Farecast.com Launches Public Beta; Becomes First to Provide Airfare Predictions

SEATTLE, June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Farecast announced today the Public Beta launch of Farecast.com, the first and only airfare prediction website. Everyone traveling out of Seattle and Boston can now get free airfare predictions to 120 domestic markets. Farecast.com helps online travel shoppers save money by answering the question: should you buy now or buy later?

"Deciding when to buy airfare has been a guessing game for consumers until now," said Hugh Crean, president and CEO of Farecast, Inc. "With Farecast's airfare predictions and recommendations, online travel shoppers are empowered with better information to make more confident and smarter airfare purchase decisions."

Know When to Buy - Airfare Predictions

Unlike any other travel website, Farecast.com saves online travel shoppers money with an airfare prediction. The company's patented airfare prediction shows whether the lowest fares for their trip are rising or dropping over the next 7 days. Farecast.com also provides expected price movements, confidence levels, and buying tips when customers search for flights. To create its proprietary airfare prediction, Farecast systematically aggregates large amounts of airfare data on a daily basis and tracks and measures price fluctuations. See the Our Technology page of Farecast.com for more details.

Also with each flight search, Farecast.com provides an airfare history graph. The airfare history graph shows online travel shoppers what the lowest available price for their trip has been each day, up to 90 days in the past. To provide the airfare history and airfare predictions, Farecast has made more than 90 billion, and counting, airfare observations based on real pricing and availability.

With better information, online travel shoppers are able to save money and buy with confidence. See the How it Works page of Farecast.com for more details.

Know Where to Buy - Airfare Search

Farecast.com's airfare search engine helps online travel shoppers find the lowest airfares and buy direct with the airline sites. By booking directly, shoppers save money and get more value -- low fare guarantees, no booking fees, and free bonus miles. Farecast.com utilizes ITA Software's best-of- breed airfare pricing and shopping technology to power the airfare search engine.

Know When and Where to Travel - Flexible Search Tools

In addition to airfare predictions and airfare search, and by leveraging their unique airfare pricing and availability database, Farecast offers flexible searching tools. These tools help shoppers answer important trip planning questions. Selecting an origination airport and "all cities" from Flexible Search shows shoppers all the lowest fares to over 60 destinations, helping shoppers know where to travel. Selecting an origination airport and a specific destination from Flexible Search shows shoppers the lowest fares based on a 30-day departure date window, helping shoppers know when to travel.

Farecast.com is Airline Friendly

Farecast 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's model supports our distribution strategy," stated Steve Jarvis, VP of Sales and Customer Experience, Alaska Airlines. "When online shoppers book through alaskaair.com directly, it lowers our costs and enhances our ability to build stronger relationships with our customers."

Farecast.com Beta Limitations

Farecast pays attention to Beta users' feedback and will work to quickly make improvements to the site. Our most common request has been to add more origination airports and destinations. We will offer predictions for additional markets throughout the year and plan to have nationwide coverage by year end.

Also, as we scale from limited beta to full national launch, users may experience site outages, server busy errors, and slow search times, among other issues. The Farecast team will work hard to enhance the speed and reliability of the experience, and we appreciate your patience.

About Farecast, Inc.

Farecast.com is the first airfare prediction website. Online travel shoppers can now save money by knowing when to buy airline tickets. Farecast.com also provides an airfare search experience and supports direct to airline booking. The beta website is currently available to travelers departing from Seattle and Boston. The company is located in Seattle, Washington, and is funded by Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group and WRF Capital. To get a free airfare prediction or to learn more visit www.farecast.com.

Contact: Anne Taylor Hartzell, +1-206-850-6501, or anne@annetaylorco.com.