Well, this is cute.
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Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
@pluralistic Yes, we've seen this. Also, the price sometimes goes up if, logged in, you leave and come back later!
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Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
@pluralistic maybe they got a deal with the other platform where you get extra discount?
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@pluralistic maybe they got a deal with the other platform where you get extra discount?
@energisch_ I pasted the URL with its identifiers from Firefox to Chromium, so as far as the Chromium window (where I was logged into my Air Canada account) knew, I was being referred there by Google Flights, same as the Firefox window (where I wasn't logged in). Firefox was about 25% cheaper.
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Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
@pluralistic searching for holiday flights yesterday, KLM offered to "hold this price" for me for the low low cost of €180
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@energisch_ I pasted the URL with its identifiers from Firefox to Chromium, so as far as the Chromium window (where I was logged into my Air Canada account) knew, I was being referred there by Google Flights, same as the Firefox window (where I wasn't logged in). Firefox was about 25% cheaper.
@pluralistic would be interesting how AirCanada can explain this - maybe they have a list of people that have to pay more, since logged in your id was known.
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Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
A coworker in sales told me that he always uses private mode to shop for flights/travel. Something to do with cookies talking to each other that ratchets up the prices.
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@pluralistic would be interesting how AirCanada can explain this - maybe they have a list of people that have to pay more, since logged in your id was known.
@energisch_ it's because I'm a frequent flier, so they assume they already have my business and can cheat me without losing it.
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Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
@pluralistic Somebody told me once to use library computers to escape airlines’ maximum-possible-pricing algorithm, since it is essentially impossible for them to perform any sort of tracking or identifying there.
I haven’t tested this but it feels like a good idea?
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A coworker in sales told me that he always uses private mode to shop for flights/travel. Something to do with cookies talking to each other that ratchets up the prices.
@angela_underscore @pluralistic
me too. -
@energisch_ it's because I'm a frequent flier, so they assume they already have my business and can cheat me without losing it.
Yet another level of #enshittification :
Provide customer loyalty benefits to help secure your very best customers, then turn the tables and screw them for that very same loyalty.
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@energisch_ it's because I'm a frequent flier, so they assume they already have my business and can cheat me without losing it.
@pluralistic @energisch_ luftansa did the same thing to me last year.. Use chrome and get hit with $260 more expensive ticket. Firefox? Didn't happen.
Nothing like good ole surveillance capitalism to really make summer vacation.
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@pluralistic Yes, we've seen this. Also, the price sometimes goes up if, logged in, you leave and come back later!
@randulo @pluralistic yes same!
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Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
@pluralistic loyalty is punishable.
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A coworker in sales told me that he always uses private mode to shop for flights/travel. Something to do with cookies talking to each other that ratchets up the prices.
@angela_underscore @pluralistic same! They want to ramp up prices with each check you do, creating pressure to "buy now" because you see the price steadily climbing.
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@pluralistic searching for holiday flights yesterday, KLM offered to "hold this price" for me for the low low cost of €180
@tstruthers
How much was the flight???!?! -
@pluralistic Somebody told me once to use library computers to escape airlines’ maximum-possible-pricing algorithm, since it is essentially impossible for them to perform any sort of tracking or identifying there.
I haven’t tested this but it feels like a good idea?
@ehushagen
I think they also take into account how expensive the device you're using is, for example high end iphone users will pay more than the users of a dirt cheap offbrand phone. I imagine library computers are not that new in general either. -
Well, this is cute. I looked up an #AirCanada flight in Firefox and then pasted the URL into a Chromium window where I was logged into my Aeroplan Super-Elite account. Air Canada added $300 to the flight price when I tried to load it from a logged-in browser. Hell of a customer loyalty perk!
I bought the ticket in my non-logged-in window, then added my FF number to it.
@pluralistic I've had an onlineshop showing a higher price for a product when using search, and a lower one when using list filtering. Dark patterns everywhere. https://cweiske.de/tagebuch/computeruniverse-doppelprodukt.htm
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@pluralistic loyalty is punishable.
@mcSlibinas @pluralistic shopping without a loyalty card at a big box pharmacy or grocery store often dramatically increases the price of many items, sometimes even double the price!
I miss the old style bar code loyalty cards where no Personally Identifiable Information other than your actual purchases were disclosed.
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@tstruthers
How much was the flight???!?!@econads @pluralistic 4k for my family from the EU back to the US. But yes holding the price for €180 is crazy, I'm gonna price it again tonight and see how much higher it is, guessing more than €180
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A coworker in sales told me that he always uses private mode to shop for flights/travel. Something to do with cookies talking to each other that ratchets up the prices.
@angela_underscore @pluralistic yes, this a long-standing well known thing (I remember learning about it in the 1990s).
I believe it was cracked down on in the EU in the 2000s... however things like the number of people searching can still drive prices up so it's best not to keep logging in and looking at the same flights several times over a day or two - especially not from different browsers, devices, profiles...
It's all a bit of a game - I myself just booked flights on Ryanair where the price increased *WHILE I WAS SUBMITTING MY CARD DETAILS* so I got a scary error message and kicked back to the booking screen. Luckily, I wasn't double-charged. I also tried renting a car through my usual Enterprise account and they wanted to charge almost 10x the price I got from another source!
