I agree it’s all marketing for people who feel they can barely afford to fly (but need to fly anyway), and who don’t use/trust comparison sites (middlemen). I

I agree it’s all marketing for people who feel they can barely afford to fly (but need to fly anyway), and who don’t use/trust comparison sites (middlemen). I wonder if the aggressive upselling during the booking flow is part of this marketing too. If you really want the cheapest possible flight you will carefully decline all upsells and double-check the final bill for surcharges. This makes you feel you’ve shrewdly whittled the price down as far as possible. Another way of looking at it is it just wears the customer down. If the booking flow were too smooth and didn’t include many points where the customer is forced to decline added luxuries, then you might be more likely to pause before confirming the transaction, and maybe open EasyJet’s site for a quick price comparison.