Is searching for airfares whilst in incognito mode actually helpful?

[get me outta here]

I thought not, but I was just questioned by a non FF friend.

 

[moa999]

Personally never seen a difference.

With so many online agents also putting out comparison prices, an airline would get crucified if they try it.

They want to drive traffic to their website and save the third party commissions

 

[ap_member]

I've never had a problem on the official airline websites, although I've suspected eDreams may alter prices.

 

[Warks]

There have been news stories about prices changing between the first and second visits. The advice was that the cookie is the problem and using an incognito window gets around this. I'm not so sure.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

There have been news stories about prices changing between the first and second visits. The advice was that the cookie is the problem and using an incognito window gets around this. I'm not so sure.

I have sometimes found fares going up in the past when I have searched. When I have seen the increase, I have cleared, or just opened a different type of browser to gain the original price. Sometime though the fair bucket has just gone. Ditto for some European train fares.

 

[burmans]

Without doing proper testing not sure how you'd ever really get an answer to this, certainly have seen many people claim they have seen prices go up on repeated searching and they have had this problem go away when using incognito. But that's one possible cause for this, there may well be other possible reasons.

Would suggest that individuals here (or probably anywhere) are unlikely to have done enough searches in a controlled manner, to give a scientifically robust answer to this.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Without doing proper testing not sure how you'd ever really get an answer to this, certainly have seen many people claim they have seen prices go up on repeated searching and they have had this problem go away when using incognito. But that's one possible cause for this, there may well be other possible reasons.

Would suggest that individuals here (or probably anywhere) are unlikely to have done enough searches in a controlled manner, to give a scientifically robust answer to this.

Well however you want to cut and dice it I have had instances when looking to book intra-Europe fares where the price was increasing on searches, but when I then used a different browser the cheapest fare was back again.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

It can go either way. Airlines not using NDC (ie: most of them, including both QF and VA) are stuck somewhere in 1980s the way fares are delivered to the user. It's costing them billions in lost revenue each year. In fact, United Airlines admitted their lack of flight/ticketing data is costing them USD $1B annually.

Incognito mode, while it may appear like you have privacy - you don't. Don't think for one second the airline has no idea who you are. With only a few pieces of user data, it's possible to identify who you are: Privacy challenges | MIT News

The answer you're looking for, and the current best way to hack the system works like this:
- If you only buy cheap fares, and are not in the top status levels with an airline, AND they use NDC, then search on their website while logged in.
- If you want to fly BA, SQ, AA, DL or a few others, do a search on their site first, and then close your browser. Come back later, and so long as you don't hold status - AND - you hold top status with one of their competitors, the chances of you finding a lower price flight on your next search is significantly greater.
- Use an OTA or meta search engine (eg: skyscanner or kayak)
- Delete ALL Qantas applications from your phone. The insights QF gathers from your data will make you sick.
- Use points. I'm not aware of any price discrimination aside from additional inventory used by any airline.


Urban Myths:
- Airlines don't use cookies to change pricing. They do use data and cookies (including selling/buying cookie data) can form part of the equation (ie: Adobe Marketing Cloud)
- Searching on mobile has different prices than on a Pc/the web. True for some airlines. Time of day also plays a part.
- All comes down to what fare bucket has availability: Incorrect. Many airlines will dump the price last minute to fill a seat, even if the available revenue bucket is full Y. This is most prevalent in the USA where overbooking is rampant.
- Company/Corporate codes are always cheaper: False. Any 5 year old kid with a computer can figure this out with a few searches.
- Searching from another country can impact pricing (eg: search SYD-AKL while on Fiji IP address): True, but depends on the airline. For hotels: Also true. There are clear risks, and airlines have databases of where IP addresses originate/frequently used, so don't think for a second that VPN will let you access lower rates.


For those interested in knowing more: https://www.traveldatadaily.com/how-big-data-is-changing-the-way-we-fly/

 

[OzEire]

Data point that is sort-of OT. I was recently booked to fly VA by the company TA of a firm I am contracting with. They hold my Velocity number and attach it to bookings (great).

Booking to PER was ticketed Friday 3/2. That evening I received an email from Velocity offering special fares to book flights to PER.

So clever marketing if I wanted to book my family on this business trip... but otherwise fairly redundant offering special prices on a route I have already/just booked- especially offering Y special when I have already been booked J. I mean do they want me to cancel J and downgrade?

 

[ajd]

- Delete ALL Qantas applications from your phone. The insights QF gathers from your data will make you sick.

Heh, I'd be very interested to find out more about exactly what they gather (time to fire up a man-in-the-middle proxy, I think). Kinda depressing to hear given that the core functionality of the QF app is quite good!

Also I wonder whether it's possible to screw with their website metrics - a browser script to submit false random data to their analytics platform could be fun.

 

[tuppaware]

Heh, I'd be very interested to find out more about exactly what they gather (time to fire up a man-in-the-middle proxy, I think). Kinda depressing to hear given that the core functionality of the QF app is quite good!

Also I wonder whether it's possible to screw with their website metrics - a browser script to submit false random data to their analytics platform could be fun.

I assume that Android phone could provide more information then the apps on the IOS device?
The apple walled garden is good for something when it comes to app restrictions. BUT they can continue to track your combined web and app session data using cookies and known data about you.

Us hobby frequent flyers know better to search across a variety of platforms and websites anyways.

 

[ajd]

I assume that Android phone could provide more information then the apps on the IOS device?

