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Online creators are giving their followers some unusual advice to help lower their flight ticket prices: head to the public library. <\/p>\n
Over the past few days, multiple viral posts have sprung up wherein creators claim that they were able to score major savings on flights (up to thousands of dollars, in one case) by booking their tickets on a public library computer rather than their own personal devices. <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, so I just tried this, and it worked for me,\u201d creator Ellyce Fullmore told her followers in an Instagram video posted on May 16, which now has nearly 250,000 likes. She added, \u201cWe got a flight for $500 cheaper from booking on the library computer. What in the conspiracy theory is going on here?\u201d<\/p>\n
The implication behind these videos\u2014that airline companies are using individuals\u2019 search history and cookies to implement personalized dynamic pricing\u2014has been widely disputed by experts. Several airlines, including Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, have openly denied using personal data to inform prices.<\/p>\n
Still, the trend points to consumers\u2019 increasing distrust of airline companies, which have spent the past several years maximizing their profits through ancillary fees. <\/p>\n
The public library airline hack seems to trace back to an Instagram reel by creator @talia_likeitis, who describes herself as a \u201chomesteader\u201d and has previously posted conspiracy content denying the legitimacy of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
In her video<\/a>, Talia claims that travel agencies and data brokers \u201caggregate your data from hundreds of sources\u201d and then \u201csell it to airlines to help them figure out what you\u2019re WILLING to pay.\u201d <\/p>\n The content seems to have hit the mainstream, with the video currently sitting around 640,000 likes (well above the account\u2019s typical performance). <\/p>\n In addition to Fullmore\u2019s stitch of Talia\u2019s original video, the \u201cpublic library hack\u201d is also picking up steam on other platforms, like Threads and X. <\/p>\n One Threads post<\/a> reading, \u201cQuick hack for you guys: Go to the public library and book your flights on their computer\u201d currently has more than 13,000 likes, while a tweet<\/a> with the exact same wording has picked up more than 200,000 likes. <\/p>\n Across the comments of these posts, most responders seem generally supportive, although some express hesitancy to input their personal data, like credit card information, on a public computer. <\/p>\n \u201c[I’m] wondering if you could get the same result if you use the VPN at home,\u201d one commenter on Talia\u2019s original post said.<\/p>\n On Fullmore\u2019s stitch, another user added, \u201cWhat!!!! We shouldn\u2019t have to jump through these hoops lol.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea that airline companies are using your cookies and browser history to jack up prices is a concept that\u2019s been broadly disputed by experts in the field.<\/p>\n In an April article<\/a> for Travel + Leisure<\/em>, experts including Katy Nastro, a spokesperson for the flight price tracker Going; Sophia Lin, director of product management for travel and local at Google Search; and Jesse Neugarten, founder of the travel site Dollar Flight Club, agreed that the idea that airlines or booking sites track your searches to hike prices is a persistent myth. <\/p>\n “There is a common misconception that repeated search behavior will lead to not just a different, but a higher outcome,” Nastro said. “There is no credible data source that suggests repeated searching is tracked and therefore manipulated to higher pricing.”<\/p>\n Neugarten explained that airline pricing is indeed dynamic, but it\u2019s based on factors like “seat inventory, booking trends, time to departure, competitor pricing, and external factors like weather or fuel costs,\u201d not individuals\u2019 personal data\u2014which explains why prices might fluctuate over time. <\/p>\n Reached for comment, Nastro suggested to Fast Company<\/em> via email that the practice of, say, visiting a library may have emerged as a “hack” in the public consciousness because it randomly works on occasion through luck of the draw.<\/p>\n “Every time we see airfares get pricey, the ‘hacks’ come out,” Nastro says. <\/p>\n According to the Consumer Price Index, she notes, airfare is currently 20% higher year-over-year, while domestic fares alone are 18% year based on Going’s data. <\/p>\n “Whether there is validity to any of this depends on who scored a cheap flight using it,” Nastro says. “What matters more is timing, and anyone booking now during this costly time is unfortunately destined for a higher price tag.”<\/p>\n It’s not exactly surprising that consumers are quick to accept theories like the public library hack, as discussion around the ethics of dynamic airline pricing has reached a boiling point in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, a Senate report<\/a> found that from 2018 to 2023, five major and low-cost airlines brought in $12.4 billion in revenue from seat fees, a trend they blamed in part on dynamic pricing and dark patterns. <\/p>\n And late last year, Delta revealed that it\u2019s testing using AI algorithms to help price domestic flights via a collaboration with Israel-based software startup Fetcherr. <\/p>\n In a letter<\/a> to senators at the time, Delta stated that it is not \u201cusing, and [does not] intend to use, AI for \u2018individualized\u2019 pricing or \u2018surveillance\u2019 pricing, leveraging consumer-specific personal data, such as sensitive personal circumstances or prior purchasing activity to set individualized prices.\u201d <\/p>\n Still, the move sparked conversation around whether AI-powered dynamic pricing could lead to a slippery slope for consumers. <\/p>\n Most recently, JetBlue has become embroiled in a lawsuit claiming that the company is collecting customers\u2019 personal data without their consent and using it to set ticket prices. <\/p>\nA myth debunked<\/h2>\n
So, what’s really going on here?<\/h2>\n