It may be impossible to prove conclusively that travel companies use cookies to raise their fares, o

Airlines and online travel agencies surreptitiously use computer cookies they ve implanted on your Web browser to track your activity on their sites and then raise prices when it appears that you re interested in a fare. That s the rumor, at least.
I inadvertently resurrected a long-simmering controversy over this rumor a few weeks ago, when I blamed airfare fluctuations on a practice called caching, which lets airlines or travel agencies store a copy of all fare information on their sites. Caching is efficient and cost-effective for the company, but less than 5 percent of the fares may no longer be available.
Many travelers are convinced that the price changes are deliberate. I am absolutely sure that there is nothing unintentional cheap car rent about these price switches, insisted Bernhard Kaltenboeck, a professor of veterinary medicine at Auburn University in Alabama. The online reservation systems track your computer and raise the price on you when you seem to be actually interested in the flight.
For years, I ve brought views such as Kaltenboeck s to the industry, and for years, it has vehemently denied any tampering with prices. cheap car rent But a few weeks ago, a story that made me start to doubt everything I d heard caught my attention.
A United Kingdom-based hotel site called VivaStay reportedly dinged customers by way of a special link from an affiliated Web site that showed slightly higher prices than those quoted to customers who clicked directly on the VivaStay site. VivaStay apologized, but said it was unaware that the price variation was frowned upon. Although the story was hardly cheap car rent noticed outside Europe, it s the first time I recall a company admitting to tinkering with prices in this way.
Just ask Mike Turner, who booked a Cancun vacation package through Travelocity with a friend a few weeks ago. They bought the trip together at the same time, while on the phone. cheap car rent When we finished choosing the flights, cheap car rent rooms, and other options, we went to finalize the purchase and a box popped up saying my price had changed and I could either cheap car rent accept, or pick another flight, said Turner, who manages a tire store in Eagan, Minn. My friend was picking the exact same hotel, flight, and options but did not get this message.
So Turner and his friend started the process again, selecting their flights and rooms one more time. The same message appeared. Travelocity wanted Turner to pay an extra $500, which he eventually did. Turner phoned cheap car rent the company and asked for an explanation, but a representative offered only to cancel his reservation. E-mail appeals to refund the price difference were ignored.
cheap car rent This looked like a clear case of price bait-and-switch, so I asked Travelocity whether cookies were to blame. Simply not true, said spokesman Dan Toporek. The agency investigated cheap car rent Turner s claim and found that the bookings weren t identical. It appears that Mr. Turner booked cheap car rent a package that included a junior suite, whereas his friend s package had a more standard room. That was the reason for the difference in price, he said. (Half a grand for an upgrade cheap car rent to a junior suite? That seems a little rich.)
Could these price fluctuations be our fault? Some of them might be, like my own recent efforts to buy an inexpensive flight, where I waited too long and the fare wasn t available anymore. But can they all be written off as user error? No, they can t.
Donna Brinkmeyer, a teacher from Sioux Falls, S.D., says that when she recently cheap car rent tried to buy a ticket to Vietnam, she handled cheap car rent her reservation cheap car rent through cheap car rent the Delta Air Lines Web site by the book. But when she was actually ready to buy her flights, the airline cheap car rent informed her that the ticket she wanted was $300 more than the original price quote.
cheap car rent Disappointed, but curious, I returned to Delta s home page and began the process again, she said. The same lower fare was still displayed, cheap car rent so I worked my way through the process again only to be informed once again that the fare was no longer available. Over the course of a half hour I repeated this process two more times. Same result.
I ve brought cases like this to other airlines in the past, and the answer is always the same. Even with evidence, such as screen shots and printouts, the only way you ll ever prove the cookie conspiracy theory is with an affidavit from the head of the travel company s IT department.
There must be a systematic process cheap car rent designed to lure the buyer with a price that the company does not intend to honor, said Bob Flood, a health physicist who lives in Las Vegas. Consider this: In the natural order of things, if there is no bias in a process, there are about as many negative outcomes as positive cheap car rent outcomes. The process of posting the lower airfares that is, making them initially available should result in as many surprisingly lower prices at booking as it does surprisingly higher ones because they have all been taken.
It may be impossible to prove conclusively that travel companies use cookies to raise their fares, or to bait us with low fares. But smart travelers have found a way around it. Caren Barnes, a teacher from Lincoln, Neb., simply logs off whenever a low fare turns into a high fare. I go to another computer, she says. There s almost a 100 percent chance you ll see the lower fare you saw the first time.
Another technique worth considering is to clear the cookies on your Web browser. Each program handles this task slightly differently; consult the help option in your application s menu for directions.
Christopher Elliott is an author, journalist and consumer advocate. You can read more about him on his personal website or contact him at [email protected] . Got a question or comment? You can post it on the new forum .
ZenMaste I agreed with you.. have recorder it .. now worse British Airways do not let you managed your booking online as it forces you to call them , then prices you wanted change to higher then a new ticket if you bought it on their Web, Also you have to pay the fee of 30 pounds ..
BA staff are the only ones who can get into your booking online .. i have tried several days after 24 hours and i was right .. they are the only one who can change the tickets and by it charge you more. so when i tried to book new ticket for early day at reduce price BA did not allowed me. I called today again I was told BA does not allowed a passenger to have to tickets even this one was 2 days early. as it better to buy new ticket then changed it .. AGAIN i Feel this is a manipulation of British Airways against costumers as they want them to pay more. AS i have recorder my conversation with the staff and made a video when the BA.com did not let me to get into my booking despite written cheap car rent correct information, same as it did NOT allowed me book new flight I am to complain to the Ombusdman.. cheap car rent I have lose the chance 2 times and now my holidays ruin as i can no go early as i wanted ..
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