Is this an airline rip-off, or just my paranoia?

pollypenny

Conrad, I thought you approved of capitalism?

blindman

jpsartre wrote: »

Then it should be no problem for you to provide an example that everyone in here can go and test for themselves, right?

Look at my old post for proof:cool:

phatbear

ive read the "clear your cookies" idea several times and despite your "proof" im still sceptical and heres why.

a few months ago i was at work pricing up a trip and, due to being at work, i was interupted which is just plain rude if you ask me, anyway when i got back to my pc i had timed out on my pricing.

i then re-entered all of my details and the price has increased, not by much but an increase never the less, so with i decided to log off and use my netbook, which is attached to the airport, which i work, wifi, so its got nowt to do with my work network, and the price had gone up again, having decided that i would try another bit of tech to hopefully get back to my original price i used my phone, which is on ee 4g and again the price had gone up.

so in total i used 3 different bits of tech, none of which were on the same network, so didnt share an ip address or cookies , and on 4 attempts the price was different each time.

bazzyb

blindman wrote: »

Look at my old post for proof:cool:

Proof? More like hearsay. There is no evidence, and your research does not appear to have been carried out under controlled conditions. Also, you go on to say that the higher price was also showing on a different device, which proves that it was not the cookies on the original device.

AlexMac

Returning to the fascinating OP,

In the days when you really could fly for a promotional penny or a pound occasionally, and when it was common to find returns to Spain or Italy for under £30 return, I used to book 6-7 visits a year with Mick or Stelios; only going if I could fly cheap as I was flexible on dates (or destinations).

I worked out that as a rough rule of thumb, flights were launched dear to catch the nervous early booker (who had to fly on a certain date), dropped on subsequent months, then climbed again close to the departures. But even that tactic (of booking in, say Feb, for a May flight) sometimes backfired and I once or twice saw prices fall a few quid a few weeks after I pressed go.

But since then, I reckon that airlines' pricing software has got even more incredibly sophisticated, and will vary prices nanosecond by nanosecond to milk the travelling public for as much as it can, and as much as we continue to pay. After all, if we do continue to pay (as opposed to voting with our feet), that means they've simply got it right- which is why, despite a Ryanair profits wobble 2 years ago, lo-cost (shome mishtake? ed) carriers, profits boom. As someone says above; that's not 'rip-off', but 'capitalism' or 'supply and demand' ennit?

And as an aside, hopefully without being unkind to fatbear above, having started work in the pre-digital/pre-mobile era when you weren't even allowed to use the employer's telephone for personal calls, I was slightly amused at

phatbear wrote: »

....a few months ago i was at work pricing up a trip and, due to being at work, i was interupted which is just plain rude if you ask me, anyway when i got back to my pc i had timed out on my pricing... so in total i used 3 different bits of tech, none of which were on the same network, so didnt share an ip address or cookies , and on 4 attempts the price was different each time.

How irritating that work should interrupt one's surfing, holiday planning and online purchasing! After all, its not as if someone was paying you to sit at that screen...?

Or wait a minute...

phatbear

AlexMac wrote: »

How irritating that work should interrupt one's surfing, holiday planning and online purchasing! After all, its not as if someone was paying you to sit at that screen...?

Or wait a minute...

Even us over worked and under paid civil servants are entitled to lunch breaks so fear not your tax pennies were not being wasted whist i was planning a holiday.

blindman

bazzyb wrote: »

Proof? More like hearsay. There is no evidence, and your research does not appear to have been carried out under controlled conditions. Also, you go on to say that the higher price was also showing on a different device, which proves that it was not the cookies on the original device.

Obviously long sentences with big(ish) words confuse you.:cool:

Read it again-slowly-ask for hep if needed-then tell me there's "No evidence"

BTW

that this different PC would still be showing up at Flybmi.com as the same IP address.

If you undertsand what cookies are and do then you'd realise this is relevant.

BTW
Everything on forum is hearsay to other forum users.

callum9999

blindman wrote: »

Look at my old post for proof:cool:

Look up that word proof in a dictionary. That doesn't even come close. It's an anecdote that cannot be repeated, is based on assumptions and takes place under uncontrolled conditions (any number of people could have been looking at those flights elsewhere).

No critical or logical thinker could ever accept that as evidence, let alone proof.

blindman

callum9999 wrote: »

Look up that word proof in a dictionary. That doesn't even come close. It's an anecdote that cannot be repeated, is based on assumptions and takes place under uncontrolled conditions (any number of people could have been looking at those flights elsewhere).

No critical or logical thinker could ever accept that as evidence, let alone proof.

So if we are getting down to semantics:cool:

What I documented was a true represenation of what happened when I was booking the flights (on that and a previous occasion)

I apologise if I used the word "proof" in an inappropriate context.

I find your explanation of what could have happened, very weak and unsubstantiated (no proof?)

However if that's what you want to believe then that's your choice.

I reported honestly what had occured and up to this point no-one has come up with an alternative explantion as to why I saw the price rise and fall as described.

Maybe you can?

Or do you find it incredibly hard to believe?

bazzyb

blindman wrote: »

Obviously long sentences with big(ish) words confuse you.:cool:

Read it again-slowly-ask for hep if needed-then tell me there's "No evidence"

Instead of throwing insults around, perhaps you could just admit you made a mistake?

I've read it. I do not require any help, and there's no evidence.

You seem tobe confusing an IP address with a cookie. I know what a cookie is, thanks, and it is not the same thing as an IP address.