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Comment by rtb | Hacker News Reader

Huh? There are loads. I can think of several companies that I buy things from because I know I won't get messed with even if the headline price might appear a little higher than their competitors (think EasyJet v.s. RyanAir).

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From my relatively small experience I remember EasyJet trying to upsell random crap in a similar way to RyanAir. I might be misremembering though, I haven't flew with any of them since last year.

Anyway, I meant why there are no companies with marketing messages that would amount to "we're not going to fuck you over like the Other Company We Can't Name".

> I meant why there are no companies with marketing messages that would amount to "we're not going to fuck you over like the Other Company We Can't Name".

Probably because they can't name them in the ads, which would make the message rather confusing :-)

Well, if the other company is doing something bad, it wouldn't be difficult. Actually, to provide some sort of an answer to my original question, we had sort-of this style of marketing with domain registrar, i.e. "hey, we don't try to upsell you crap, don't support SOPA and definitely don't shoot elephants for fun!".

I can only think of DuckDuckGo ("we won't track you").

Last time I flew with EasyJet I didn't get any strong upset. They do try to sell you insurance but the default is "no" and they also sell food/drinks onboard. No real hidden fees or additional charges aside from that. You do need to understand the baggage policy however.

> trying to upsell random crap in a similar way to RyanAir

"Trying to upsell" and "trying to hide the opt-out of an upsale" are not the same thing. I see no problem with a company trying to upsell you, and lumping that in with what RyanAir is doing is wrong.

Easyjet have an upsell but at least the price you see on the homepage is the price you pay at the end, unless you go for the upsell. It's predictable.

Ryanair don't do that. The price they advertise at the flight choice time is the price you pay. THey then try shove extras down your throat, but you're not obligated to buy travel insurance, rent a car, use their jet ski etc .

The £2 fare, £45 processing fee example was a RyanAir tactic (although the internet seems to remember it as £1/£65, based on a quick google search).

Oh I know it used to be, but It's changed now was what I was saying!

Sorry, you're right -- RyanAir's headline price is actually achievable these days (if you manage to get past all the Dark UX practices, some of which were called out as examples in the OP). I was thinking of a few years ago, before the EU had to pass a law specifically banning their advertising practices, much like the law currently under discussion.

In my experience, EasyJet do offer you lots of low value "extras", but they do not try to trick you into taking them in the same way as RyanAir do (did?).

So I stand by my example, although perhaps it's not the best one available :-)

That's not the case - I flew with them a few weeks ago. Turns out in order to print the return journey boarding pass more than a week in advance you need to pre-book a seat (for a cost). Not great if you're going away for two weeks without guaranteed access to a printer.

I fly with them regularly, but they're short trips (2-4 days) so my experience is different. You can check get your boarding pass in some airports by phone now though which also helps!

In my experience pretty much any hotel or hostel will print them if you ask nicely, or at least point you in the direction of someone who will cheaply. I paid €1 to print 5 pages at an Internet cafe in Italy a couple of months ago.

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