How to use a VPN for cheaper flights

You’ve just found a pair of affordable tickets to Miami, your longtime dream destination. But you’re tired and decide to purchase them tomorrow. They’ll still be there, after all. However, the next day you see that they have become more expensive.

Here are some factors that cause online price differences in different countries:

• The popularity of a destination in certain countries. For example, due to cultural, political, or geographical reasons, the popularity of destinations can differ across countries. The flights will cost more if the demand is high. The demand aspect is also the reason why sometimes flight prices suddenly increase after multiple lookups from the same location.
• The wealth of the country. Citizens of wealthier countries can afford to pay higher prices, so companies exploit this factor to increase profit.
• Significant dates. Bank holidays are also a good reason to raise prices because people travel more during their days off.
• The home country of an airline company. Sometimes airline companies offer lower fares in their home countries.
• Currency fluctuations. Currency fluctuations can also affect the prices in different locales.
• Other circumstances. Apart from those mentioned, many other circumstances can influence flight pricing. For example, political events or economic changes can impact price changes.

The procedure is pretty straightforward. Below we mention a few factors websites evaluate to determine where you are browsing from.

IP addresses

Websites usually determine your location by using your unique IP address, which stores your location information. These addresses also enable websites to collect information about the users’ location and track their actions.

Cookies

Cookies store personalized data for websites, such as your IP addresses, dates, and times of visits. Websites then analyze cookies to show you customized content according to your browsing habits. These processes can cause price alterations. For example, if you repeatedly search for particular destinations, a website can remember your searches and show your higher prices.

Mobile tracking

If you browse on your mobile, websites can see your GPS location and customize content accordingly.

Browser HTML5 geolocation

Most modern browsers use the HTML5 geolocation feature, which allows the system to know your location down to the street level. Your browser can also determine geolocation by using Wi-Fi and GPS if a user gives a permission.

Wi-Fi

Travel sites can track your location by looking up your Wi-Fi connection. Google can check the location of Wi-Fi users from Wi-Fi hotspots. This allows them to match Wi-Fi router SSID to geographic location.

Websites regularly improve their tracking skills and attempt to gather increasing data on their clients and customize their pricing policies. Here are a few tips on how to outsmart these unfair price fluctuations:

• Clear your cookies. As mentioned above, cookies store information about your location and browsing habits, so deleting them can save you from unexpected price rises. It will take you only a few seconds, but it will significantly improve your browsing experience.
• Delete your cache and browsing history. Sometimes the fare becomes higher after you have visited the webpage several times. This is because websites analyze your browser’s cache to see your browsing habits. To avoid this, regularly delete your browsing history and use incognito mode. It’s very easy to enable.
• Check flight comparison sites. Check reliable flight comparison sites like Kiwi or SkyScanner for cheaper ticket options. These websites usually have special deals. However, only use trusted and reliable price comparison sites. Do some research to avoid scam sites.
• Use a VPN. This is probably the most reliable method. A VPN will hide the data that airlines use to customize prices. It will hide your IP, and service operators won’t be able to see where you browse from. Moreover, it will encrypt your traffic, so third parties won’t see what you do online, and you will avoid customer profiling based on your actions and data. Also, you can change your virtual location by selecting a server in a country of your choice to see the pricing differences all across the globe and choose the best deal.

Using a VPN to get the best airline rates is very simple. All you need to do is:

1. Download and open the VPN app.
2. Choose the server in the desired location.
3. Connect to this server.
4. Check the prices and mark them down.
5. Clear your cookies so that websites won’t use them to alter the prices.
6. Repeat all the previous steps with different server locations.

Now you can analyze all your options and choose the best deal. You also use the method for other purchases. It will work for car rentals, hotels, and even general online shopping because all these industries use the same locale-based price customization.

Consider the following aspects when choosing a server:

• Try less wealthy countries because they may have cheaper rates.
• Try the home country of the airline company because sometimes they offer lower prices there.
• Try checking out the destination country.

Also, make sure that you use a premium VPN service. Make sure that the VPN provider:

• Offers many servers in different countries to choose from; whether you’re in the UK, Australia, Canada, or any of the other 59 countries in which NordVPN has servers, you’ll always have a wide choice of options.
• Doesn’t collect your data and guarantees your privacy. For this reason, we recommend avoiding most free VPN providers.
• Top-notch encryption to protect your privacy and browsing habits.

It’s legal to use a VPN to get lower fares. A VPN protects your privacy, and it is a legitimate and essential tool for online safety. It’s perfectly fine if you buy tickets while using it.

Check out our video for more cybersecurity travel tips below:

Apart from getting the best deals, you can also use a VPN to:

• Protect your privacy and data from snoopers and cybercriminals.
• Avoid accidental traffic exposure in high-risk areas with such VPN benefits as Kill Switch.
• Change your virtual location so no one will see where you browse from.
• Minimize bandwidth throttling.

NordVPN also has a Threat Protection feature that protects you from malware before it lands on your device. It helps you identify the files you download for malware, stops you from landing on malicious websites, and blocks trackers and intrusive ads on the spot.