Travel websites know that you’ve been checking the price on that flight to Barbados. And they aren’t just using the information to send you emails. They use it bump up the price to put you in a panic and get you to finally buy the ticket before it goes up again.
I had been looking for a flight from Lima to Cusco, Peru because it cost about the same as a bus ride but didn’t require spending 22 hours on a bus in the Andes. Imagine my shock when I went to book the flights this week only to see they had gone from $70 a person to $120. But then I remembered reading an article about them using browser cookies to jack with the prices. I went into the browser options and deleted all the cookies for the airline site, reran the ticket search and voilà. The tickets were back to $70. I then booked them immediately, but at the original price.
So, next time you see a price jump on a flight you’ve been eying, go into your browser options and remove the cookies for that website and try again before you book the flight.
EDIT: Per Geoff’s comment below, all of this might go away simply buy using Chrome’s Incognito Mode to surf travel sites.
Thanks, Mark! I did not know that. Bastards.
Oh, wow–that is good to know! Thanks!
I have never heard of this. That’s crazy. I’m always checking prices and never deleting cookies.
I’m gonna try that with my IND>BCN tix right now…
I’d assume Google Chrome’s Incognito Mode would prevent this?
Good point. Will try that first the next time I see a price jump.