Ryanair is a prime example of a company that employs various manipulative techniques, known as "dark patterns," to increase its profits.
One such tactic is their default sign-up for promotional materials, which is considered a form of "privacy zuckering."
Throughout the booking process, the Ryanair website employs various "misdirection" dark patterns to upsell customers on additional services.
For example, they use prominent buttons to promote "fast track" options, which can be easily clicked on as they are located in the middle of the page, making it easy to accidentally select them while scrolling down to skip the offer.
Even if a customer declines the upsell offer on the previous step, Ryanair will continue to use "misdirection" dark patterns by displaying another popup with a prominent button.
This time, they may even change the color of the button and the title to deceive customers further and make it appear as a different offer, tricking the customer's attention and making it less evident that it's the same page as before.
The Ryanair website employs various "dark patterns" throughout its booking process to upsell customers on additional services and manipulate their attention.
One such example is using "misdirection" techniques, such as attempting to upsell customers on additional features and strategically placing primary buttons to encourage accidental clicks. This type of manipulative design is prevalent on nearly every website page.
Ryanair repeatedly presents customers with upsell offers for the same features, asking multiple times in case the customer changes their mind or falls for one of the manipulative "dark patterns" prevalent throughout the website. This persistent approach increases the likelihood of the customer making an impulse purchase or accidentally clicking on an offer.
Ryanair has integrated manipulative "dark patterns" into nearly every aspect of their booking process and it appears that they have no plans to stop using them.
It is important to be cautious and vigilant when using the Ryanair website, as these techniques are designed to deceive customers and increase profits for the company.
