New airfare tool (super cool)

[Muhaha]

Bing has an airfare predictor tool that tells you whether to buy now, or to wait. http://www.bing.com/travel

For example, I am in the process of booking our 3/24 trip and yesterday I used the tool to get the lowest price. It pulls from Priceline, Expedia, airlines, etc. The predictor told me it had a 90% confidence factor that the airfare would drop and recommended to wait. Today, I checked again and the prices dropped by $100 and it is still telling me to wait with a 92% confidence they will drop further.

It claims to use a lot of trend data that the airlines use to determine fares. Time will tell if it is accurate, but I am thinking that it sure beats my guesswork on timing an airfare purchase.

[2muchsnow]

Way cool, I've also found that airfare watchdog and travelocity's fare watcher notice system is pretty handy as well. If you put in an alert to the location you are travelling, and the dates, it will keep tabs on the flights, and send you an email when there is movement either way up or down. I've managed to pick up tickets from SLC to Maui for $400 (when the average is $750) and tickets SLC to STT (stopping in ATL) for $480. (when they were $900 the previous week.)

[pselby]

I used the Bing predictor when I was trying to determine the best time to buy tickets also. The predicted price drop did happen, but it was on a different airline from what I wanted to fly on (was using Delta SkyMiles, so needed Delta flight). Equally or more importantly is to check the seat availability on the flight you want. I'm not sure Bing or these other sites use that kind of information in their predictions.

[PA Girl]

I used the Bing predictor when I was trying to determine the best time to buy tickets also. The predicted price drop did happen, but it was on a different airline from what I wanted to fly on (was using Delta SkyMiles, so needed Delta flight). Equally or more importantly is to check the seat availability on the flight you want. I'm not sure Bing or these other sites use that kind of information in their predictions.

I wondered about this.

I was signed up for Kayak alerts and the results I got were for times that weren't acceptable. Once I noticed there were very few seats available.

It has been a while since I bothered with any of the sights. Maybe I will give this Bing one a try.

Does anyone know if there is the ability to track specific flights by airline and #?

[Muhaha]

Does anyone know if there is the ability to track specific flights by airline and #?

Kind of. The Bing tool will let you specify the airline and will also let you narrow the flight departure time with a slider bar. So, for example, you could select US Air as the airline, and then narrow the departure time window to the exact time of your desired flight. I guess this would accomplish the same thing.

[GoodAndYou]

Yapta will let you track a particular flight on a particular day. I do not know what happens if the airline changes the flight number or times though.

[jimg20]

The Bing system was discussed on "Marketplace" on NPR this week. They called it dynamic marketing. Bing uses the same criteria that airlines use to raise and lower fares. The difference is that Bing is evaluating trends and predicting the direction the fares are likely to go. It sounds like they were very acurate in this particular case.

JIM

[GidgetPicklebrain]

No "Price Predictors" available for flights from BWI, DCA or IAD.

[Cid]

I noticed at the bottom of the Bing Predictor results it says, "powered by Kayak". It looks like a handy resource. Thanks!

[strat62]

going to give it a try......