Shutterstock A few clicks can get you cheaper flights.
• Websites employ something called "dynamic pricing," which means they can change prices based on your search history.
• Clearing your cookies, which store the details of your web browsing, can help get around dynamic pricing.
Entire novellas have been written on how to score cheaper flights, and the internet is flooded with sites and apps claiming to be able to get you the best possible deal.
But you don't need any of that.
There's one simple little thing you can do to trick the system and get a cheaper ticket, and that's clearing your cookies.
Something called "dynamic pricing" means that no, refreshing your browser window a million times a minute will not make a flight cheaper. In fact, it may make the price go up as it changes based on demand, as airlines and travel websites will use your search history against you.
Cookies are pieces of information that store the details of your web browsing, so deleting those effectively deletes your search.
"Cookie tracking is real" a web application developer assures us on Quora.
While most people like to get around dynamic pricing by using incognito windows, clearing your search history and cookies is a safer bet.
How to clear cookies on Chrome:
- Click the menu button on your browser's toolbar - it looks like 3 short lines on the far right.
- Click on "Settings."
- Click "Show advanced settings."
- Find the "Privacy" section, and click "Content settings."
- Find the "Cookies" section, and click "Delete cookies."
How to clear cookies on Firefox:
- Click the menu button on your browser's toolbar - it looks like 3 short lines.
- Click on "History."
- Click on "Clear recent history."
- Set the time range to "Everything."
- Click on the arrow next to "Details" to expand the list of history items and select "Cookies."
- Click "Clear now" to clear the cookies and then close the the window.