Hilarious, I was just about to suggest a monthly dark patterns thread.
Vueling airline is a my lastest candidate for misdirection.
User Goal: Buy a ticket that allows to store your carry-on in the overhead cabin storage on the plane.
They give you only two ticket options at first. Squeeze your small bag under your seat with their strictest size limitations with no overhead cabin allowance or pay extra for checked-in luggage. At that point you look around for an overhead cabin option, alas you find no such option and the lowest tier specifically states overhead cabin storage is not permitted. So since there is no overhead cabin option you're forced to select the check-in luggage option as a last resort.
But several steps later there is the seat selection step. There are some seat options that include overhead cabin storage. The price for those seats are cheaper than the checkin baggage option several steps earlier. So in order not to be the dumbass that bought both checkin luggage and overhead storage for no reason, you go back to the beginning and pick the lowest tier option and click through all the steps all over again...
Vueling airline is a my lastest candidate for misdirection.
User Goal: Buy a ticket that allows to store your carry-on in the overhead cabin storage on the plane.
They give you only two ticket options at first. Squeeze your small bag under your seat with their strictest size limitations with no overhead cabin allowance or pay extra for checked-in luggage. At that point you look around for an overhead cabin option, alas you find no such option and the lowest tier specifically states overhead cabin storage is not permitted. So since there is no overhead cabin option you're forced to select the check-in luggage option as a last resort.
But several steps later there is the seat selection step. There are some seat options that include overhead cabin storage. The price for those seats are cheaper than the checkin baggage option several steps earlier. So in order not to be the dumbass that bought both checkin luggage and overhead storage for no reason, you go back to the beginning and pick the lowest tier option and click through all the steps all over again...