How OneTwoTrip fools SkyScanner and its customers
Imagine that you have two stores. One of the windows is sealed with exclamations “Sale” and “-50%”, while the other has only a sign and a modest exhibition of goods. Subconsciously want to go to the first. Not even because there really is cheaper - but at least because it is different. This store has a message for you, but the competitors don’t. In fact, prices in the first store can be even higher than in the second.
Nothing prevents to apply this simple reception and for promotion of Internet services for the sale of airline tickets. Anyone who launched a search on OneTwoTrip sees this ad for advertising:
At first glance, everything is really like this: the prices are low, realistic, when you try to issue a ticket, they do not take off and, judging by the reviews, exactly the amount claimed is charged from the card. But everything is transformed, if you go to the OneTwoTrip for a reason, and from the SkyScanner website.
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SkyScanner itself does not sell tickets, but only collects flights and prices for all Runet sellers. Then he exposes on his showcase for comparison (here the choice is not between two, but already among dozens of stores) and redirects to partner sites where tickets can be bought.
If you are looking for a flight from Delhi to Novosibirsk on OneTwoTrip without SkyScanner, the cheapest option for Uzbekistan airlines is 13.843 rubles:
But if you do the same search on SkyScanner and then go to OneTwoTrip (namely, SkyScanner offers the best value), the prices will change significantly. Moreover, not only on the above flight, but in general for all the options:
It is easy to notice in the address of the last page (which can only be found through SkyScanner) the letter "s" after the "?" and before the hash link "# 3110DELOVB". This is the distinctive sign of the user who came with SkyScanner.
Then the fun begins. A customer who has signed up with SkyScanner is trying to buy a ticket. On the first screen, everything is still the same: 13.179 rubles declared on SkyScanner. But when, after entering the passport data, it comes to payment, OneTwoTrip throws away such a thing:
It gives you the opportunity to buy a ticket for 13.179 (and even a ruble cheaper), but only to owners of American Express cards. Which in Russia is issued only by the bank "Russian Standard". How many such owners will be collected among the users of SkyScanner and OneTwoTrip at the same time? Quite right - negligible.
For those who do not realize the beauty of the game, I describe the scheme from the very beginning. OneTwoTrip gives SkyScanner a deliberately low price, which will certainly be the best among competitors. But in fact, OneTwoTrip does not plan to sell tickets for this sum - a visitor who has come not through SkyScanner will never see this price in his life.
And the reservation about American Express is more likely for SkyScanner moderators: “Look, we have such a price, you can at least buy it yourself, but only pay AmEx for it”.
It turns out that OneTwoTrip is deceiving a huge stream of clients from SkyScanner. Clients are being deceived, they go through all stages of ordering and only after reaching the final, i.e. before payment, find out the price 5% higher than previously stated. But the order has already been “issued”, the ticket has already been “booked” (they write so many times on the site), the passport data has already been entered and it seems like it’s already more expensive to refuse.
Of course, such a scheme cannot be called fraud - no one takes extra money off the card. But a direct, thoughtful and pre-planned deception at the same time of SkyScanner and potential buyers is completely obvious here. So, I suggest that you draw conclusions about the moral principles of the creators of the OneTwoTrip service.
Nothing prevents to apply this simple reception and for promotion of Internet services for the sale of airline tickets. Anyone who launched a search on OneTwoTrip sees this ad for advertising:
At first glance, everything is really like this: the prices are low, realistic, when you try to issue a ticket, they do not take off and, judging by the reviews, exactly the amount claimed is charged from the card. But everything is transformed, if you go to the OneTwoTrip for a reason, and from the SkyScanner website.
')
SkyScanner itself does not sell tickets, but only collects flights and prices for all Runet sellers. Then he exposes on his showcase for comparison (here the choice is not between two, but already among dozens of stores) and redirects to partner sites where tickets can be bought.
If you are looking for a flight from Delhi to Novosibirsk on OneTwoTrip without SkyScanner, the cheapest option for Uzbekistan airlines is 13.843 rubles:
But if you do the same search on SkyScanner and then go to OneTwoTrip (namely, SkyScanner offers the best value), the prices will change significantly. Moreover, not only on the above flight, but in general for all the options:
It is easy to notice in the address of the last page (which can only be found through SkyScanner) the letter "s" after the "?" and before the hash link "# 3110DELOVB". This is the distinctive sign of the user who came with SkyScanner.
Then the fun begins. A customer who has signed up with SkyScanner is trying to buy a ticket. On the first screen, everything is still the same: 13.179 rubles declared on SkyScanner. But when, after entering the passport data, it comes to payment, OneTwoTrip throws away such a thing:
It gives you the opportunity to buy a ticket for 13.179 (and even a ruble cheaper), but only to owners of American Express cards. Which in Russia is issued only by the bank "Russian Standard". How many such owners will be collected among the users of SkyScanner and OneTwoTrip at the same time? Quite right - negligible.
For those who do not realize the beauty of the game, I describe the scheme from the very beginning. OneTwoTrip gives SkyScanner a deliberately low price, which will certainly be the best among competitors. But in fact, OneTwoTrip does not plan to sell tickets for this sum - a visitor who has come not through SkyScanner will never see this price in his life.
And the reservation about American Express is more likely for SkyScanner moderators: “Look, we have such a price, you can at least buy it yourself, but only pay AmEx for it”.
It turns out that OneTwoTrip is deceiving a huge stream of clients from SkyScanner. Clients are being deceived, they go through all stages of ordering and only after reaching the final, i.e. before payment, find out the price 5% higher than previously stated. But the order has already been “issued”, the ticket has already been “booked” (they write so many times on the site), the passport data has already been entered and it seems like it’s already more expensive to refuse.
Of course, such a scheme cannot be called fraud - no one takes extra money off the card. But a direct, thoughtful and pre-planned deception at the same time of SkyScanner and potential buyers is completely obvious here. So, I suggest that you draw conclusions about the moral principles of the creators of the OneTwoTrip service.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/147776/
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