Ryanair dark UX patterns summer 2026 refresher

bojangleslover

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...

flemhans

I am now notoriously fast at speedrunning the various airlines and ticketing sites. Wonder if that could be a YouTube Channel

codingjoe

If it sounds illegal, it usually is. Tricking people into buying things usually doesn't hold up in court. However, few cases ever make it there and that's what companies like these successfully gamble on.

sverhagen

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 of my five passengers. The staff at the airport isn't really Ryanair's, so recourse there. (As if having real Ryanair staff would have made a difference.) Same trip, coming back, we wait in the central terminal building until our gate is published. We go over to the gate, one of our passengers being in a wheelchair, needing an elevator, which are out of service. Friendly airport staff help us with the long detour to get to our gate. By now the doors are closed, we missed our flight. Again, having to pay a hefty fee to rebook for each of my five passengers. This is Ryanair staff, still no recourse. (But plenty of contempt.) I admit defeat, but my wife is still motivated to talk to customer support. This is months ago, I don't think that went anywhere either. They're mostly impenetrable. I don't mind their baggage policies, it's a known thing that there's upsales every step of the way, that's baked in by now (pretty much across the industry). But there's still plenty deep-dark patterns left. Thank goodness that we can vote with our feet, right, and just don't buy from them anymore. But guess what, we booked another flight for next month :)

ifwinterco

I kind of rate Ryanair because while yes they are dodgy at least they’re honest about it and just own it, no fake niceties like you get from American companies. And I’ve saved thousands of pounds in flights around Europe over the years so can’t really complain

mdorazio

My favorite is how if you buy a “premium” ticket that comes with a checked bag they still try to trick you into paying for a checked bag (again).

pjmlp

Unfortunately some of the airports I care about only have connections mostly with low cost, Ryanair and others. If regular lines would care to offer similar connections, I would gladly pay a bit more.

curiousgal

I have never flown with them only because they're the only airline I have come across that forces you to create an account to buy a ticket.

jdw64

The funny thing about our era is that there is no censorship on corporations, but the state is very active in censoring individuals. Sometimes I feel that legal action is needed against the UX dark patterns of these corporations

fredsted

I see EU always regulating all sorts of things, ostensibly to help consumers, but why aren't they doing something about scam airlines like Ryanair?

sutib

Your comment form is broken on mobile. It asks for a captcha but doesn't prompt one

LoganDark

No comment about how you must download the app and it is the only way to access your pass? There is not even a QR code or barcode for the pass available any other way?

gib444

I am shocked that Ryanair stoop to such levels, because the Irish always come across as actually morally superior to many other people, and I thought that would extend to just implementing good and honest business practices at the expense of profit. I am also similarly shocked about past GDP shenanigans, aiding in tax evasion by large multinationals, and the Irish privacy regulator being so weak on GDPR violations. I don't get it - just an a few bad apples I guess. And also this happens in other countries so it's ok

sylware

It is crazy how dark patterns are happening everywhere, for instance, in my country on post office automatons: basically in their UI, when they are asking to input your email address (which does not work with self-hosted email addresses without DNS, namely with IP literals, BTW), you cannot "see" the button to skip that step, since the button is different from all the others and clearly 'melted' in the background. I don't think this is a mistake, but something malicous clearly thought through.

gordian-mind

It's okay, the service they provide is invaluable: cheap movement. If anything, I wish the EU was regulated by Ryanair to stop taking all my money for zero result.

thimabi

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.

neals

It's why they're cheap though. I fly around Europe for 30 euro's. If this is how that works, it works. And after hundred+ flights with them, believe me, I have had my share or RyanScam. I just play their game and laugh.

sva_

When I was a broke student I used a script to observe the RyanAir prices and frequently flew around Europe for extremely cheap (10kg carry-on/backpack). Good times. These dark patterns are a nuisance but easy enough to navigate around.

alexhans

The Foil Arms & Hog 12 year old skit [1] is still relevant. - [1] https://youtu.be/Id-zzOGnN6A (Website part at 1:42 calling out the insurance example).

Cider9986

Someone should make an extension that clarifies everything, kind of like the anti-enshitification extensions for youtube. https://unhook.app/