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Farecast, the service that seeks to predict the direction of airfares for the routes and dates you specify, is offering to sell you insurance for those predictions.

Ironically, this comes on the heels of the Seattle Times’ review of Farecast today. The newspaper found that the service was accurate in predicting the direction of fares in 61% of the searches queried. That’s below the firm’s target of 75%, but above my earlier (limited) assessment of around 50% accuracy.

So how does the new insurance/guarantee work? Much like buying a stock and purchasing a put option to protect you in case of a drop in the price, Farecast will sell you a “policy” when they predict the price will drop or hold steady. (If they predict the price will rise, then presumably you’ll be buying the ticket anyway. VentureBeat explains:

Let’s say you’re planning a trip, say to Kansas on Dec 5, and Farecast shows a low price of $210 and further, predicts prices are going to drop over the next few days. Now, rather than waiting, you can buy something called a “Fare Guard,” which lets you lock into any subsequent price drop automatically. Initially, the product will come at a promotional price of $1, but later might be priced around $10. Once you buy the Fare Guard, you have seven days to buy the actual ticket. If the price does drop, you get your savings. If it goes up, unexpectedly, you can buy the ticket, and Farecast will refund you the difference — so you win either way.

It’s an interesting idea, and the insurance is attractively priced (especially at the $1 intro rate). But remember, the contract covers THE LOWEST fare on the day you’re buying. Not the preferred time, airline, or connection. (Sounds like bidding for a ticket on Priceline!) There is thus a bit more variation and risk than first seems obvious.

The feature is still in beta, but readers who want to try it can participate in the test by clicking here and using one of the following beta-preview password combinations:

username: venturebeat
password: fareguardtest

username: johncook
password: fareguardtest

If you try it, please report back with your experience!

Maybe this will be the start of a market in a whole range of airfare derivatives. I’d like to short 20 Thanksgiving tickets to Los Angeles, sell puts on the July Paris contracts, and put a straddle on my December Newark itinerary.

Related:
- Farecast expands price predictions to over 50 cities
- Farecast beta goes public, just in time for a reader review
- So how accurate is Farecast?

It seems that every other week yields another report of an improved business class seat. This week, it’s British Airways’ turn.

The carrier is beefing up its ClubWorld offering by widening the lie-flat seats by 5 inches, improving catering and video entertainment, and adding features like standard-plug power ports, electronically-powered privacy screens, and storage units. The seat rollout begins this month and is scheduled to be completed across the fleet in 18 months. The new menu hits the skies in January 2007.

Interestingly, the airline is increasing the number of business class seats on each plane. But since each seat is 25% wider than its predecessor, this presumably means that the business class section will take a bite out of the first and/or economy class sections. (Compare to Singapore Airlines’ new premium cabins, which are even 5 inches wider.)

The website for the new service is pretty, but short on real images. It’s all a virtual tour, so it’s hard to see what the layout will really look like.

Last month, on an otherwise unremarkable flight from Chicago to Frankfurt on United Airlines, I experienced something amazing: An unedited movie in economy class.

Put the issue of movie quality aside for a moment. And ignore the fact that you’re lucky to even get your own (working) personal television screen on American carriers, not to mention the lack of on-demand video. (I know, some Northwest and US Airways A330 planes have more modern video-on-demand in-flight entertainment systems. But they’re the exception.) Most films are edited for content, removing most of the expletives, nudity, etc., that you’d see on the DVD.

Apparently, that’s changing. Several of the movies last month were denoted in the entertainment guide as unedited. (Of course, this only works if you have a personal video monitor with multiple choices, and not a single movie on overhead screens.) I opted for the Richard Linklater film “A Scanner Darkly,” (a film I didn’t know existed before the flight) and listened to Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, and Robert Downey, Jr. dropping f-bombs like nobody’s business.

Airlines outside the U.S., much like those nations’ broadcasters, have long been less prudish. (Watching the unedited version of “Me, Myself and Irene” on Air New Zealand comes to mind…)

I’m glad to see America’s airlines starting to treat passengers like adults, able to decide for themselves whether or not to watch a film with “adult situations.” And if parents are traveling with kids, and they don’t approve of coarse language or the sight of a woman’s breast, then they can easily monitor their child’s viewing. After all, they’re sitting right next to them.

