I know that often, when I am considering flights, I browse the schedule and fares of several airlines before I make a final decision on what flight I want. Then, when I go back to buy a ticket, that initial fare has gone up, sometimes a little ($25 or so), sometimes a lot ($100 plus)…One aviation expert suggested I clean out my computer’s cookies if that happens and see if I get the lower fare…
I followed the expert’s advice and more often the not, after I cleaned my cookies, I got the initial lower fare offer. The airlines denied they were tracking my cookies when I asked them about this. They all said the fluctuating prices simply reflected the number of seats available on a flight at the particular time I was trying to buy a ticket.
- from the Washington Post : Cookie Monsters
P.S. One of the commenters at the Post also said Amazon sometimes raises prices after you put an item in your shopping cart and it took him a few minutes to figure out how to get the cheaper price again.
That was my public service announcement for the year.
See? This blog is good for something.
I am a female Marine currently in the Individual Ready Reserve. I like to sleep, travel, read, eat, explore, and take photographs. I read lots of news and I like reading about life in other countries. I am easily amused and my dream job is to be snoozing in a warm patch of sunlight, hopefully with a piece of tasty cheese nearby for when I wake up hungry.
A Marine gets out of the Corps after Nam and lives his life like the American dream. When the War on Iraq comes around 40 plus years later, he goes down to the local recruiting station, and tells the recruiter, “I want in, I wanna fight.” But the recruiter says, “Sorry man, you’re too old.”
“Fine,” the guy says. “I’ll go to the Pentagon. I have a friend there. He’ll let me in!” So he goes to the Pentagon and tells his friend, “I want in, I wanna fight.” But his friend says, “Sorry Buddy, you’re too old.”
“Fine,” the guy says. “I’ll buy a boat and row to Iraq!” So he goes out and buys himself a rowboat and starts rowing to Iraq, chanting “Semper Fi, Do or Die, OO-Rah, OO-Rah!” over and over again.
St. Peter sees all this and goes to God and says, “Lord, what do I do to stop this clown?” God tells St. Peter, “Why don’t you take his brain? It’s the root of all thought.” So St. Peter takes the guy’s brain. It doesn’t faze him. “Semper Fi, Do or Die, OO-Rah, OO-Rah!” St. Peter then says, “Now what?!”
God replies, “Why don’t you take his heart? It’s the seat of all emotion.” So St. Peter takes it. Doesn’t faze the guy. “Semper Fi, Do or Die, OO-Rah, OO-Rah!”
St. Peter says, “Now what should I do?!” God smiles and says, “Take his gonads.” So St. Peter lops off the guy’s gonads.
The guy immediately stops rowing, looks confused, turns his boat around in circles, and begins chanting, “Off we go, into the wild blue yonder…”
Air Force pilot flies over Baghdad at night. Approaching the city he sees 1 million green tracers. Unfortunately, he knows that the Iraqis only load tracers every 10 rounds. Just in case you’re not a math major that means there are 9 million rounds in the air. AF pilot’s job is to bomb the target so he flies into that anyway. I’m Army, btw. Almost always what we say reflects more on us than we realize.
I’ve noticed the same with the air fare changing. They do track your cookies and raise their asking price. They figure you wouldn’t be back if you found a better deal somewhere else. I’ve also waited a day and got the lower price.