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Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:07 am
by ngl2010
Airline increases their ticket price everytime we check their website for the ticket price. I heard we have to surf Incognito if we want to avoid that. However, recently I saw a message when I surfed Incognito that the airline can still track. Is it true? Anybody got tips how to avoid being tracked? I heard deleting cookies is useless. Is it true?
Thank you.
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:11 am
by slmkhoo
I thought that the price increase is due to ticket sales. The airlines probably have an algorithm that increases the prices as the no. of seats available decreases. I'm not sure that it's due to their tracking who is checking. We have booked on AirAsia and Tiger before, and the price does remain the same sometimes, but as it gets closer to the travel date and ticket nos. reduce faster, the prices may go up very quickly.
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:25 am
by ngl2010
slmkhoo wrote:I thought that the price increase is due to ticket sales. The airlines probably have an algorithm that increases the prices as the no. of seats available decreases. I'm not sure that it's due to their tracking who is checking. We have booked on AirAsia and Tiger before, and the price does remain the same sometimes, but as it gets closer to the travel date and ticket nos. reduce faster, the prices may go up very quickly.
It is due to that and also the airline is tracking our visit. I have always suspected that. My suspicion was confirmed when I read about it in Wired Magazine. Let me try to find the magazine.
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:49 am
by munchkukie
track by ip address?
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:50 am
by KSP
i think the price increases when the date of travel is closer and seats get lesser.....
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:30 am
by floppy
ngl2010 wrote:slmkhoo wrote:I thought that the price increase is due to ticket sales. The airlines probably have an algorithm that increases the prices as the no. of seats available decreases. I'm not sure that it's due to their tracking who is checking. We have booked on AirAsia and Tiger before, and the price does remain the same sometimes, but as it gets closer to the travel date and ticket nos. reduce faster, the prices may go up very quickly.
It is due to that and also the airline is tracking our visit. I have always suspected that. My suspicion was confirmed when I read about it in Wired Magazine. Let me try to find the magazine.
Airline doesn't do that, I am quite sure of that. You can check the website a hundred times and that action (checking) has no effect on the selling price.
The major factors that move the selling price are:
1. Availability of seats
- As the lowest bracket of fares gets sold, you have to buy the next bracket of fares which comes at a higher cost.
2. Travel dates
- As travel dates get closer, fares go higher. This is especially true for LCCs, since the assumption is that the passenger has limited options and less flexibility in determining when they want to travel.
- Try buying a ticket for the same day of travel - you will be in for the shock of your life.
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:00 am
by ngl2010
Since 20 years ago I am already aware that availability of seats and travel dates affect airfare. However, the current technology is much more sophisticated than that.
I couldn't find my magazine but here is the link to USA Today and BBC on the matter.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/co ... y/2021993/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20353321
I am quoting one paragraph from USA Today:
Quote from USA Today wrote:
Back in 2007, on behalf of Consumers Union, I spent many hours examining this issue, and conducted extensive testing using multiple computers with multiple browsers. In one case, we searched a major travel site for a fare from New York City to Sydney, Australia under identical, real-time, apples-to-apples circumstances with two different browsers; one was cleared of all cookies and one had a robust history of purchasing flights. We found the cleared browser offered fares ranging from $1,770 to $1,950, while the second browser could only find a fare of $2,116. Although a company spokesperson said there is no "user differentiation" based on buying histories, industry analysts, journalists and consumers have been noticing this trend for years now.
I started suspecting it in 2011 but only this year I read about it.
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:18 am
by zbear
I agree with floppy. I don't think airlines will track. Why would they want to do that n don't you think it costs $$$ just to track.
I have always gone online for both full service n low cost carriers to check n there is no issue.
Prices will constantly change (just like shares) so its best to monitor for a while n if the dates/prices/availability suit you, then go for it.
This is my practice.
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:15 pm
by weyw
no i dun think the airline got "spare" resources just to track our visit to the sites...
otherwise why would airlines roll out "early bird" sales?
i visited tigerair website and the prices on the dates i want to fly remain much or less same but the popular "time slot" for the slot i booked have sold out...
Re: Airline increases ticket price everytime we check
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:01 pm
by Imami
floppy wrote:
Airline doesn't do that, I am quite sure of that. You can check the website a hundred times and that action (checking) has no effect on the selling price.
I agree with floppy. When I was planning for my honey moon, I checked a few airlines very frequently (becos we want to book at the very last minute). Made several bookings although at each time only keep one set of booking. Didn't see any increase in prices.