Airfare booking tip

[Paul F Franklin]

Learned this tip from a Marketplace segment on NPR.

I haven't done much flying since Covid, but went to book seats from Toronto to Cleveland in the fall for a planned trip.

Only two non stop flights, both with Air Canada. They are code shared with United so I could book with either airline. Terms and cost were slightly better with AC so I started purchase process after logging into my AC profile. Price shown was over $120 higher (per seat) than I was shown an hour earlier.

Backed out of the purchase, logged out of my account, and opened a new incognito window. Went to AC site and restarted the purchase process *without* logging into my profile. Price was back down to the original amount. After making all the various selections and getting to payment page, it gave the option to continue as guest or continue as member. I continued as member and logged into my profile. Completed the purchase at the original (lower) price.

Thanks, Marketplace, for the tip!

[Alan Lightstone]

I've always booked my flights with a VPN and Incognito mode to avoid cookies. I also search for flights a week earlier on the same day of the week until the final booking, so the airlines don't know that a particular flight might be popular, and thus raise prices.

That being said, I read a recent review that tested this approach (I can't remember if it was one of the many frequent flyer sites I'm on, or Consumer Reports) and they found that it really doesn't work. So there's that.

[Atlas Ramirez]

happy journey

[Bill Howatt]

I have heard this is also a favorite Amazon trick - if you go back to the item the price is higher. I think I may have experienced that happening myself but that's all I can say about it - the price change may have been from other factors, not my previous visit.