I Tried the VPN Hack for Cheaper Flights to See if It’s Too Good to Be True

With restaurant prices soaring and utility bills not getting any cheaper, budgets are tight these days. So saving money wherever you can is paramount — especially if you’re trying to take a trip. If you’re looking for ways to travel for cheap, you may have heard that you can score better airfare rates by using a VPN for lower flight taxes. But is this rumor too good to be true?

While there are plenty of tricks to get cheaper prices on hotels, the conversation around when, if, and how to save on airfare is a bit more ambiguous. Using a VPN to try to get lower flight taxes seems to make sense when looking at a fare breakdown, as taxes start at 7.5% for domestic flights and other other fees can make the price go way up from there — especially for international tickets.

For example, an $898 flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt has a base fare of $300, with $598 dedicated to taxes and fees. So, to clear things up, I asked three travel and software experts to weigh in on whether you can use a VPN for lower flight taxes. Here’s their take — and mine, as a travel writer — on scoring savings before you fly.

VPN stands for “virtual private network” and allows you to search the web without allowing sites to collect information, such as your IP address and location. VPNs encrypt data so passwords and other information like sensitive emails don’t get into the wrong hands. So, in theory, using a VPN should help lower flight taxes so you can’t be overcharged based on where you live. Theories seem to have started circulating on online forums in the mid-2010s, and the reviews on the supposed hack are mixed.

Once you pick a VPN company, simply pay for, download, install, and activate the service when you deem necessary. “A VPN helps keep your browsing activity and personal data secure, which is critical for avoiding targeted ads or any malicious attacks,” says Seth Geftic, who works at Huntress Labs, a security software company. He also adds that using a VPN while searching for flights can help protect your privacy if you’re on a public or unsecured network. 

And if you’re wondering if a VPN is legal, it’s perfectly acceptable in Canada, the U.S., and most of Europe.

In my experience, it was less expensive in some cases, but the difference saved was negligible. To experiment, I installed Norton’s VPN, which costs $110 per year, but I opted for a free trial. It allowed me to vary my location in three ways: If I didn’t turn on the VPN, my original location (I live in Virginia) showed up. When I had the VPN on, I could choose a country or let the VPN pick the fastest location for me — it didn’t reveal where that place was.

I pretended to book a flight from London to Hong Kong, and no matter where I set the VPN — Australia, Israel, England — the price remained exactly the same. However, when I checked short flights from London to Palma, Spain, I saved $1 when I set my VPN location to Spain. Why? “Technically, using a VPN, you might be able to get a cheaper flight if the airline or booking site you are on uses dynamic pricing models that vary based on where you are located,” says Geftic.

However, according to Julian Kheel, the founder of the money-saving browser extension Points Path, discounts may only be available in certain areas. “If you happen to find a sale targeted to a particular geographic region, you might do better,” he says. However, the likelihood is rare, as this approach is either by chance or by knowing about a sale route in advance. “You’d have to do a lot of hunting to land on one, assuming there even is a sale available at the time you’re searching,” adds Kheel.

So, to use a VPN to score a deal on a flight, you may have to be willing to sink some time into searching for sale routes and adjusting your location. Not to mention, if you want to use the VPN for lower flight taxes beyond the trial period (yay for my already-canceled free trial!), you’ll have to shell out some money for the service on an annual basis, which doesn’t seem worthwhile to me even as a frequent traveler.

Kyle Potter, the editor of Thrifty Traveler, also debunks the VPN hack that so many treat as a tried-and-true way to save money every time. “The reality is it’s incredibly rare that using this method will save you money,” he says. “It’s just as likely to cost you more.” But if you’re looking to save, what can you do?

“Travelers are much better off sticking to the basics,” advises Potter. Using tools like Google Flights, having a flexible travel schedule, and booking airfare before you commit to hotels and rental cars can also help you save. If you already have a VPN, you can try to see if you can find better fares. But personally, for the cost and time commitment of searching, I’ll be sticking to more traditional ways of finding deals on airfare.