flights with Ryanair, I think it's worth it for peace of mind.

Aer Lingus is a slightly weird case; they have essentially become a budget airline (at least for their European business) to compete with Ryanair, but they haven't yet gotten around to adopting most of the dark patterns.

IIRC Aer Lingus could already be described like that 10-15 years ago. I remember it as cheap but decent.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#127

Post by expedition32 »

paranoidrobot wrote: post #103
throwawaysleep wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, we might be all better off if a lack of curiosity was more regularly financially excruciating.

I would counter this by saying we might all be better off if consumer protection laws were stronger and actively enforced against this. I don't really have a problem with offering discounts to members of X program, or if insurance is pre-selected. But the advertised price should be inclusive of everything (taxes, fees, charges, etc) and the price available to the general product before membership-exclusive pricing. S…

"We don't accept misleading and deceptive practices in other areas"

Religion and politics.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#128

Post by rurp »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #38
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.

Eh, we might be all better off if a lack of curiosity was more regularly financially excruciating.

Totally disagree. The cost of every single customer doing this for many different purchases is immense, and a completely unproductive use of time. It would be much better if pricing was as clear as possible so people can make make good purchasing decisions and move onto thinking about things that are actually interesting or useful.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#129

Post by alistairSH »

rsynnott wrote: post #76
rithdmc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find Ryanair much cheaper than Aer Lingus. In my experience there's up to a 20% premium, and I just cross checked the Alicante route for next week with the same results. Compared to the high likelihood of delays or cancelled flights with Ryanair, I think it's worth it for peace of mind.

Aer Lingus is a slightly weird case; they have essentially become a budget airline (at least for their European business) to compete with Ryanair, but they haven't yet gotten around to adopting most of the dark patterns.

Their trans-Atlantic flights are ok and cheap relative to United (out of IAD, to points in continental Europe). Their EU flights are a noticeable step down.
Post reply on HN