Had a chat with a hostel owner in Prague last month that kinda changed my whole approach

He told me he books his own family's flights through incognito mode and clears cookies every single time, claims it saves them at least 30 bucks per ticket on average. Made me wonder how many other quiet tricks like that I've been missing out on, anyone else got a simple one that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanelee1d ago

Yo hold on, people keep talking about VPNs and cookie clearing but nobody's bringing up the real wildcard - what if the trick isn't even about the price changing for YOU but about how the site's algorithm treats new vs returning users? That hostel owner might be onto something bigger than he realizes. I tested this once with a friend where we both searched the same flight at the same time on different devices - mine in incognito with a fresh IP, hers logged into her account with saved preferences. My price was $212, hers was $247 for the exact same seats. It's not just cookies, it's the whole profile they build on you, your past bookings, how much you spent, even what time of day you usually search. So clearing everything isn't just about hiding your tracks, it's about making them start from zero every time instead of treating you like a repeat customer who'll pay more.

murray.drew1d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah that $35 difference you saw is pretty much what I ran into last year when I was booking a trip to Vegas. I was logged in on my laptop getting quoted $289 for a flight, then I grabbed my girlfriend's phone that she never uses for travel stuff and got $244. Same airline, same time, same seats. So you're dead on about the whole profile thing. I think the trick is to treat these booking sites like they're gonna screw you if you give them any info. I always use a clean browser with no saved passwords or anything when I'm shopping around now. And I never log into my frequent flyer account until I'm actually ready to buy, that seems to help keep the price from jumping up on me.

nancy8171d ago

Actually, incognito mode doesn't completely prevent sites from tracking you, it just stops them from saving cookies to your browser history. Airlines and booking sites have gotten smarter about using your IP address and device fingerprint to figure out who you are and adjust prices accordingly. Using a VPN to change your location or clearing cookies through your browser settings works way better than just opening an incognito window.