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by whstl 249 days ago
I feel the same, but Airline and big hotel websites have way too many dark patterns made to confuse the user and force them to pay extra.

Booking an emergency flight last time I had a family issue was a mind-fucking experience. I had to go through 10 screens trying to sell me stuff and constantly hiding the skip button in different places. Maybe HN will say that I "shouldn't have had a family emergency in the first place" but reality is realty.

And honestly it's not just booking websites, it's anything tech that they do. For example, the last checkin kiosk I used also had an incredibly convoluted path for the case where someone else booked my luggage but it was a different size.

5 comments

> but Airline and big hotel websites have way too many dark patterns made to confuse the user and force them to pay extra.

And sooner or later these websites will implement new dark patterns to confuse the LLMs...

I’m with you. My elderly parents always ask me to book a ticket for them every time they need to fly because the airline websites are so full of dark patterns, it drives them anxious that they’ve missed something or spent money on something they don’t need.
This is sadly prevalent in some niches (e.g. low cost travel), but I don't think LLMs would be able to navigate those dark patterns better than humans would.
Ah, yeah. I assume from this comment you aren't in either US or EU, the only places this is better. It sucks.
That's the crazy part: I'm in the EU, where it's supposed to be better.
Indeed this problem could become worse. Dark patterns are darker when you cannot see them at all