Interesting question.

The apple walled garden is good for something when it comes to app restrictions. BUT they can continue to track your combined web and app session data using cookies and known data about you.

Us hobby frequent flyers know better to search across a variety of platforms and websites anyways.

Don't assume that Apple cares more about your privacy than Google when it comes to information relevant to purchasing habits...

One day I'm going to go full-paranoid and install some custom Android variant on my phone which can do some kind of application-level isolation...

 

[tuppaware]

Interesting question.

Don't assume that Apple cares more about your privacy than Google when it comes to information relevant to purchasing habits...

One day I'm going to go full-paranoid and install some custom Android variant on my phone which can do some kind of application-level isolation...

As an IOS dev I know what information you can pass on from a mobile. So unless you have socially linked Facebook to something then an Apple App can really only send what information you supply it, your IP address, connection status. You have to supply direct permission to access contacts, camera, location etc.

I feel less secure on an android device tbh.

 

[ajd]

As an IOS dev I know what information you can pass on from a mobile. So unless you have socially linked Facebook to something then an Apple App can really only send what information you supply it, your IP address, connection status. You have to supply direct permission to access contacts, camera, location etc.

I shall have to defer to your expertise!

I feel less secure on an android device tbh.

As do I, to be honest. Security and privacy have historically not been strong points of the Android platform.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I feel less secure on an android device tbh.

And rightly so.

Android has the ability to collect granular sensory and social data.
I don't think this forum is an appropriate place to discuss, but if you use an android device - you've fundamentally sold yours, and your friends souls.

Most folks don't consider this when weighing up iPhone versus Android.
It becomes even worse when you realise some telcos are selling your location data for profit. Eg: Ever wondered why Amex will approve a card application without any proof of income? It's because they can already predict it based on your phone and telco data.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

You just have to try a number of options eg:

If looking for domestic usa AA fares or even further a field make sure you use AA's US website not the AU one which it will default to if it knows your location is AU. For a simple LAX/LAS fare the AU site wanted AUD120.00 vs USD69.00 on the US site so that's way more expensive even after converting the USD fare into AUD.

Use a destop to browse as there have been anecdotes of airlines charging more money when they detect they're searching from a smartphone as stats tell them people who own such devices are more cashed up so are more likely to pay more for airfares.

Use a VPN when browsing airfares so sites think you're somewhere else other than your real location. Some ppl on here will remember ridiculously cheap QF airfares for travel to Asia ex AU booked on Expedia.BR that were way less than what was on offer if booked in AU. How to get a cheap flight online by using a VPN - Buying Advice - PC Advisor

Using skyscanner.com and enter the city your want to depart out of in the 'from' box then instead of entering your destination select 'everywhere' in the 'to' box which will reveal the cheapest city to fly to from that port.

Tick the 'nearby cities' boxes in your next to the from and to fields on airline websites to display other airports near your preferred cities which may have lower fares. Usually you can specify how many miles away in the search parameters so you may find if flying to MIA that FLL, PBI or MCO could at times be cheaper.

Breaking down the journey into sectors eg Aust to Europe may be approx AUD $7K for a round trip J fare but breaking it into an Aust/SIN return then SIN/EU return may give you a lot more options.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

If looking for domestic usa AA fares or even further a field make sure you use AA's US website not the AU one which it will default to if it knows your location is AU. For a simple LAX/LAS fare the AU site wanted AUD120.00 vs USD69.00 on the US site so that's way more expensive even after converting the USD fare into AUD.

You can also try your luck with other country versions of the AA website, such as Italian.

Use a VPN when browsing airfares so sites think you're somewhere else other than your real location. Some ppl on here will remember ridiculously cheap QF airfares for travel to Asia ex AU booked on Expedia.BR that were way less than what was on offer if booked in AU.

VPN wasn't required for expedia.ie and expedia.com.br, bookings could be made through those websites normally. But this tip may apply to other sites.

 

[Bob234]

I've found with virgin Australia's websites when planning and booking weekly returns that repeated searches will start to result in increased day base fares, then progress to high base fare same day for surrounding week/day on a bell curve to a point that j fares were cheaper on a second login/device. If searching when logged in the cheaper fare would fail to purchased with same login on different sevice.

It's pretty easy to reproduce; do a search and move forward and back a week or two around a dozen times and prices start to go up.

 

[Happy Dude]

Pretty sure the price increase happened to me the other day, one day after the first search.

BNE-ROK flight was $155 for elevate with the first search. No getaway available. Come back the next day and price had jumped for only that flight to $185. The return flight I looked at went from $135 to $185 for elevate. Getaway was $102.

Search using iPhone had the flights at $135 for elevate for the flights I wanted, and $111 elevate at other times. So I booked elevate fares (Q) at times less desirable, using codes of course, then called and changed to flight times I wanted.

I'll now use one device for seaching and another for booking, if required. Sneaky b*stards.

 

[Stormy]

Hey. Had an interesting banter with Air New Zealand online team member when I went to book a domestic ticket in NZ as much cheaper than paying domestic through qantas..... ".com.au" had one price and the ".co.nz" had another price for the same flight.. I asked why and marketing dept came back with "different pricing structure for different markets" I checked a few times to be sure and sure enough the prices were significantly different... I am airpoints member with airnz as well, only let me accrue and use points on .com.au. A few days later I checked and suddenly the prices were the same. Whether they stayed the same I'm not sure...