Face it: There's no guarantee that you'll score the lowest airfare.
Even if you shop conscientiously and compare fares -- even after you've called the airlines, browsed airline and other travel Web sites and scanned newspapers, you're likely to discover, after you've booked and paid for your ticket, that fares fall before your departure date.
Frustrating, isn't it?
Good news: Several new travel Web sites are attempting to help you hedge your bets on airfares. Based on seasonal pricing trends and the history of how fares have risen and/or fallen during the past several years, these sites predict whether fares will rise or fall during your pre-travel period, and will advise you to buy immediately or wait until closer to your desired departure date.
One travel Web site, Farecast.com, actually offers a sort-of guarantee that its predictions will help you save money on flights from 75 airports across the United States.
Claiming that its forecast of airfare fluctuations for a week in advance have been accurate about 75 percent of the time, this Seattle-based company offers to cover the difference in cost if you, based on their advice, defer purchasing your ticket in order to get a lower airfare they've predicted, but the ticket price either remains the same or actually rises.
Here's how it works: You search for the lowest available fares on a roundtrip from New York to Los Angeles, for example, on dates in February and come up with a roundtrip fare of $317. If Farecast.com predicts the fare on your route will fall or remain the same, you can purchase the company's Fare Guard -- guaranteeing that $317 is the most you'll pay for your ticket, provided you're willing to take the cheapest flights available. The Fare Guard guarantee costs $9.95 and lasts for one week, during which you'll receive fare-tracking e-mails on a daily basis. If the cost of your flights falls below $317, you will save the difference. If the cost rises, you can buy your ticket through Farecast.com and the company will pay the difference between the $317 and the higher cost of the lowest-priced available ticket for your itinerary.
It's interesting to note that Farecast.com actually advises you to buy now about 80 percent of the time, while Fare Guard is available only when the company advises you to wait -- so the site's guarantee promise seems somewhat limited.
In comparison, Farecompare.com's analysis is based on the tracking of airfare changes that occurred during the past two years on flights between 77,000 city pairs within North America and 200,000 overseas routes, and rates current best fares on any route with one to four stars -- the higher the number of stars, the closer the fare is to its historically lowest price. Current fares are updated several times per day. A graph illustrates fare trends, indicating whether route prices are rising, falling or remaining the same, and the site lets you search for specially coded fares covering first-class tickets for unrestricted coach prices.
Hotwire.com's TripStarter is a new feature that indicates the best time frame for trips to some 160 destinations, determined by lowest airfares, weather stats and seasonal events and activities, with originating flights from 66 points of departure. The site uses graphs to show two-year pricing trends for airfares between 5,000 domestic and international city pairs, as well as hotel rates in some 80 destinations.
At Airfarewatchdog.com, you can sign up to get e-mails when there are especially low fares from your selected airports to various destinations. The deals are often unadvertised and are usually limited offers, but the site checks seat availability before posting them. Unlike many other sites, airfarewatchdog.com includes Southwest and other discount airlines in its database, but overall its fare listings aren't as comprehensive as those on other sites. But it's great if you're a person who can get up and go with little notice, and have a flexible schedule for travel.
Most of these sites don't actually sell tickets, but they do have click-throughs to online travel agents and airline Web sites, where you can book and buy. Use them as an additional resource -- but for the best fare, you should still comparison shop, consulting them and all other discount ticket sources.
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To find out more about Jennifer Merin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
Copyright 2007 Creators Syndicate Inc.
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