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Most travelers on U.S.-based airlines have become resigned to the $5 cocktail on international routes, especially across the Atlantic. But as the Wall Street Journal notes, European carriers are starting to phase out free drinks at 35,000 feet as well.

SAS is offering one free alcoholic beverage on its long-haul flights, while Aer Lingus has already added a charge for all its booze.

More and more, I think you’ll find the one-free-drink rule, a la SAS and Delta, will be the norm for transatlantic travel. (Transpacific, the liquor is still flowin’!)

Related:
- The return of the comp inflight cocktail

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Emirates Airlines has announced its intentions to be the first long-haul airline to allow cellphone use in flight. Opinions on in-flight mobile phone use are passionate: People love the idea of connectivity or they hate/fear the intrusion that jabbering on the cellphone will create for fellow passengers. Most, including yours truly, are in the latter category:

In one US study, only 11 per cent of the 50,000 passengers asked wanted to make calls while on a flight. Many said that they enjoyed being uncontactable, and business-class passengers in particular were eager to catch up on sleep rather than use their phones.

But digging deeper into the announcement, it seems that the annoyance may be mitigated by a few factors. First, cost:

The calls will be charged at regular international roaming rates, with the airline taking a percentage to cover its investment. Using a phone in flight will cost about £2 a minute, or 60p for a text message.

That isn’t cheap, and is nearly comparable to the price of those Verizon AirFone handsets that were recently shut off. (How often did you ever see anyone actually use those?) So conversations will be short. If you’re going to use your mobile, then text-messaging is the way to go.

But besides cost, the airline has some control over the system:

Emirates says it will counter these objections by allowing air crew to switch off the system at night, so passengers can only send text messages. The airline may also introduce quiet zones.

I can live with that, especially the proposal to have quiet hours. Am I thrilled with the idea of phones ringing all around me? No. But cellphones are coming on planes — they’re even replacing the “no smoking” light with “no phones” on newly-built planes, after all. And much like flight attendants ask you to lower the shades during long daytime flights, the airline can impose quiet time. An airline that DOESN’T offer a quiet time, on the other hand, is obnoxious.

As I said, I think text-messaging, not voice, is the sweet spot here, so the company won’t forfeit too much revenue by limiting voice hours. But don’t expect similar restraint from carriers like Ryanair, who are also planning to roll out cell phone service.

Related:
- “No Cellphones” light to be added to aircraft interiors
- 7947 travelers can’t be wrong
- Air France to allow cellphones in flight

I went to the TSA’s website just now, and as I saw the now-classic image of the liquids in the plastic bag (above), it hit me: The item on the far right is an aerosol can of Evian water.

Of all the personal items they could use as a demonstration, they chose aerosol water?

The first time I saw this product was on my honeymoon in Barbados. One of the hotels on our trip had a beach attendant who provided chilled washcloths and offered to spray you with Evian water from a can like the TSA is picturing. I thought it was a rather silly extravagance to be sprayed with water — and not just any water, French mineral water — while lounging on an island in the Caribbean.

Yet I still keep a can from the trip in my desk at the office. But maybe the TSA was wiser than we thought, or at the cutting edge of in-flight travel care: Line three of the product description reads, “Great for use after you travel by air to combat the effects of dry, dehydrating pressurized cabin air.”

Thought you could avoid TSA security checks by riding the rails? Think again.

The TSA has started searching random passengers at Buffalo, New York train stations, wanding people for explosives. If you refuse, you’re banned from the station, and from traveling on Amtrak.

Searches aren’t random, but “risk-based.” For now, it’s only an experiment through the end of November, but other rail stations across the country should expect similar spot-checks over the coming months. How long before the first incident of ethnic profiling?

To channel Mr. T: My prediction… is pain.

(via USA Today)

Taking your laptop to the airport has been increasingly met with inspections. There’s a rising risk that your laptop and all its data might be confiscated if a search (random or otherwise) yields “suspicious” files.

Joe Sharkey’s column this week offers a simple, if potentially tedious and time-consuming suggestion: Rename files that raise suspicion because of their potentially terror-inducing names like “blueprint.” Instead, give them more innocuous names like “fuzzy kitten photos” or “grandma.”

