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Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

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Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#161

Post by matt-p »

rsynnott wrote: post #81
matt-p wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

Ryanair haven't had unallocated seating for years (I don't think it's generally allowed anymore); if you don't choose a seat you just get one allocated for you.

only at check-in, other airlines will give you free seat selection at booking or 72hrs before.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#162

Post by dspillett »

petre wrote: post #150
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…

> Ryanair has severely improved my life, especially for my fellow sun-deprived Northern Europeans. Great. Now quit bachelor partying in Spain before they throw objects at you. I thought East Europeans were the worst tourists before I enountered the English and Russians. The elderly are usually fine.

> Now quit bachelor partying in Spain before they throw objects at you.

While a fair number of us do a lot to earn our collective reputation, some of us nip to Spain for other reasons and carry ourselves with a bit of care and comportment so your assumption there might be a bit too knee-jerk.

Anecdata: I spent a week in a small seaside town in Costa Brava in mid May. Took part in their local annual running festival, explored the countryside, did some more obvious touristy bits around there and in Barcelona. I'm trying to learn the language¹, and managed to use some of it without people spotting my lack of ability and instantly switching to English².

--------

[1] as I might like to live over there in later life and refuse to be the sort of git who arrives and expects everyone to speak English.

[2] in fact a couple of people I encountered, a taxi driver and a lovely woman running a small family run bookshop³, didn't speak a word - and through their patience and my pidgin Castilian we managed to successfully interact.

[2] a rare to find these days, especially in a bit city, I hope the place does the roaring trade it deserves as I hope it'll still be there so I can drop back to get more practice reading material next time I'm nearby.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#164

Post by petre »

dspillett wrote: post #162
petre wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ryanair has severely improved my life, especially for my fellow sun-deprived Northern Europeans. Great. Now quit bachelor partying in Spain before they throw objects at you. I thought East Europeans were the worst tourists before I enountered the English and Russians. The elderly are usually fine.

> Now quit bachelor partying in Spain before they throw objects at you. While a fair number of us do a lot to earn our collective reputation, some of us nip to Spain for other reasons and carry ourselves with a bit of care and comportment so your assumption there might be a bit too knee-jerk. Anecdata: I spent a week in a small seaside town in Costa Brava in mid May. Took part in their local annual running festival,…

If you attended a running festival, you are clearly not the type to fall off a yacht while being drunk.

We were also there in May a few years ago. An English drunk individual took off his indispensables at the hotel's pool so that the lifeguard, a middle aged woman, had to caution him to put them back on, accompanied by the laughter of his drinking companions. It at Occidental Puerto Banús, so not at a cheap hotel.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#165

Post by dreamcompiler »

kyusan0 wrote: post #154
netsharc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My story wasn't with Ryanair, but I used to use Skyscanner to find the cheapest ticket, which is usually from a reseller agent instead of the airline (and whatever savings one made was wasted with time reading the 1-star reviews of how shit they are and then convincing oneself "Oh it'll be fine."). One of these sites offered the ticket for dozens of Euros cheaper, and allowed me to go through the booking process unti…

I spent most of my professional life working in various roles in aviation, which included several years in a customer facing position at an airport. I'd recommend never ever using reseller agents. They frequently mess up tickets, they sell tickets that don't exist at all, and most of them won't forward your contact info to the airline's system, so if there's a problem or delay you'll never receive the notification fr…

I've had similar bad experiences with hotel resellers. You book a hotel with Expedia and roll into a foreign town at 11 pm after changing a flat tire on the way and the hotel says "we never heard of you and we are full."

I've never been stranded when I've contacted the hotel directly, via their website or the phone. Sometimes a glitch does happen, but when it does the hotel will call around on your behalf and find you a room.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#166

Post by Shish2k »

marysol5 wrote: post #115
Shish2k wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Followed the app's instructions to go to gate 15, sat there waiting for the gate to open, until eventually getting a notification that I'd missed the flight from gate 30. Went to the help desk, was told that since I was the only person who made that mistake it was clearly my fault rather than the app (which was still displaying the wrong gate, even while I was at the help desk). Got booked on a $400 replacement fligh…

Where are Ryanair flying that you paid in dollars?

I was typing on a keyboard without a euro symbol, and ballparking the exchange rate was simpler than finding one :P

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#167

Post by netsharc »

kyusan0 wrote: post #154
netsharc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My story wasn't with Ryanair, but I used to use Skyscanner to find the cheapest ticket, which is usually from a reseller agent instead of the airline (and whatever savings one made was wasted with time reading the 1-star reviews of how shit they are and then convincing oneself "Oh it'll be fine."). One of these sites offered the ticket for dozens of Euros cheaper, and allowed me to go through the booking process unti…

I spent most of my professional life working in various roles in aviation, which included several years in a customer facing position at an airport. I'd recommend never ever using reseller agents. They frequently mess up tickets, they sell tickets that don't exist at all, and most of them won't forward your contact info to the airline's system, so if there's a problem or delay you'll never receive the notification fr…

Yeah, after all these dumb dark patterns of low price on the price comparison site and a different price after passing all the stupid lies and upsell attempts of the reseller websites, I nowadays book with the airlines directly.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#168

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

kyusan0 wrote: post #154
netsharc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My story wasn't with Ryanair, but I used to use Skyscanner to find the cheapest ticket, which is usually from a reseller agent instead of the airline (and whatever savings one made was wasted with time reading the 1-star reviews of how shit they are and then convincing oneself "Oh it'll be fine."). One of these sites offered the ticket for dozens of Euros cheaper, and allowed me to go through the booking process unti…

I spent most of my professional life working in various roles in aviation, which included several years in a customer facing position at an airport. I'd recommend never ever using reseller agents. They frequently mess up tickets, they sell tickets that don't exist at all, and most of them won't forward your contact info to the airline's system, so if there's a problem or delay you'll never receive the notification fr…

The biggest problem, IMO, is that if you buy from a third party when shit hits the fan you have to rely on that third party. This is still a problem even with reputable travel agents like Amex and Chase. Even in the best case scenario where the agent is actually good, having to get a flight changed via a phone call with some agent who might or might not answer promptly and might or might not be able to work quick enough to win a race of rebooking after a cancelled flight before next best one fills up is just asking for a horrible experience. If you book with the airline directly they have a lot more leeway and power to unfuck your situation promptly.

Save your points and use them on hotels instead, where the experience is just as risky, but at least fails in a less spectacular way when it goes wrong e.g. unless you're booking with an agent in a high demand area where there are NO hotels you usually can leverage a backup plan a lot easier than if you are stuck in an airport.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#169

Post by ruszki »

wongarsu wrote: post #47
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…

They’ve done the same thing in the past year for sure. It’s not simply “8 years old”.

Re: Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

#170

Post by telesilla »

Shish2k wrote: post #31
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…

Followed the app's instructions to go to gate 15, sat there waiting for the gate to open, until eventually getting a notification that I'd missed the flight from gate 30. Went to the help desk, was told that since I was the only person who made that mistake it was clearly my fault rather than the app (which was still displaying the wrong gate, even while I was at the help desk). Got booked on a $400 replacement fligh…

I've been caught out by that before - apps are not up to date. I wait at a spot in the terminal where there is a physical display for gates these days, not worth the risk.

I also hate Ryanair and will only fly it if there is no other option.

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