alt Hacker NewsMaybe 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:
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