Showing posts with label HTTP Cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HTTP Cookies. Show all posts

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Airplanes and Cookies



Allow me to drift from my normal education focused posts. Over the course of the summer, I usually try to relax, read and visit my friends and family. During the last few weeks I made some tentative plans to visit a friend in Buffalo, NY and then catch a ride to visit my family in Rochester, NY. My idea was to catch a one way flight into Buffalo and then another one way flight from Rochester back to Florida. While in the process of looking for tickets, I may have stumbled upon one of the airline's biggest secrets.

It all began when I looked up flights home my home computer while enjoying my morning coffee. I found a few relatively inexpensive one-ways into Buffalo and proceeded to call my buddy to see what time would be preferable. Due to his work schedule, I didn't hear back from my buddy until around 7pm. I then went back to my computer and tried to find the same flights. Unfortunately for my credit card, all the flights had somehow tripled in price. I called my friend and we swore about the airline industry for a while and ended the conversation with a "maybe later in the summer will be better."

The next morning I woke up checked up world events while enjoying my coffee and an Eggo Waffle. I decided to try to find tickets one last time. This time, however, I went into my browsers tools and deleted all my cookies. (For more info on cookies click here) I then proceeded to search for flights and to my amazement was able to find an amazingly cheap ticket. This may have been a coincidence; perhaps there was a cancellation and I was just lucky to be the first to get it. There also is the chance that the airlines tracked my flight queries and jacked up the price knowing that i would probably be back to buy my flight. Conspiracy or not, I will now be able to afford to take the flight to Sunny Buffalo, NY.