www.CostaRicaTicas.com

New website finds fares, predicts if they'll rise or fall
07:56 AM/ET, Aug 21, 2006
By Ben Mutzabaugh
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/

When you search for airfares, do you often find yourself wondering: “Should I book now, or will fares go down if I wait?” Now, there’s a travel website that claims it can answer that question for you. Farecast.com http://www.farecast.com/
lets customers search fares on routes between more than 50 U.S. airports.

Like other websites, Farecast returns fares from sources that include airline and other travel websites. But, unlike other sites, Farecast also tracks the fare history on its routes and gives customers predictions on whether fares will rise or fall. That prediction also comes along with a suggestion on whether users should “buy now” or “wait,” along with a confidence rating to back up the suggestion.

For example, I put in a search this morning for a November round-trip from Washington National Airport to San Francisco. Farecast predicted with “more than 80% confidence” that the lowest fares on the route will drop in the next seven days. It’s advice? “Wait.”

I plugged in the same dates for a Washington-to-Las Vegas trip, and Farecast came to a different conclusion. It found a $269 round-trip fare, but said it had a 65% confidence level that the lowest fares would “hold steady or rise within the next seven days.” Farecast’s advice for this the Las Vegas search? “Buy.”

Farecast has actually been around for a few months, but until today it had been in an early testing version that showed data only for Boston and Seattle. But even that was enough for the site to generate significant buzz from travelers. Today the site rolls out a nationwide version that includes fare search and history data for about 55 cities.

In a press release announcing the new version, Farecast bills itself as “the first and only airfare prediction website.” And despite its ability to help fliers in their quest for the lowest fares, Farecast also claims it’s “airline friendly.” In its press release, Farecast says it “is committed to supporting airlines and strives to help airlines lower distribution costs and build customer value. When provided with better information from Farecast, customers are much more comfortable buying earlier and directly with airlines.” Farecast says that, so far, it has been “well-received by the industry.” Now, it’s time for travelers to weigh in …

Wit note: This is a VERY slick website. It is limited to about 60 cities right now but if you click on "Add My City" at the top you can choose San Jose, CR and vote to have it added.

To bad it doesnt do international flights, as it seems to be a good program that even leads you back to the source oppose to just saying hey book here.

Kind of sucks, now that travelocity is done with their international open date option, you basically have to pick and choose dates.

Farecast is quite an interesting concept. I signed up for the Beta version two months ago, and submitted my feedback. I just got the e-mail today notifying me of the national airport roll out.

I hope it works!

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Blue Devil

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JMAC wrote:


If you miss travelocity's flexible search function for international destinations you should check out Zuji.com. It's owned by travelocity but based in Singapore (if you choose the Hongkong website you'll get fares in english and US dollars).

A great site that keeps adding more and more useful features is farecompare.com. It shows you the fare history between city pairs and rates whether it's a good buy. Check it out, it has a lot of functionality built into it and they are improving it constantly.

-Senordos

Click on this page and add your home airport and SJO.

http://www.farecast.com/addMyCity.do

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