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 call this booking process a game where the customer comes out at the end feeling like they beat the level.

If any of you have seen Ryanair’s social media marketing you’ll know exactly what I mean. They make jokes about how cheap they are, like this one:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRWGfNvDryu/