Found out flight search sites track your cookies and hike prices

Was looking at flights to Chicago on my laptop last Tuesday, saw a round trip for about $180. Checked again the next day on my phone, same flight was $220. Then I looked it up on a friend's computer that had never visited that site before, and it was back to $180. Did some digging and found out these booking sites track your search history with cookies and nudge prices up if they think you're serious. Has anyone else caught them doing this and found a way around it?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_bailey4d ago

Hold on, I'm not buying this. I've been booking flights online for years and I've done my own tests with multiple devices and incognito mode. Prices change all the time for a million reasons - seat availability goes up and down by the minute, airlines adjust fares constantly, and what you're seeing is probably just normal market fluctuation. I checked the same route on three different browsers at the exact same minute and got three different prices because a seat sold between searches, not because the site was spying on my cookies. These companies make money by selling tickets, not by tricking you into paying an extra 40 bucks. They want you to buy from them, so why would they risk losing your business by playing games with your search history? You sure you didn't just catch a sale that ended between your searches?

rowan6664d ago

Incognito mode or clearing your cookies before each search keeps them from tracking your history. Also check the site from a different browser you never use for travel stuff. Sites like Kayak and Expedia definitely adjust prices based on your past clicks.