If you ever book flights online, this is for you

What do Airplanes and Cookies have in Common? Sounds like the start of a corny joke, but there is no punch line - just some advice which could save you money. Despite the picture, we’re not actually referring to the edible kind of cookie but rather computer cookies. We’ve all heard the term, but not many internet users have a full understanding of what a cookie is and how sometimes they can be used against you. Essentially cookies are tiny files stored on your computer and holds information about cookie enabled websites that you visit and information you enter on those sites. This is useful for remembering login details, resuming where you left off, theme selections and so on. Cookies are also used to track your interests. For example, if you were planning a holiday to Spain and used some travel sites to research information about the country including flights, accommodation options etc. you would start to notice an increase in adverts and popups relevant to your proposed trip. This is thanks to the cookies stored in your computer.

So what do airplanes and cookies have in common? Well, many travel writers and computer bloggers maintain that airline web sites keep track of your searches and if you revisit the site a short time after your initial enquiry, the price has gone up. The theory is that you would have a knee-jerk reaction and assume that the flight is filling up fast, hence the increased price and you would book ASAP. Officially, as one would expect, most airlines deny using this tactic but there is certainly a lot of anecdotal evidence to support the accusation and a simple Google search shows up hundreds of articles about the subject many advising that flight prices went back down after clearing their cookies. So if you are concerned that this marketing tactic could affect you, there are several ways to combat it. Do your research on one computer (or tablet, or smart phone) and then book on another. Clear your computer cookies (a good thing to do anyway now and again) before you load the airline site to make the booking or you can surf the net safely by using private browsing. Most web browsers including Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Explorer offer a private browsing option in their settings. Most readers will likely be using Explorer – left-click the small grey cog on the top, right hand side of the page. Hover your mouse over “safety” and select “InPrivate Browsing”. This prevents your computer from storing any information about your session including history, cookies, data etc.

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#flight #cookies #scam #private #browsing