If you’ve been paying attention to the news recently, you’re probably aware that the airline industry is in a bit of a bad place.
Rising fuel prices have resulted in skyrocketing ticket costs. According to The Points Guy, air travel fares are approximately 27% higher than they were just a year ago. Not only that, but many travel experts have claimed that this problem is only going to get worse in the near-term.
Travelers have responded to this in a variety of ways. For example, as airlines cut flights, some passengers have employed tricks like skiplagging to save money on fares. Others have searched for travel deals, doing things like buying mystery vacations on Groupon.
Now, a user on TikTok says she has a surefire way to save money on flights. But does it actually work?
Can You Save Money On Flights Using A VPN?
In a video with over 692,000 views, Canadian TikToker Lore (@lootscroc) says she recently tried the “trick” of using “a VPN and incognito tab when booking a flight.”
Her original itinerary, a WestJet trip from Calgary to Toronto, costs $1,012.17 CAD, or around $738 USD.
However, once she turns on a VPN that changes her location to India, the price changes significantly.
“Look at this. Same f—– flight, everything. $640,” she states. The price shown is $640.47 CAD, or around $467 USD. “That’s more than $300 difference, just because I changed the VPN and an incognito tab.”
This, Lore says, demonstrates an issue with the airline industry at large.
“These airlines, they’re so f—– up. Like, oh, my god, we need anti-trust laws. We need anti-monopoly laws in Canada,” she declares. “This is crazy. Like, they need to literally go to jail for this. This is nuts.”
Does This Trick Really Work?
For context, a VPN or Virtual Private Network reroutes your internet traffic through a remote server. This can be used to mask one’s identity online or spoof the origin of internet traffic. For example, some websites may not be accessible outside of one’s home country; using a VPN may allow an internet user to access those websites.
For years, a tip has been floating around the internet that if one changes their location to certain, lower-income countries and uses an Incognito or private browsing window, their prices will be substantially lower.
The data on whether this actually works is pretty mixed. In general, studies have not found significant, consistent price differences based on one’s cookies or country of origin.
A 2017 piece in TIME noted that, in one study, prices were generally higher when using incognito browsing. The travel site Going completely dismisses the idea of cookies affecting one’s flight price, writing, “We run thousands of searches every day and if the price of a particular route or flight rose because we searched it multiple times, we’d see that.”
What About VPNs?
As far as VPNs are concerned, some claim that changing one’s location occasionally does affect flight prices. That said, these changes are generally minor, if they exist at all. Others echo that, in their tests, they haven’t observed significant changes in prices.
So, what happened in Lore’s case? It’s possible that the VPN and incognito window really did change her price. Airline pricing is notoriously opaque, so it’s theoretically possible that these steps really did result in a lower price.
However, it’s also possible that in the time between her original booking and her new one, there were significant changes in demand and availability. Airline pricing changes constantly, and a flight can fluctuate by hundreds of dollars over the course of a single day.
In a comment, Lore says that the trick “didn’t work the first time I tried it”—indicating that there may be more to the story than just a VPN switch and incognito window.
Commenters Are Furious
No matter the reason, commenters were mad about the massive price difference and the state of flight prices in general.
“Girl they charging me $700 to fly from Jacksonville, fl to Miami, Fl which is a 1hr flight!!!!” a user exclaimed.
“Ok but why is no one talking about why it’s 1K TO FLY 4 HOURS to Toronto which is in the SAME COUNTRY???” another asked. “I used to go from calgary to Toronto for $130 round trip before covid.”
“I just booked a round trip ticket…when I only need one flight, b/c it was $500 cheaper than a one way flight,” a third stated.
@lootscroc Whoever said Canada is just three companies in a trench coat was onto something. There was also MORE FLIGHT OPTIONS! With VPN
BroBible reached out to WestJet via email and Lore via TikTok direct message and comment.