Thanks for the link, Sean. I'm glad to see more attention paid to the shoddy, deceptive way that airlines treat their customers in order to squeeze more money out of them.

But I'm afraid that I do have to quibble with one thing in your post -- the cookie technique you mention won't work in this case. It's good advice for most websites, but when it comes to airlines it doesn't appear that deleting cookies helps at all. I confirmed this personally, and others in this thread at Consumerist reported similar experiences.

The only way to get back to the initial prices on a given itinerary is to wait several days or to change your IP address. The latter can be accomplished by moving to a different internet connection (a different computer on the same connection won't work) or by sending your traffic through a proxy server -- a subject which is, unfortunately, probably too complicated to get into here.

Posted By Tom on April 21, 2008, 11:52 AM

Tom,
Thanks for your email, and for your great post, which we linked to.

I haven't been able to duplicate the problems that you're describing in my own fare searches on VA's site. I've only done testing of the cookies claim, which I feel is a common problem on many airline and travel agency websites.

I think that Consumerist may have been on to something by suggesting that it was a more generic algorithm at work than an IP tracing. If their servers could guesstimate where you were (such as the West Coast time zone), they might adjust their fares accordingly, either as a marketing or a yield-management tool. That would be far less worrisome than targeting IP addresses, which is not something that I see listed as permissible under their terms of service and may be considered invasive/deceptive/etc. I would be quite surprised if they--or any consumer website--were actually targeting IP addresses and changing prices as a result, instead of using cookies (which are, at least nominally, part of a transparent "opt-in" policy).

But thanks again for pointing these issues out. And if you feel my post still flagrantly contains an error and that I am overlooking it, I encourage you to explain what I'm missing.

Regards,

Sean

Posted By Sean on April 22, 2008, 3:24 PM

[Editor's note: The following comment has been posted by the editor on behalf of Tom, the author of the earlier comment. It is copy and pasted from an email exchange with Tom, and his email has not been edited.]

Thanks for the thoughtful note, Sean. My own experience strongly implied that cookies were irrelevant to the fares listed on Virgin America's website, but I can easily imagine that other airlines use them.

You're probably right that the changing price was the result of the time of day rather than tracking me specifically. But this comment sounds credible to me:

http://consumerist.com/375212/using-proxies-to-get-good-deals-when-virgin-america-reneges#c4999548

And it refers to "instant purchase" tickets, which suggests to me that fares can increase based upon how long you spend looking at them. And, as I said, I think it's likely that that isn't done by cookies but by some other method -- seemingly IP, since I had tried clearing cookies and even using a different browser without success.

Anyway, it's something I'll try to look into with more rigor the next time I find myself shopping for airfare. Thanks again for taking note of my post and linking to it.

Tom

Posted By Tom on April 22, 2008, 3:26 PM

The British carriers, BA and Virgin, use many techniques to give travelers less value than their American counterparts. If you are a frequent flier, check out the number of miles you accumulate per flight, how many flights it takes to get elite status, etc. Check cancellation fees. Virgin's are prohibitive. It cost me $300 to change a flight once, on Continental it would have cost under $100. Some tickets can't be changed period.

Posted By susan on April 24, 2008, 12:57 PM

I have had to make separate bookings, on Air Canada, for my husband and myself - same flight, destination & time - as we needed individual invoices to submit to the different departments of our work. Very often the flight that was booked second cost more, and sometimes much more, than the one booked on line 2 minutes before. This would explain why they nearly always jumped for the second reservation!

Posted By Sheila on April 24, 2008, 4:24 PM

I can understand wanting to circumvent the "marketing ploy" laid out here and wanting to defeat the tracking....BUT as with all marketers, these folks are using the "come on" technique to get you to return to their website for bookings. Obviously they get a commission for making bookings etc. and there by slowly raise rates to get you to return but you best interest is not in their minds!

Posted By Paul on April 25, 2008, 11:43 AM

Tom,

I took interest in your original post, as I hope it is applicable to my situation. Assuming that some airline websites are just monitoring the traffic on their site and raising the prices for certain itineraries that are frequently being searched or are kept open for long periods of time, do you believe that the website will relinquish the memory of such traffic or itinerary viewing after a few days?

I am basically trying to book airfare for international travel in November (which should be low season), however, over the course of the last two days, as my best friend and I have been flooding the website experimenting with possible itineraries within 2 days of travel dates, the airfares have been rising on us steadily. We are at a point where we are obviously too scared to continue looking at these itineraries. I find it hard to believe that the airfares are rising 6 months in advance for any other reason than those being discussed in this thread. My question is whether you know if websites will "erase" their traffic count after a few days. I have already tried using multiple computers in different locations.

Thanks for any help!

Posted By Asma on April 28, 2008, 5:59 PM

Expedia pulled a fast one on me, too. I was checking out flights from BUF to OGG and they offered a Delta fare for $550. After filling out all the info including seats for 6 legs x 3 people, filling out the credit card info, etc. I clicked "purchase" and lo and behold I was told the fare was no longer available. It was now $630. (Taxes and fees were not the issue.) I cleared my cookies and went through the same process and the same thing happened. I called Expedia and the agent told me Delta was changing their fares!

Posted By RichardD on April 29, 2008, 4:36 PM

Yes. This has happened to me for the last ten years. Even Expedia does this. My fiancee and I use two computers. One for searching and one for buying. That helps. I don't put anything past these companies.

Posted By MsAnnaNOLA on May 14, 2008, 12:48 PM