A popular belief says airlines raise prices when they see you searching the same route repeatedly, so you should search in incognito mode. Investigations by journalists and researchers haven't found good evidence that mainstream airlines do this.
Why the price changed between searches
- Fare buckets sold out. Each flight has a limited number of seats at each price. When the cheapest bucket sells out, the next one is higher.
- Cached vs live prices. Meta-search sites sometimes show a recent cached price; the live price at checkout can differ.
- Point of sale and currency. The country you search from and the currency can change the result.
What's worth doing instead
- Compare the same itinerary across a meta-search site and the airline.
- Check prices in the airline's home currency when your card has no foreign transaction fees (see our guide on currency conversion).
- Use price alerts, not refresh-and-pray.
Incognito mode doesn't hurt, it's just not a hack.