
Are travel sites' “dark patterns” so pervasive that they are becoming useless? - galago
I&#x27;ve been trying to book a flight and the travel sites seem to increase the price when I try to actually book the flight. I&#x27;m not mentioning any particular company because I want HN feedback.
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ronykroy
yes they increase the price...

they read cookies... to see if you have been to a particular site.. and
usually mark their price close to the price you have seen at the said
competitor's site..

I could recommend using incognito mode, or Firefox focus on a mobile device..
but sometimes even that fails..

because of late they travel site keeps track of IP addresses [or something
equivalent] enough to identify that you had visited the site before... and
hence you would be shown the same elevated prices..

I can confirm to the above.. set up android + firefox + carrier internet Vs
fresh incognito browsing session on Linux and Firefox on a think-pad laptop...

the laptop session showed lower prices... I guess the reason was: there was
some browsing history in firefox + android + carrier setup

then there is the issue of jacking up the prices for the same seat [even
though you may not have had any browsing history].. as you head closer to the
final payment page.. I guess its like.. "the customer had done their research
and arrived to the said site for the purpose of booking.. and had reached the
final stages of the flight booking funnel.. a 5% markup [or any other %age
figure] will not be a deterrent to the customer.. the customer will surely go
through at with the booking at this stage.. and cannot afford to back down...
" or so goes the thinking.. of who ever designed this scheme..

would be nice to have some insider account of how these practices come up..

the above includes only prices shown for ticket.. and then there are other
additional surprises such as 'convenience fees' random taxes and what not..
that inflate the final bill further

I got fed up with these tricks that i had decided to stick with Indian
railways...fares are fixed.. seats are scarce... though honestly.. they are
beginning to experiment and adopt some of the practices from the airlines
industry