So how long before Joe gets accused of aiding and abetting terrorism by giving the baddies a way to circumvent laptop seizures? Or before everyone with actual fuzzy kitten photos or files related to their grandmother gets their laptop confiscated? Wait for it…

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What happens on Maxjet, stays on Maxjet
All-business class Maxjet now flies from London to Vegas. And this promo photo makes me wish there were a law requiring pilots flying to Vegas to dress like Elvis. Thankyouverymuch.

LAX gets serious about security
LAX isn’t just re-evaluating their security, it’s Israelifying it. Benet Wilson reports that the airport has contracted the Israeli equivalent of the CIA as security consultants. No word if the airport will require El Al-style customer interrogations in order to get on a plane. (Please, no.)

Hotels full of lying, thieving crooks… and that’s the guests
Chris Elliott digs through the raw data in the latest TripAdvisor poll. And whaddaya know, people really do steal towels. 37% of guests under 35 admitted they stole something, while only 15% of the over-50 crowd admitted to it. Note: The numbers only reflect the respondents who admitted it. I’d love to see the numbers of actual items absconded, or the percentage of rooms with missing goods. But who really WANTS that stuff, anyway, five-finger discount or not?

Northwest Airlines mechanics end strike, still don’t work for Northwest
The death of brinksmanship: After 15 long months of striking, Northwest’s mechanics, represented by the AMFA union, called off their pickets. But they’ve long been replaced by scabs. Why call off a strike if their jobs are gone? The airline will give them a severance package now that the strike is over.

For ages, hotels have offered “romance” packages to couples looking to reignite the flame. Now, hotels have introduced something new: the procreation vacation (or “procreavacation”?).

Having trouble getting pregnant? […] Doctor Jason James says he often recommends fertility-challenged patients book a vacation. He says de-stressing with your spouse away from daily life can actually aid in conception. […] Hotels are introducing procreation vacation packages, offering everything from on-site sex doctors to age-old fertility boosters promising to hasten the pitter-patter of little feet. At The Westin at Our Lucaya Grand Bahama Island, couples can sip fertility-boosting pumpkin soup and down sea moss elixirs.

And I thought pumpkin soup was just a seasonal dish.

With European governments worried about an aging citizenry and minimal growth putting their pension systems at risk, perhaps this will be the next great policy prescription from Brussels.

But the name “procreation vacation” has got to go. That’s even worse than the mancation.

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Effective Monday, November 6, European Union member-states, Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland adopt a common set of new airport security rules. Once again, the zipper-top plastic bag industry is getting a boost.

The new rules essentially mirror the American rules. Small bottles in a clear plastic zip-top bag. Additionally, you’ll be required to remove your computer from your bag and you’ll need to remove jackets before entering the metal detector. Many, if not most, airports already followed these latter two rules, but the new guidelines are intendend to standardize security across the continent. The complete rules are here (pdf).

But be careful if you’re flying from Europe and then connecting in the United States. TSA permits liquids in 3-ounce containers or smaller. The European standard is 100ml — which equals 3.2 ounces, ever so slightly above the American cutoff. If you’re unlucky, you may find a nitpicking TSA agent who denies your 100ml bottle of shampoo. I hope it doesn’t happen, but it might. Be forewarned.

Seven Joliet, Illinois hotels were hit with search warrants as part of the ever-so-subtly-named “Operation Sleep Over.” The sting yielded 10 arrests of hotel employees and managers. The hotels included a Holiday Inn Express and two Super 8 locations. (The fact that Joliet is perhaps most famous for its prison, as featured in The Blues Brothers, is somehow fitting…)

Hotel workers apparently systematically stole credit numbers and personal information from guests at their properties. They then turned around and sold the data wholesale to identity thieves. Over 10,000 credit card numbers and associated information changed hands, though they were typically sold in lots of 10, at rates between $1,000 and $5,000.

If you were the victim of this operation, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be contacted by anyone regarding the matter. So you might want to get a copy of your credit report if you stayed in the area in the last six years. In fact, you should just get a copy of your credit report, period. It’s just a good idea to get one, and it’s free, with no catch. I get one every year, and this last time was the very first time in 10 years that there was NOT an error. Errors aren’t always fraudulent in nature, but still, you want to make sure the record is clean.

As for preventing future incidents like this from happening, there’s not much you can do at the local level, unless you’re willing to cut up your credit cards and go all-cash. Until Congress makes it tougher for someone (including you yourself) to obtain “instant” credit without verifying your identity, we’ll continue to hear stories like this.

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