Just out of curiosity, is there any proof out there that airline companies discriminate based on browser choice?
My thoughts are that since airline companies are the quintessential example of price discrimination they would most likely have such a system in place.
I worked at ITA software for a few years, in the team that wrote the software that searches for airfares.
The prices of seats and their restrictions are published, and the data format predates the web (by a large margin). There's no field for "browser type."
Each seat has about a dozen prices, and the only other way the user sees a price change is by turning a given price on or off. But the protocol that asks whether a given seat is available doesn't have a "browser type" field either.
When you go to an airline's web site, they could presumably use whatever info they want. But if they used the browser while travel agents didn't, they'd either be presenting a lower price than you could get through the agent, or a higher one. It seems unlikely they'd do that, but I suppose it's possible.
This! It's especially good when you have flexible dates, or you want to taylor your search (eg, connect through Dallas rather than Chicago). I've also used other multi-airline search sites (kayak, hipmunk, orbitz etc), but they never have the best price available. It's best to narrow it down to a few of the best options, then go price them directly on the airline's website. It usually works out significantly cheaper.
Not browser choice, but I have personally experienced one country's national airline charging a significantly higher rate when viewing the site in English, compared to the native language.
My thoughts are that since airline companies are the quintessential example of price discrimination they would most likely have such a system in place.