New Websites Could Save Travelers Money on Flights to Luxury Vacation Rentals
January 30, 2007. A new generation of online airfare sites has emerged in recent years, attempting to predict the future rise and fall of ticket prices. Yesterday, one of those websites upped the ante with a bold new initiative: If a purchaser waits to buy a ticket because Farecast.com predicted the price would either decrease or hold, and the price goes up instead, the company will cover the difference.
We'll let Laura Bly explain how it works in this USA Today article:
"You do a search between, say, Chicago and Miami for specific dates in March. If Farecast thinks the lowest fare of $300 will go down or hold steady, you can buy a Fare Guard (for $3 now, going up to $9.95 Feb. 1) that's good for a week and guarantees $300 is the most you will pay, assuming you're willing to take the cheapest flight offered. You'll get a daily e-mail that tracks fares for your trip. If the $300 fare drops, you saved money. If it rises, buy through Farecast, and it will pay the difference between the old and new lowest fares."
Farecast.com only makes its predictions and Fare Guard service available in 75 markets, so smaller airports such as the one in Asheville, North Carolina aren't covered. But the new feature shows that competition is heating up for websites that can arm customers with information not found on major airfare websites, such as Travelocity and Expedia.
We reported a few weeks ago on another site, FareCompare.com, which compiles data for 77,000 North American and 200,000 international city pairs. FareCompare.com, Farecast.com and other similar websites use historical data to show customers past trends and to display future possibilities. This new breed of airfare broker hasn't grabbed the lion's share of the market yet, but we predict it will gain in popularity. You can take that money and spend it during your next trip to a luxury vacation rental.
