Comments on: Do Cookies And Travel Deals Mix?

By: Colleen

Colleen — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:33:26 +0000

I concur with Dan – I have seen fares disappear on a second search if I do not delete ALL COOKIES.

Sure, it’s a pain to always have to type in all my passwords on every site – but I got used to it :0)

I would rather do that than possibly lose the deal I am searching for.

It is a matter of personal preference. I use Firefox mostly – and prefer to use just one browser. Again – it is up to personal preference and what you get used to.

But, definitely, I feel that storing cookies can screw you out of a good fare.

By: TOM

TOM — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:54:24 +0000

I tried all 3 of the above & all 3 either wanted you to pay up front or timed out & wanted $ for ability to hook up with site.

I used AA.com for all 3 so it was good test.

By: Daniela

Daniela — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:31:17 +0000

Another site of interest, much like Kayak, is SideStep.com which I use often.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:48:51 +0000

If you use Chrome, you don’t have to discard cookies. Just open another tab/window in Incognito mode, and it won’t see/send any of the cookies of the regular tabs.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:21:04 +0000

As someone who’s flown between HI and CA several dozen times in the last 5 years, I’ve noticed that this is an issue when searching for flights on United’s website. I generally use kayak, but occasionally will begin a search on United and on 3 or more occasions I’ve found that a repeat search will often result in higher prices, even though plenty of seats are left. I’ve confirmed this is the issue by performing the same search (not logged into United.com) on a separate computer, and the lower price is available. I’m using cookies, so I think you are correct that this is the issue.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:50:20 +0000

Thanks John.

Your input is much appreciated, and yes it pays to look around in likely and unlikely places for travel deals. I scour hundreds of sites that I follow by subscription and by topic in Google Reader and Twitter.

Aloha, Jeff

By: John Hogle

John Hogle — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:13:37 +0000

I have Firefox (which I use 95% of the time) set to reject 3rd-party cookies and discard all cookies when I leave the software, but I have them active and accumulative in IE. No, I don’t see any difference in quoted air fares or hotel or car-rental prices.

On the other hand, I find that travel flexibility and searching multiple times on a variety of travel sites (such as Budget Travel) or databases (such as Kayak) are the keys to finding the lowest prices. This includes searching Web sites of organizations (like Am Express or AAA) that, because of special contracts with service providers, bulk or block purchases, or arrangements for special prices for members, may have outstanding prices for particular airlines, hotel chains, or car rental firms. These have, though, been the exception rather than the rule.