The Hidden Cost Of Flying

Like many people in business I frequently use the so-called "low-cost" airlines for business travel. I am often only away for one night and therefore can travel light and control the cost by not checking in luggage.

At the weekend however when booking a flight with one of the most well known of these "low-cost" airlines I had an odd experience which I thought worth sharing.

I wanted to book flights for 3 people and so worked my way through the usual steps on the web site to pull up the date and time options etc. selected flights from the various options (having noted that only a limited number of seats were allegedly left available at the lowest prices)and got to the "summary before you buy" point. The total cost of the flights at this point was just under £200. So far so good.

At this point I jumped off to hunt for the hotel rooms. Searched around my usual preferences and found that all my top three hotels for that location were booked out for my dates. Then the phone rang and I was diverted dealing with that and by the time I had finished the call and booked the hotel rooms about an hour had passed.

Back to the flights which had timed out of course so I re enter all the info. and arrive back where I had left off at the "summary before you buy" point. Only the price is now just under the £400 mark. Just about double where it had been an hour before.

Being a paranoid animal I smelt a rat.

Noting that I was using Firefox I minimised the browser and opened Chrome. Started again. Same company, same web site, same information entered. Took about 5 minutes to get back to the "summary before you buy" page and discover that... the price was miraculously back at the just under £200 level. Out came the credit card. Job done. Money saved.

I guess the lesson is clear cache and cookies before you buy if you want the best price. Big brother is watching and will charge you for taking your time!