I tried to get a cheaper flight to Tenerife on an incognito browser | Travel News | Travel

Matthew Gribben, a cyber security expert, told me: “Using an incognito browser may not be as private as people would like to think.

“Incognito mode is ultimately designed to prevent the browser from saving browsing history, cookies, and search information, but it doesn’t actually provide true anonymity. Websites have a lot of technology at their disposal to track user behaviour and ‘conversion tracking’ i.e. tracking when you do and don’t make a purchase.

“Your browser, even whilst in incognito mode leaks vast amounts of data, sometimes called signals, that when combined form a fingerprint that is almost as unique as your actual fingerprint. This is data like your screen size/resolution, installed fonts, browser version number and more.

“This, when combined with data science techniques and machine learning, is ultimately more than enough to continue tracking your average user whilst they are using their browser’s privacy mode.

“Additionally if you’re searching for flights, for example, your search parameters are often quite specific, i.e. you’re starting at a particular airport, looking for a particular date range and going to a specific destination.”