Different prices for different browsers?
Nov 10, 2018, 8:32 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC Altitude 35K, AA, Marriott Silver Elite, NEXUS
Posts: 357
Different prices for different browsers?
So I have been playing around with a J price ticket to LIS next summer....long story short I wanted lie flat to somewhere and then connect to avoid Rogue fir me and Mrs Cruzcap....so I’ve been looking at DUB then TAP to LIS. Over the last 2 weeks the price to DUB from YYZ ranged from $2300 to $1800...thought I was seeing things. So tonight it dropped back down to 1800..so I wanted to grab it ....was loooking on my IPad and decided to go to my main PC to print it out etc. Amazingly the fare there was 2300. So grabbed my IPad and finished it at 1800. Gets better. As I paid...the address for my card pre populated to an address I haven’t lived in in about 22 years. Sometimes AC IT is so much fun...but thanks for saving me $1000..will go a long way in Portugal....
Nov 10, 2018, 9:46 pm
#3
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Nov 10, 2018, 9:57 pm
#4
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Or you got far enough in the process on the iPad that it held two P seats, such that on your other computer could only see Z?
Nov 10, 2018, 11:15 pm
#5
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Nov 11, 2018, 12:03 am
#7
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Aeroplan DEFINITELY does it, as it's where I've experienced it a bunch, and then have to wait 5-10 minutes for the space to open up again.
I don't know if AC.com does it, but there is a timer before you lose your session. At some point in the purchase process, it obviously has to put a hold on the space. It has to be before payment, or people would complain they were having charges for "sorry there's no availability" messages. The question is how much before payment?
It's a bad experience to pick the $1000 option on the search results, and then get through, only to be told, "sorry it's gone". It should be easy to test this. Just keep refreshing EF at every stage in the purchase process until P4 goes to P2.
I don't know if this happened here, but it's certainly possible.
And it's a lot more plausible than "we give discounts to iPad users".
Nov 11, 2018, 3:17 am
#8
Join Date: Aug 2013
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Different pricing for different browsers is a popular myth. Prices may look different in the search due to saved cookies (i.e. if you go through to book, they end up identical) or they may actually be different based on country selection (whether intended or IP-based). However, prices may differ via web vs mobile app channels sometimes.
Nov 11, 2018, 5:12 am
#9
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: PHL, NYC, DC
Posts: 9,708
Basically multiple people searching tickets and the first search secures the lower fare/booking class.
The computer system holds it for X amount of time for a person to book it. If the customer does not book it, that fare expires and go back into the pool for others to choose.
Also keep in mind there may be other factors at play such as exchange rates, time n day of pricing, number of website visitors etc....
The computer system holds it for X amount of time for a person to book it. If the customer does not book it, that fare expires and go back into the pool for others to choose.
Also keep in mind there may be other factors at play such as exchange rates, time n day of pricing, number of website visitors etc....
Nov 11, 2018, 6:37 am
#10
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: YYZ
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Posts: 357
perhaps inventory affected it....but I watched the fare for weeks and it sure bounces around. For those paying your own flights it seems to pay to play the game ....I just tried it again on IPad. 500 less per ticket.....even closed the browser before going to main PC.....technology is our freind. Sometimes.
Nov 11, 2018, 1:49 pm
#13
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Fwiw I was tracking YVR-LHR and I used the same browser, no incognito mode, no clearing cookies. After about two weeks, price for tickets (always last 2 available at that price) suddenly dropped from 4100 constantly, do 2500. I purchased them. Since then, price has been 4100+. I don't know what happened that one day, but it convinced me to just keep checking, as opposed to trying incognito in a clean browser and VPN.
There appeared to have been no change in cabin space to prompt that drop. Ticket purchased about 10 weeks out.
There appeared to have been no change in cabin space to prompt that drop. Ticket purchased about 10 weeks out.
Nov 11, 2018, 4:25 pm
#14
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Different booking engines behave differently.
Aeroplan DEFINITELY does it, as it's where I've experienced it a bunch, and then have to wait 5-10 minutes for the space to open up again.
I don't know if AC.com does it, but there is a timer before you lose your session. At some point in the purchase process, it obviously has to put a hold on the space. It has to be before payment, or people would complain they were having charges for "sorry there's no availability" messages. The question is how much before payment?
It's a bad experience to pick the $1000 option on the search results, and then get through, only to be told, "sorry it's gone". It should be easy to test this. Just keep refreshing EF at every stage in the purchase process until P4 goes to P2.
I don't know if this happened here, but it's certainly possible.
And it's a lot more plausible than "we give discounts to iPad users".
Aeroplan DEFINITELY does it, as it's where I've experienced it a bunch, and then have to wait 5-10 minutes for the space to open up again.
I don't know if AC.com does it, but there is a timer before you lose your session. At some point in the purchase process, it obviously has to put a hold on the space. It has to be before payment, or people would complain they were having charges for "sorry there's no availability" messages. The question is how much before payment?
It's a bad experience to pick the $1000 option on the search results, and then get through, only to be told, "sorry it's gone". It should be easy to test this. Just keep refreshing EF at every stage in the purchase process until P4 goes to P2.
I don't know if this happened here, but it's certainly possible.
And it's a lot more plausible than "we give discounts to iPad users".
Basically multiple people searching tickets and the first search secures the lower fare/booking class.
The computer system holds it for X amount of time for a person to book it. If the customer does not book it, that fare expires and go back into the pool for others to choose.
The computer system holds it for X amount of time for a person to book it. If the customer does not book it, that fare expires and go back into the pool for others to choose.
As far as I know, the timer on ac.com isn't holding the seats for you for that period of time (like Ticketmaster does), it's merely the amount of time you have before the page will time out on you and require you to restart the process.
It's possible that AC has changed this recently, but I'm more inclined to believe that there was a difference in prices between channels or that OP's devices were somehow resulting in AC seeing different points of sale and therefore pricing the ticket differently.
Nov 11, 2018, 4:32 pm
#15
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Location: YYC
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Aeroplan does this, but historically ac.com has not. I have had a nice fare disappear out from under me while trying to complete the purchase (yes, that was a very bad experience). I have also refreshed EF while going through the booking process and it has not taken the seats out of inventory, as visible to EF, until the booking has been completed all the way through to payment.
Eventually I gave up and confirmed it in Y. A week later, I needed to make changes to the Aeroplan ticket. Business had come back on that leg and they confirmed, in additions to the other changes.