[forgotmypw17]

That's why I said "almost all of the time".

But to the flights example, I was just looking for flights starting at Google Flights, which doesn't have cookie banners, and the two sites I went to for booking also did not have cookie banners.

[SpicyLemonZest]

Which booking website are you going to that doesn't have cookie banners? I spot checked multiple EU and US airlines just now (Ryanair, Air France, United, Alaska) and all of them had a cookie banner.

[forgotmypw17]

I started with Google Flights and went to two other sites that it directed me to.

Just to reiterate, I'm not religious about this practice. If I need to click a cookie banner to book a plane ticket, so be it.

I just treat cookie banners as a strong negative signal.

[macbr]

Google, including Google Flights, does have a cookie banner. It's just likely that you already accepted/denied the prompt at some point.

[forgotmypw17]

That’s certainly possible. I don’t deny occasionally clicking them. I just don’t bother most of the time.

Edit: I just tried the flight ordering flow again (starting at google.com/flights) in a private/incognito tab, and did not encounter any cookie banners.

[tonymet]

any site with a cart or user prefs should have a cookie disclosure

[freehorse]

Not all cookie banner implementations are obstructive to the users. Only the ones that really want you click on "accept all" are.

[forgotmypw17]

This is not true, cookie disclosure is only required for non-essential cookies.

[GJim]

> any site with a cart or user prefs should have a cookie disclosure

In the name of all that is holy!

Once again....

You are free to use whatever cookies you want to run your site with no need for "cookie banners". HOWEVER, if you are using those cookies to track me (advertisers take a bow) then you need my clear, opt-in informed consent to do so.

I remain utterly astounded at the ignorance some tech people have of the GDPR; a vital privacy law and one that is fundamental to modern data use and respect for the customer.