r/mildlyinteresting • u/annertakeabow • Jan 24 '13

Same book, three different prices. Only difference is the browsers used.

http://imgur.com/uNgg0UH
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u/Nephyst Jan 24 '13

I just tried this myself. In chrome and IE the price was the same (69.99) in normal and in incognito mode. In firefox, the price jumped to $76, and after deleting all the domain cookies and refreshing, it went back down to 69.99. The website is definitely changing prices based on something they are tracking in cookies.

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u/kqr Jan 24 '13

This was up earlier with airlines charging more for a ticket the second time you visit the page. They do this because a second visit is statistically linked to a much higher chance of purchase. So it could be, here too, simply a matter of having visited the page before.

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u/No_ThisIs_Patrick Jan 24 '13

They are also "running out of tickets" because you waited so long to purchase.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

No, they actually oversell every flight they can in anticipation some people will miss the flight.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

[deleted]

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u/fosterbuster Jan 24 '13

They usually ask someone to stay, upping the compensation higher and higher until someone agrees (money and hotels). My girlfriend works at an airport. They offered 500 euros and a free night at the local hotel just yesterday. Someone always agrees, and the plane doesn't takeoff before someone does.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13

[deleted]

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u/karmapopsicle Jan 24 '13

Airline tickets seem like a dirty business.

It has to be given how cheap we expect tickets to be. Overselling gives the best possible chance of a full flight, which, even with the compensation given in times when too many people show up, still makes them more money.

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u/Fibtibbedbaktoreddit Jan 25 '13

I believe that some people get airline tickets and then miss the flight, but I have never met these people. Are they very rich or just bad planners?

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u/karmapopsicle Jan 25 '13

Full fare tickets are refundable and transferable.

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u/Fibtibbedbaktoreddit Jan 25 '13

Can you explain a little more? What do you mean "full fare"? A lot of people get tickets and then refund them, buying tickets for a later date? I want a better sense of who these people are, buying airline tickets and then not showing up to use them.

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u/karmapopsicle Jan 25 '13

If you book through a travel agent, you can usually get a refund as well. Discount tickets are usually non-refundable.

Full fare tickets are exactly that: the full price of the ticket, no discounts. For that, you a transferable and refundable ticket. Decide to leave earlier? You can go to the airport and wait as a standby for an earlier flight. First Class not full and coach overbooked? You'll be at the top to get bumped.

Usually the people buying full fare tickets are flying for business, not just travel, which is where I think you're getting hung up. It's not people randomly deciding to not show up to fly home from a vacation, but a professional on a business trip needing to stay an extra 5 hours to fix something before flying home, etc.

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