Deals From Airlines Travel Guides

Does Booking Flights in Incognito Work?

does booking flights in incognito work
Written by Teresa Mwangi

There are a lot of hacks for getting cheap air tickets but does booking flights in incognito work? Many people wonder why this is a major debate among travellers, yet all flight bookings are online. Here is a quick lesson on where this speculation stems from and the lower ticket prices narrative that goes with it. Ideally, browsing in incognito mode makes it impossible for websites to track your browsing history. This includes any history of flight searches.

Thus, the website is unable to track how frequently or for how long you have searched for a specific flight. What’s interesting is that the website may not raise the cost of the flight as a result of your interest, theoretically, if you do this.

Does Booking Flights in Incognito Work?

does flight booking in incognito mode work

Flight Booking. Photo/New York Post

Does booking flights in incognito work? Experts in the airline sector term this a misguided notion. Travel website Kayak in a study notes that there is no pricing difference between flights purchased in regular mode and incognito mode. The most likely explanation for why prices ticket prices sometimes increase after searching for them is that the prices are constantly fluctuating. Factors like demand, availability, and the time of year play a role in driving these prices to the ceiling.

Additionally, it is not a guaranteed approach for discovering cheaper rates for this reason. Some airlines and travel websites could still track your browsing information using other tools like cookies despite being in incognito mode.

However, there is another theory on does booking flights in incognito work conversation.  The theory suggests that the cost of flying is affected by browser cookies. Cookies enable the website to ascertain your need to travel and it gives you what you need at a high cost. But, browsing in incognito mode hides all cache and cookies making it difficult for the incognito browser to make out who you are.

The general assumption is that it treats all your flight searches as a new entity and it gives you lower ticket prices to lure you. Additionally, using different IP addresses gives you the same results.

How Can I Book Flight Tickets In Incognito Mode?

While still on the question about does booking flights in incognito work, the right answer to it is that it works just like in regular browsers. The only difference in this is that there is no history about it kept like in normal search engines. Here are the steps to follow in making such a booking while in incognito mode.

  1. Open your web browser and click on the three dots in the top right corner.
  2. Select “New incognito window” from the menu.
  3. Go to the flight booking website of your choice.
  4. Search for the flights you are interested in.
  5. Compare prices and book the flight that best suits your needs.

Since they can’t monitor your history, it doesn’t harm to search anonymously. So, if you wish to search again and again, incognito is the right browser to use before switching to a standard search. Worth noting is that if you have status with an airline because you fly with them frequently, chances are high that you will get better rates. The infrequent traveler, on the other hand, could be charged extra because they have no loyalty to any particular airline.

Does Checking Flight Ticket Rates Online In Incognito Mode Result in Increased Rates?

There is no harm in searching ticket rates anonymously or in incognito mode because they can’t track your history. This is as much as you ponder over does flight booking in incognito mode works debate.

Therefore, you might want to try incognito before switching to a conventional search if you want to search repeatedly. But don’t forget rumours about cheap tickets are untrue. Additionally, the claim that you get better rates for tickets because you fly with them frequently and vice versa calls for some practical research in determining if or not they get the same ticket prices.

An Airplane

A plane. [Photo/Diesel Plus]

You can test this theory by searching while logged into your account first, and then another search using your real name. See if there is any major or significant change in ticket pricing for both cases. This answers all questions surrounding does booking flights in incognito work?

Conclusion

In a nutshell, while there is no harm in browsing in incognito mode, it is unlikely to help you find lower prices for flights. However, it blocks other websites from tracking your browsing activities. Beyond that, it is a total hoax.

FAQs

1.Does searching for air tickets in an incognito web browser prevent airfare search engines from increasing prices on flights that you search for often?

A majority of web and airline experts say this is not the case. However, a few other people maintain that browsing in incognito mode gives cheaper tickets.

2. Why do airline prices go up as you browse their website?

While there is no proper answer to this, demand for travel, flight availability website cookies among others affect ticket pricing.

About the author

Teresa Mwangi

Teresa is a journalist with years of experience in creating web content. She is a wanderlust at heart, loves travelling and telling stories about tour and travel in Africa by every angle.

Leave a Comment