Does browsing ticket sites in incognito mode and/or from different IP's result in cheaper ticket prices?
I stumbled across a discussion yesterday where industry insiders share tips relating to their respective fields. Someone who works in e-commerce stated :
"When purchasing items on the internet (especially airline tickets), use incognito mode on your browser. We use your own cookies against you: raising the price on tickets the more times you check, as you shop around for better deals. That way you'll think the price is going up or that seats are being actively sold - thus increasing your urgency to buy, and punishing you for trying to get a good deal."
and
"The point is that it's not enough to just shop around to different websites on your own computer anymore. You have to shop around with a clean browser, different browsers, different computers, change of IP, maybe try from work then RDP to your home computer or somebody on the other side of the country, etc. Also, always call the airline directly and check on the price - sometimes it's much cheaper."
Do these tactics indeed work when purchasing tickets online?
Best Answer
The French administration in charge of enforcing trade and advertisement regulations (DGCCRF) and the observatory of data privacy (CNIL) held an investigation on IP tracking on an unspecified set of vendors of train and flight tickets operating in France. Their conclusion was that they could not find any evidence that prices would rise when you check the same site multiple times.
They did however find evidence that prices would sometimes depend on what other sites you had visited before. In particular, if you visited a price comparison site, you are more likely to be offered a cheaper advertised price but with higher fees added when ordering the ticket.
Additionally the price of a ticket depends, sometimes openly (if you dive into the small print), on the time at which you buy the ticket — it seems that booking at 4am is cheaper than booking at 11pm.
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Are airline tickets cheaper in incognito mode?
No, your search history doesn't affect flight prices. \u201cWe run thousands of searches every day, day after day. If prices were rising based on those previous searches, we'd see it.\u201dWhy are flight tickets cheaper in incognito mode?
Before booking tickets always remember to search in incognito mode. This is because if you search in your browser, each time you refresh the page or repeat searches the prices will shoot up. This is because websites use your cookies to track the routes that are repeatedly searched and then increase the prices.Can I book tickets in incognito mode?
To book flight ticket in incognito mode, just click on the 3 dot at the top right corner and select the "New Incognito Window". You can now search your flight without worrying about the surge in prices.Do flight prices change based on web browser?
Surprisingly, there is very little evidence that online travel sites are raising prices the more that you search for a specific trip. In fact, they tend to show lower prices to logged-in users.WARNING: Don't trust Incognito or Private Browsing!
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