Back in February, we reported on Farecast, a website that predicts fluctuations in airfares for major airlines, providing an advantage for travelers in a confusing, increasingly pricey market.  Farecast relies on historical airfare data to extrapolate probable changes in ticket prices, and generates graphical prognostications indicating whether an airfare is likely to increase, decrease, or remain the same.

Now, that’s a pretty awesome feat, but we think a new player on the scene, a Seattle-based website bearing the quirky name of Yapta, takes the air travel price comparison game to a new level.   Yapta — an acronym for “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant” — takes a truly novel approach, allowing users to browse airline websites and bookmark the flights they’re most interested in.   Then Yapta tracks ticket price fluctuations in real time, and sends you an email alert as soon as the price drops.   It literally does the legwork of shopping around for lower fares while you sleep — saving users lots of time and tedium.

Yapta also takes advantage of a little-known policy many airlines have where refunds or frequent-flyer credits are paid to passengers when an airfare is decreased after they’ve already purchased tickets.  Yapta shows users how to take advantage of this policy.  And we understand that many flyers have already saved significant amounts of money, from both the price alerts and the refunds.

What we like best about Yapta — in addition to these innovative services — is the website’s clean, uncluttered user interface and ease-of-use.   The simplicity of design is very attractive and kind of reminds us of Google.  In fact, Yapta is so well-designed that, within minutes, you can create an account and start building a portfolio of travel plans.  From that point, the price alerts and a whole range of other useful features are within easy reach.

Yapta goes a long way to “level the playing field” between airlines and their customers, and is one of those websites that reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke’s famous saying:  “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  We think the folks over at Yapta may just have created not just an “amazing personal travel assistant”, but the perfect planning tool for busy air travelers.

Michael Finney of “7 On Your Side,” a consumer advocacy program on the television station KGO in San Francisco, recently reported on the woes of a Travelocity customer. Scott Stanton of Willits, California shoots video around the world. About a year ago Stanton used Travelocity.com to book a flight on Air China. When he checked in for the flight, things got weird. The clerk at the counter told him he had two seats on the same flight, and that he had paid for both, even though he was traveling alone. Immediately, Stanton called Travelocity. The travel agency told him it would credit his account back, and not to worry about it. Then, post-trip, his bank statement showed not only a charge for two Air China tickets — $1,079 each — but also a double charge of the $24 Travelocity booking fee. This time Travelocity told Stanton that it wouldn’t reimburse him until Air China paid it back, and that it could take up to 90 days to process the refund. More than a little ticked off, Stanton contacted the consumer advocacy television program “7 On Your Side.” Program staff investigated the issue, and Travelocity said it would give Stanton a refund. But then Stanton encountered another hitch: Travelocity would refund his money only by crediting the same debit card he had used to purchase the airline ticket… a debit card account he no longer had. “7 On Your Side” staff stepped in again, and Travelocity sent Stanton a refund check. So, a happy ending at last for Stanton. And for the rest of us? How do we keep from being double-charged? By keeping careful records, according to KGO’s website:

Travelocity … was still looking into why the system did not catch Stanton’s double-booking. … [It] regrets the delay in refunding the money. If you ever find yourself with two tickets, keep all receipts and both ticket numbers, so you can quickly prove that you didn’t buy or use both seats.

As ever, caveat emptor… buyer beware!

On Friday, USA Today and Techcrunch reported that Seattle-based Farecast.com – a website that predicts airfare fluctuations – now predicts ticket prices not just for domestic US flights, but for certain international routes as well. This is big news for people who plan their travel well in advance, who can fly on the spur of the moment and purchase tickets just before flying, or who don’t care about flying the same airline every time for frequent flyer points. Though it may take some tweaking and expanding their route information, the site is also a potential boon for travel agencies and companies whose staff travel a lot – travel costs can be predicted pretty accurately in advance.

Continue Reading…

Many travelers have come to appreciate Holland as a land of unique and sometimes mind-expanding travel opportunities… including, I guess, booking a flight with this Dutch travel agency and being scared out of your bloody mind!

Two questions: (1) Where is the travel venue? My guess is somewhere in the Netherlands Antilles… Aruba? Curacao? … and (2) What the hell are those things pointing upwards on the sides of the emergency slide?

Oh yeah… and HAPPPY 2008 from Volette! And travel safely….