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Comment by pmontra | Hacker News Reader

Their goal is not my goal. My goal is to fly to a destination. A paper ticket has always been enough for that. And if they want to upsell a web page can be full of upselling too. But I don't want upsells, only a flight and air companies are commodities. Imagine if I had to install an app for every chain of gas pumps around my country and the nearby ones.

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I think with these kinds of ideological issues, all one can do is vote with their wallet. Nobody is forcing you to fly Ryanair, there are other choices, and if you don't like their practices, don't fly with them. If enough people do it, then they might change their ways, but if their 80% number is accurate, you're probably just stuck not flying with them anymore and nobody else is going to care but you, unfortunately.

Not trying to be rude at all... you said their goal is not yours, so that's why you choose not to do business with them. Every business can't please everyone at the same time.

> I think with these kinds of ideological issues, all one can do is vote with their wallet

Needs to be viewed in the light of the distinctly un-open market in which airlines operate. There are only so many airports, and only so many slots. I might wish to start another airline which customers may use an open solution but the reality is that incumbents have a massive moat around them. No market, that I know of, is perfect but air travel is an unusually distorted one.

Though much less distorted in the EU than in the US. It's common to have the choice between 2-3 different airlines to get from one place to another, and if that's not good enough the next major airport is frequently just a 2-3 hour train journey away

This was going to be my comment. "vote with your wallet" only works in open competitive markets. But (with a few exceptions), this is not the world we live in. Regulation is the only option left. You have to vote with your vote to get laws in place that force industry to behave better.

> But I don't want upsells

Ryan is cheap because they sell you lottery tickets on the plane.

If you don’t want upsells there are airlines that cater to that as well.

I refuse to ever fly Southwest because of their history of open seating. I refuse to ever fly Spirit or other American discount airlines because I want to keep the nickle and diming to a minimum. I fly less than I could if I sought out rock bottom airfares, and that’s ok.

And they’re OK with that as well, clearly :)

I understand not wanting to deal with open seating but continuing to boycott an airline after they fixed your pet-peeve makes no sense to me.

My reasoning: fuck ‘em. That and loyalty points.

In many European segments we're finding them comparably priced. If we factor getting to the Ryanair airports, luggage, etc., sometimes we're better off flying, say, Brussels Airlines. And I'd happily buy food in Ryanair flights if their catalogue had any proper food.

The GP was commenting on the motivations of Ryanair, and the parent was responding to that.

Imagine you drive an EV and that's exactly what you have to do.

True for everybody but Tesla. If you have a Tesla you install the app once to enter your credit card and then you can delete the app if you wish. All you need to recharge is the ability to drive the car (which doesn't require the app).

Not true for Electrify America and many other chargers.

Plug and charge is supported on many vehicles, and you can skip the app entirely and just pay by card.

Why do they force you to install the app just to enter a credit card? Sounds like something a website could do just fine.

But, it's not. All EV's in Europe I've driven had a simple plastic charging card, no apps required.

> Imagine if I had to install an app for every chain of gas pumps around my country and the nearby ones.

Oh Great. Some oil company CEO's nephew in tech just read this and sent it to his uncle. Who will adopt it forthwith.

That’s pretty much what the EV charging landscape is, right?

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