How to Save Money on Airfares Using A VPN
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Doing Your Travel Research
Travelling without high costs means more work sourcing deals, but it’s worth it.
We often do a lot of travelling, whether for business ventures or vacations.
We’re heading to the UK next month for the first time since I moved to Canada 10 years ago.
Travelling to Europe isn’t as cheap as when I lived there.
I could score great deals, travel to many countries cheaply, and vacation like a king on a budget.
In today’s technologically advanced world, we can hardly spend time away from our digital gadgets.
We must check our Facebook accounts, watch trending videos and keep our friends updated about our whereabouts — even when travelling.
But in doing so, we risk our online security primarily when we use public or semi-public Wi-Fi at airports, train stations, cafes, and hotels.
Related: How I budgeted my travel expenses for work and play
Anybody using the same network can track your activities and fetch the information (usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, etc.) you send over the Internet connection.
However, a VPN can be your savior.
Another instance where a VPN can be beneficial is while booking flight tickets. It helps you get the best deals. How? Let’s find out.
Typically, travel companies track users’ locations and offer prices accordingly.
Therefore, a user from a high-income country will see a higher price, while a user from a low-income country will see a lower price for the same ticket.
However, you can overcome this discrepancy. I’ll tell you how, but first, you must know how travel companies track your location.
Online Travel Tracking
Here’s how the travel companies track our online location and ticket-buying behaviour:
- IP Address: The Internet Protocol (IP) address is the unique identification or talks on the World Wide Web that helps websites track your location. Every country has a different IP address.
- Wi-Fi: The websites can also track your location using a Wi-Fi connection. However, some permission might be required.
- Cookies: Cookies are used to personalize your browsing experience. Cookies track and store information about your online activities, and the websites use them later to decide what to offer. Travel sites also use cookies to track browsing activities, and the moment they see someone searching for the same query multiple times, they raise the price immediately.
- GPS: People use smartphones or tablets frequently to book online tickets. The travel websites use the device’s GPS to determine your location and set the price accordingly.
- Geo-Location Coding: HTML5 is an advanced coding language that lets websites quickly track your location.
What is a VPN?
For beginners, you can get started with this guide to learn what a VPN is. VPN or virtual private network allows people to connect to the Internet via a server run by the VPN provider.
It is a method to add an extra layer of security and privacy to private and public networks.
A VPN encrypts the data and information that is transferred across the Internet.
Hence, hackers cannot track or steal any data or information shared across the Internet.
VPN also reduces the chances of online identity theft. A VPN can also change the IP address to a different location.
Let’s discuss some hacks to get the lowest airfares using a VPN.
Choose IP Address from a Different Country
The airfare fluctuates depending upon the country from where you are booking the tickets.
For instance, the ticket prices may be higher in the US, whereas the price for the same ticket may be lower if you book it from Singapore.
The trick is to change the IP to a country with lower incomes.
Here is how you can change the location to a different country of your choice:
- Turn on the VPN client to book the tickets on whichever device you use.
- Visit the desired travel website and search for the flight tickets you want.
- Choose the desired location from the choices offered by the VPN client
- Revisit the website and search again
You can try several regions to find out the best deals.
Change the IP Address to Reset the Prices
The prices increase when you repeatedly search for the exact flight tickets from the same location (read same IP address).
Change the IP address, and the websites cannot identify you.
You can choose a different IP address within your own country as well. Revisit the website and recheck the prices.
There are high chances you will see a drop in the price.
Disable Cookies
You may have visited websites that flash a message “This site uses cookies…” like this:
The purpose of cookies is to track your browsing behaviours and personalize the browsing experience, as mentioned above.
Hence, turning off/disabling or clearing the cookies can prevent travel websites from tracking any information.
But remember, this must be done before connecting to the VPN and searching for flight tickets.
Related: 10 Ideas to Save Money on Travel
You may consider checking the travel websites’ alternative versions (such as example.com, example.ca or example.co.uk, or example.fr, etc.) to see if the prices are lower.
But there is a high chance that you will be redirected to the local website and offered the same prices. Hence, a VPN is an excellent solution if you want lower costs.
Is it Legal to Use A VPN to Save Money on Ticket Prices?
Don’t bother yourself if you are worried about using a VPN to reduce airfare.
It is legal to use VPNs while booking flight tickets. For most travel companies, the contract of carriage does not have anything against using a VPN.
You can safely book tickets on Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity and other travel websites using a VPN.
You can also consider booking tickets directly from the airline website while using a VPN, and you’ll never get into any legal issues.
Conclusion
So, if you’ve been postponing that much-needed holiday due to high airfares, you no longer have to worry!
With the help of a VPN, you can save considerably on flight tickets.
Book the tickets to your desired destination and start packing your bags today.
Only remember to turn on the VPN while searching for the flight tickets.
Get the best deals on flight tickets and make the most of your holidays. Enjoy!
Post Contribution
Happy Budgeting, CBB’ers!
Mr.CBB
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