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When it comes to finding and booking flight tickets, the location of your device plays a massive role. Airlines and travel agencies will gather your personal information and use it to adjust their prices based on your location. Details such as your IP address, browsing history, and previous purchase trends will influence the price that an airline or agency will quote you. This is known as dynamic pricing. To avoid this, you can use a VPN to mask your IP address and other data which will prevent websites from accessing information to use to fluctuate their prices.
How to get cheap flight tickets using a VPN quick guide
- Choose a VPN
It’s best to select a VPN that has a large assortment of servers in a variety of countries. This way, you’ll have plenty of options when it comes to comparing ticket prices between different locations.
- Select a server
After selecting and downloading your VPN, open up the client. You’ll see a list of different servers in various countries to choose from.
- Compare prices
Once you have selected a server, head to an airline or travel agency website and search for your desired flights. Make a note of the prices given.
- Repeat with different servers
Now you can keep going back to the VPN client, changing the server location, and heading back to the websites to compare the prices between each country. (Remember to clear your cookies after each server change!)
- Select the cheapest tickets
After switching servers a few times, you’ll notice a variation in prices between each country. All you need to do now is select the cheapest option, change your server back to that location, then purchase your flight tickets!
Why do ticket prices vary between countries?
Airlines and travel agencies will do anything to charge customers as much as they possibly can. If they know that you’re located in a high-income country, then they will assume that you can afford more inflated tickets. Alternatively, if you are located in a low-income country, then they expect you to be unwilling to purchase expensive tickets, therefore setting them at a lower price.
Which countries have the cheapest ticket prices?
Although it’s not guaranteed, you’re more likely to find the cheapest tickets in low-income countries. When selecting a server location, try countries like Romania, Turkey, India, or Pakistan.
You can also choose a server from your destination location and pay in their respective currency. The flight ticket prices will likely be significantly lower but be wary of currency conversion rates if you decide to do this.
What other factors influence ticket prices?
Websites will not only alter their prices based on your location, but also on your browsing history and purchase trends. If you have repeatedly searched for the same flights then the airline or agency will gradually start increasing their prices, pressuring you to give in and purchase the tickets.
Cookies stored on your browser will reveal a whole range of information about yourself which can be utilized by a website’s algorithms to ensure that they are making as much profit as possible off of you. They can identify which demographics you belong to using details such as your age, gender, education level, job status, and household income. All this information can be gathered to build a profile on you so websites can use dynamic pricing to decide how much to charge you for their services.
How do VPNs reduce ticket prices?
For a start, VPNs will mask your IP address so that websites will be tricked into thinking that you’re located in an area where they offer the cheapest ticket prices. More importantly, a VPN can conceal your personal information so airlines and travel agencies will not be able to discriminate against you and adjust their rates based on your demographic.
Best VPNs for finding cheap flight tickets in 2021
You’ll want to opt for a VPN that has a wide variety of servers across multiple countries.VPNs that offer 256-bit encryption will ensure that your data is disguised from websites and your true location is not at risk of being leaked.
Here are our top recommended VPNs for finding cheap flight tickets.
- NordVPN – With thousands of servers worldwide and top-tier encryption, NordVPN is at the top of our list of recommended VPNs. The service can safely conceal users’ data and offers a helpful kill switch option that will cut the connection between your device and the internet if there happens to be an interruption on the server. NordVPN has highly reputable security and has proved that their 256-bit encryption is virtually uncrackable. Their newest VPN protocol, NordLynx, merges rapid server speeds with a solid security system, making it extremely dependable. NordVPN has every feature a user would need to successfully mask their IP address and surf the web anonymously without having to worry about any data leaks or other issues.
- SurfShark -Surfshark has a range of fantastic features for a very reasonable subscription price, making it a terrific competitor in the current market. They’re so confident about their next-level service, that they paid Cure53, an expert web security provider, to assess the security and privacy in their browser extensions. Cure53 identified that Surfshark’s VPN extensions had limited vulnerabilities and are “not exposed to any issues, neither in the privacy nor in the more general security realms.” Browser extensions from other VPNs tend to suffer from various issues so Cure53’s detailed report has put Surfshark in the spotlight when it comes to security and privacy. With this service, users will be able to confidently browse airline and travel agency websites knowing they’ll receive organic and unbiased results.
- ExpressVPN – This service provides security, fast server speeds, and a wide range of supported devices, making it a great choice for finding tickets at a reduced price. ExpressVPN also proudly runs its own private DNS (Domain Name System) which is encrypted to prevent its users’ information from being exposed to third parties. Although ExpressVPN is more costly than other alternatives, its features can prove to be very handy when comparing prices between multiple servers.
Overall, the small price of a VPN becomes a great investment when you can use it to repeatedly save money on services such as flight tickets. The security and privacy that VPNs offer to fight against websites’ dynamic pricing, and ensures that their users can get the cheapest prices available.
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