There’s a lot of talk about fringe benefits of using virtual private networks, including how to save money while using a VPN. Is it true or just an urban myth?
On most sites, particularly travel sites, cookies are stored on your computer that help reveal your location, browsing and search history. Travel sites use these cookies to track potential customers as they check different sites for the best deal and return over a period of time in hopes of getting a cheaper rate. They have become notorious for unfairly raising prices based on how many times you return to the site, along with your location.
So, can you actually save money while traveling with a VPN? The simple answer is YES. While we can’t tell you how much you’ll save or on which flights, you shouldn’t have to look to far to start seeing some savings. We did our own little experiment and found a price difference of up to $600 on one flight alone while using a VPN.
Travel sites contain a lot of pages, so if you’re not using a fast VPN you’ll be waiting on them to connect for hours. Our top choice is IPVanish, with them we were able to quickly connect between servers to find out the truth behind saving while traveling with a VPN. We’ll be using this VPN in our example, though you can use almost any service — just remember results may vary based on location.
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The first test was with an IPVanish server in Lithuania.
Once connected, we headed on over to Kayak.com, and ran rates on a round trip ticket for one adult from Los Angeles to Sydney. The prices weren’t too bad:
The lowest price available was about $1100. Next we switched locations to Brazil to see if there was a difference.
On Kayak’s Brazilian website, we ran the same search for flights from Los Angeles to Sydney on the same dates.
Don’t be too surprised just yet, $5336 in Brazilian Reals is about $1300 US. Still, the same flight cost about $200 more from searching it within minutes of using the Lithuanian server.
We decided to test a server from Oceania, and connected to New Zealand.
Again, only searching for flights going from Los Angeles to Sydney, we noticed a significant price difference.
The flight came up as being around $1700, which is $400 more than the Brazilian server reported and $600 more than Lithuania.
Within the time frame of under an hour, we received three different prices for three different locations, despite the arriving and departure locations being the same. These savings are likely to vary based on your travel itinerary, but saving $600 overall is a difference worth remembering next time you have to travel.
Our top choice for a reliable and inexpensive VPN is IPVanish. You can read our full IPVanish review, or get details on some other top VPN providers. Our experiment didn’t take more than 30 minutes with speedy servers located all over the globe. If you’re looking to save a couple hundred dollars on your next trip, use this tip to keep more money in your pocket.
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