Farecast Airfare Predictor Acquired

The Apr. 2008 acquisition of Farecast, producer of patented airfare-forecasting software, brings data mining software and experts to Microsoft. Farecast technology and data could help boost the use of MSN Travel or prevent others such as Expedia or Google from purchasing the company, thereby making MSN Travel less competitive. Although Farecast concentrates on travel (it is in second place in online travel search, behind Kayak.com), the technology has wider applications in business and Microsoft may apply it to Web search, online advertising, customer relationship management, or other businesses that use large data sets.

Airfare Predictions and More

Data mining, the process of sorting through large amounts of information and selecting items that are relevant to a posed question, is particularly useful for online travel planning if it can examine airfares offered by multiple reservations systems and make appropriate suggestions for consumers based on price, schedule, or other user-defined priorities. Many computer reservation systems do that but Farecast is unique in that it also uses past information about airfare fluctuations to predict what will happen to future ticket prices. It uses graphical displays to present complex fare information to help users choose when to depart, how long to stay, and when to purchase tickets.