Technical question: How to avoid being tracked
 

I wish I could have come up with a more explanatory title to explain the help I'm seeking--apologies in advance.
I'm trying to find flights to Australia to visit family. Yesterday the premium economy return (i.e, round trip) flights were about $4K. Today on the same sites they're $5K+. I have heard that through tracking "they," whoever "they" is, know you're looking and raise the prices. (I've had this happen before: example, when searching for a 7-lb medical weight bar, it was $40 one day and $80 the next, whereas the 8-lb bar was $40. for the same bar on the same site on both days. But I hadn't clicked on the 8-lb bar.)


I thought I heard there was a way to do a new search for the same thing and have your prior search not visible to the sites. I'm sure I'm not using the right terminology, but any help would be appreciated.
FYI, I use a Dell Windows 11 and Firefox, although we do have an Mac Pro that we use to Face Time the grandkids. So possibly I could just switch computers?

On your Mac go to Safari: File, New Private Window.

You should be able to delete stored cookies as well.

There is a browser that you can install that does not track
About DuckDuckGo

Yes, duck duck go. Also, the brave browser.

Maybe try the browser Duck Duck go they don't track or store cookies.

Maybe try the browser Duck Duck go they don't track or store cookies.

And if you really are serious about not being tracked use TOR and Duck Duck Go, this will also hide your IP as it bounces through multiple servers, it will also slow down your browsing.

Sometimes, if I know I'm going to purchase something but am not in a hurry, I will put the item in my cart (works on some websites) and let it sit in there for a few days. I will sometimes start getting emails reminding me of an item left in my cart, and those reminders occasionally contain 10, 20, or even 30% off offers.

Win!!

Go to your neighbors.

Duckduckgo is the privacy search engine. The searches are cleaner than google. We've been using it for years. They now offer a privacy email address. Free. I have one and it removes trackers. The email address has one problem that you change email addresses as you are asked for your address so you will have two addresses. On balance it is very worthwhile. Amazing how many trackers are attached to your emails. Even the White House put a tracker on!!!!!

Skyscanner for air fares

Open a private window in Firefox by clicking on the Menu icon (3 bars, probably on the right) and select New Private Window. Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+P

Firefox focus browser. Not regular firefox

I delete unwanted cookies at least once a day.

Just curious, but what "sites" are you using for your airfare searches?

we get good results using Google Flights (Google Travel) and haven't noticed any carry-over from earlier searches but clearing your cookies should certainly do the trick (I'd recommend cCleaner for a more thorough clean, but every browser has its own "quick" cookie delete method

I have been using the airlines' sites themselves--Air NZ, Qantas, Delta & American. I have family exemption for Australia, and Air NZ was letting Americans fly through Auckland and continue on, but they seem to have stopped that recently.

I tried TOR & Duck Duck Go, but Air NZ and Qantas won't let me in, just give me an Error page.

I will try private window on Firefox & Safari on the Mac.

Run proton vpn. Free for desktop and mobile. Hide your IP address

Yes. Try using Google Flights click here.

This tutorial should be helpful. How to Use Google Flights click here.

Did anyone notice duck duck go seems to limit your searches compared to Goggle search?

Yes. Less comprehensive results. Try Firefox focus with google as search choice

Incognito mode on some browsers.

Thanks, I will try this.
And thanks to everyone else to for the helpful suggestions.

You can browse incognito with an iPhone. There's a button to turn it on. I have an iPhone 12.

You mentioned you have a Mac. Have you tried the Private Relay setting. It might help. The following is a description of Private Relay from my MacBook

iCloud Private Relay keeps your internet activity private. It hides your IP address and browsing activity in Safari and protects your unencrypted internet traffic so that no one — including Apple — can see both who you are and what sites you’re visiting.

If you want to try it.

Settings > click on "Apple ID" icon > check box for "Private Relay (Beta)". If you don't see the box, you'll need to upgrade to the latest OS for Monterey; however, if your Mac is too old, you won't see the option because you won't be able to upgrade to Monterey. I was able to turn this feature on my my newer MacBook, but not for my older iMac.

Private Relay is also available for iPhone/iPad. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay.

Hope this helps. Charlie

The Villages Computer Club is having a Zoom presentation about internet privacy tomorrow (Feb 11). You can join the club via their website and receive the Zoom connection info.

Meeting & Presentations - The VILLAGES COMPUTER CLUB Inc.

That is not how it works. They do not have the time nor the programming for that as it's extremely costly, which would negate the rise in price from being of any benefit. If they did that for everyone looking at airfares, they would need millions of Petabytes of storage which has a cost in the billion range to do it right for this type of application.

Totally a silly thing you've been told, and obviously from someone that knows nothing about computer systems.

If you want a better rate you need to look on Tuesday or Wednesday. Those are the best days to get the best rates.

My iPad allows for private browsing. No cookies are stored. Google to learn how.

Also an old story but phone searches are supposedly known and they charge more . A clients have more $$$$ . Like I said old story

Unless this is an impromptu flight that has to be made regardless, I suggest planning in advance. My experience is that the days of the week you travel make a difference (Tues and Thurs and usually cheaper), the airline makes a difference as well as when you search the bookings. I find searching (not flying) weekend mornings is generally better and have found that prices can change daily or even more often. Keep searching using one of the engines these helpful folks have suggested and good luck.

You can also use what is called an "incognito" screen using Chrome.

You really have to do a lot of homework. Some days of the weak are cheaper than others. This wasn’t a problem when I lived in NY because Planes fly everywhere out of JFK. MCO doesn’t fly everywhere even though it’s an international airport. After over 2 months of looking everyday I finally found a good flight at a decent price to the Philippines. It’s a chore, no doubt

Clear the cookies. Thats what's following you and jacking up the price.
1. Click the menu button on your browser's toolbar (it looks like 3 dots on the far right)
2. Click on Settings
3. Click on advanced Settings
Find the "Privacy" section, and click "content settings"
4. Find the "cookies" section and click "delete cookies.
This is for Google Chrome. If you use a different browser, just google the question.

Airlines control seats and fare
 

Search engines (Google) track your requested subject. The airlines control seat availability and the fares. The difference in fares ,except for FULL Coach and First Class, is based on demand and day of the week. A certain number of seats is allocated to each fare type. As these seats/fares become less available, or the number of days before departure decrease, the fare is increased.

Pull up a webpage, any webpage. Go to the far right, just below the "X" to close the browser, you will see three dots (...), click on that. You will see either "New InPrivate Window" or "New Incognito Window", click on that.

OR, the fast easy way: Ctrl + Chift + N

If you just want to avoid getting spam from your search, use DuckDuckGo or the Brave browser. But don't think for a minute that you are not being tracked. Every device that uses the web has a unique ID code (that is how they get the info you are asking for back to you), So when you ask for something on the web, your service provider stores that ID.

I’ve done that also.

For 5 days I went online with 3 different travel sights along with Continental Airlines searching flights.
Round trip flights were between $1995 thru $2600 never was just fixed on one price.
What site might you be connecting to?