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bojangleslovertoday at 11:47 AM8 repliesview on HN

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 billable) of senior partners at law firms.

Ryanair has severely improved my life, especially for my fellow sun-deprived Northern Europeans.

[1] https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ryan...


Replies

raframtoday at 1:36 PM

> £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.

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rithdmctoday at 12:45 PM

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.

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wodenokototoday at 11:50 AM

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.

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cromkatoday at 4:05 PM

> A similar flight in the US (DC to Miami, for example) would be easily 5x that, possibly 7-8x

Absolutely not. Not even close. Maybe in peak season, but then you can't fly Ryanair for 50 GBP in peak season either.

chrismorgantoday at 12:42 PM

> The dark patterns took me about 10min to click through.

I find that difficult to believe. Ten minutes is a long time.

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petretoday at 3:55 PM

> 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.

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gib444today at 11:59 AM

Found a Frontier ticket next week BWI-MIA £42 ($56) [0]

[0] https://www.google.com/travel/flights/booking?tfs=CBwQAhpFEg...

fragmedetoday at 12:14 PM

> 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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