What if You Could Predict Airfare?
Airfare Prediction Isn’t a Matter of Psychic Ability
Almost every single person who pays airfare wonders whether or not they got a good price. It’s a frustrating experience to pay an airfare of four-hundred dollars when you discover someone else on the plane got their ticket for a mere two-hundred. We all know airfare changes dramatically, even for tickets on the same flight. The question is, how can we make sure we’re getting the best airfare possible?
Why Does Airfare Change?
Changes in airfare are usually a matter of supply and demand. The higher the demand for a flight, the higher the airfare; the lower the demand, the lower the airfare will be. Airfare for a flight may start out at six-hundred dollars, but when it becomes evident that the flight isn’t going to fill up, the airfare for that flight may take a significant drop.
Predicting Airfare Changes
No one likes being the person on the flight who paid the highest airfare. What if you could see if airfare was going to go up or down before buying your plane ticket? Thanks to Farecast.com, you can.
Farecast.com is a new airfare website. Travelers go to the site, enter the dates they will be traveling and the destination they would like to go to. Farecast.com then provides them with a list of available flights from cheapest to highest. Sounds just like a run-of-the mill airfare site, right? Well, there’s actually a twist.
In addition to providing travelers with a list of flights from cheapest to most expensive, Farecast.com has an arrow at the top of the screen that points up or down. If the arrow is pointing down, Farecast.com predicts that airfare for that flight will drop. If the arrow is pointing up, airfare is predicted to rise. If your search results show an airfare increase is on the horizon, you probably want to buy your tickets then and there. However, if the arrow is pointing down, you may want to hold off until airfare drops.
Nothing In Life is Guaranteed
Farecast.com doesn’t just guess whether airfare will go up or down, it uses complex algorithms to determine the direction in which airfare will head. While Farecast.com is a great resource, it is not one-hundred percent foolproof. The site isn’t right all of the time, but it does have an accuracy rate of about seventy-five percent.
Plans for Growth
Right now Farecast.com only covers flights to and from Boston and Seattle, but the site plans to cover the entire United States and International flights as well. If Farecast.com doesn’t currently provide airfare information for your area, keep checking back. It’s only a matter of time.
Comments
If your city is served by Southwest Airlines, go to southwest.com and see the specials. I recently flew ROUND TRIP from Harlingen, Texas, to Philadelphia for just under $270. I had to reserve at least ten days in advance and specify day/date, flight number, and time of departure. Changes in flight or date would have increased the fare. American and Continental airlines wanted more than $700 round trip from McAllen, TX, to Philadelphia. All flights on Southwest are on 737's, while American and Continental probably use larger planes; but you can't (my opinion) beat their fares! No meals/sandwiches are served; only coffee, cola, peanuts on flights that last an hour or less. Or is it one and one half hours? A snack pack is served on longer flights, along with coffee, etc. If you live in an area such as Houston which has a large airport and a smaller one, chances are that Southwest must use the latter. The larger airlines try to keep out the competition at such larger airports as George Bush (Houston), so Southwest uses Houston Hobby. But Hobby is closer to downtown! The same goes for Dallas. Southwest has to use the old Love Field rather than DFW.
Posted by: James Garza | August 16, 2006 8:32 PM