Rail Europe disguises an on-by-default toggle to look switched off, then treats your search as consent to open a Booking.com tab
On raileurope.com, the search panel includes a toggle labelled “Explore places to stay”. On page load it appears off: the control sits to the right, and is filled with a muted dark grey rather than an active accent colour. This makes it look like it might be turned off. The toggle is in fact turned on, despite its appearance. When the user submits their search, the site treats the user’s failure to notice and turn off the toggle as consent to open a new tab with booking.com. It does this by opening a new tab, loading a fresh raileurope.com session into it, and then switching focus there. The original tab is reloaded with a Booking.com search pre-populated for the destination and dates the user entered into Rail Europe.
1 / 4Disclaimer: examples in the Hall of Shame are generally drawn from public submissions and cited sources; they have not been independently verified and may contain inaccuracies. They are presented as illustrations of design patterns, not findings of fact, unlawful conduct, or intent.