Post by sk8er on Feb 19, 2009 10:31:26 GMT -5
For those of you who are buying airline tickets online: Don't forget to block those cookies.
What are cookies? Little gizmos on websites that allow those folks to recognize your unique computer address when you visit. Why is that a bad thing when you are buying tickets? Because if you don't buy that ticket the first time you log in, but return later, the price "mysteriously" goes up.
Here's how it works. Last night Susan decided to buy her airline tickets from San Francisco to Marquette for Olympic Trials. She didn't fall off the turnip cart yesterday so she asked hubby Ted, a software developer, but buy them for her. Ted logs into his Orbitz account and pulls up flights for September 10 and September 13. Susan argues about departure times, avoiding Chicago by going through Minneapolis etc. etc. She picks a price among those low fares ranging from $273 to ~ $400. Whoops! You took too long to look. Orbitz has timed out. So Ted logs in again, enters the same information: whaaaaat? No $273 fare, all the listed fares are MUCH higher.
"Cookies Ted, I forgot to tell you to turn off the cookies." Ted knows cookies and where to find them 
Turns 'em off, logs back into Orbitz: Bingo. There is the $273 fare and the other lower fares.
Get tickets, don't get cookies! SusanG![]()
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What are cookies? Little gizmos on websites that allow those folks to recognize your unique computer address when you visit. Why is that a bad thing when you are buying tickets? Because if you don't buy that ticket the first time you log in, but return later, the price "mysteriously" goes up.
Here's how it works. Last night Susan decided to buy her airline tickets from San Francisco to Marquette for Olympic Trials. She didn't fall off the turnip cart yesterday so she asked hubby Ted, a software developer, but buy them for her. Ted logs into his Orbitz account and pulls up flights for September 10 and September 13. Susan argues about departure times, avoiding Chicago by going through Minneapolis etc. etc. She picks a price among those low fares ranging from $273 to ~ $400. Whoops! You took too long to look. Orbitz has timed out. So Ted logs in again, enters the same information: whaaaaat? No $273 fare, all the listed fares are MUCH higher.
"Cookies Ted, I forgot to tell you to turn off the cookies." Ted knows cookies and where to find them 
Turns 'em off, logs back into Orbitz: Bingo. There is the $273 fare and the other lower fares. Get tickets, don't get cookies! SusanG
