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Comment by dmaa | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand this hate on Ryanair. Just treat it for what it is, a super cheap airline if you avoid all the upsells. No one is being forced do fly with them.

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I don't fly with them, and likely never will, simply because a coworker once showed me their checkout flow (back in 2011) and I found the amount of dark patterns to try and get you to accidentally spend more than you meant so disgusting I swore I'd never do business with them.

Being cheap is one thing, trying every trick in the book to try and make money the customer didn't mean to spend is another thing altogether as far as I'm concerned. That is worthy of hate.

This is the true advantage of a competitive marketplace, your parent commenter votes yes to dark patterns where the person who can dodge them wins, and you vote for honest, open checkouts for a higher price. Luckily, you two don't have to agree and as long as there enough of you, both will coexist.

Imagine if you had to agree and compromise on a single airline?

> This is the true advantage of a competitive marketplace

No thanks.

There can be a world where we don't let companies behave in the most abject ways possible.

> Imagine if you had to agree and compromise on a single airline?

This is literally a "the bar is in hell" take.

We already live in a world where we don't let companies behave in the most abject ways possible. You just want to force your own values on everyone, and we've already seen that people are at odds with them. You replied to someone who demonstrated their liking to that method, yet you STILL think only your way is right.

No, I think your "true advantage of a competitive marketplace" is the kind of "invisible hand of the free market" stuff I don't care for.

But you know this in advance! Try booking with Swiss, you also get a ton of upsell on insurance, car rental and what not. Then you sit in their business class seat and get an advert screened infront of you that you cannot skip. That makes me angry, not Ryanair.

Me hating Ryanair in no way implies I have net positive feelings about other airlines.

> No one is being forced do fly with them

Sometimes they are the only option :-/

Did they eliminate the competition because people chose them over the other providers, or are they the only option because no other airline chose to offer that flight segment?

It’s not that simple. I’ve seen several routes where ultra low cost carriers simply lost against normal airlines. Especially when there are multiple airports in a given city, they often loose at usable airports. For example in Brussels.

Sometimes you ARE forced to fly with them. Some airports have contracts with them etc etc

It is a ridiculous claim. It is always a choice, you are not really forced to fly in any case. If you do want to fly, or have a very strong reason to, there are other means of transports, or flying to different airpots if you really want to avoid Ryanair.

I've traveled all over Europe; Ryanair and other low cost European carriers were never on my list.

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