Farecast, the awesome future technology airfare prediction site, fully rolled out a new service that lets you lock in low fares.

Using smart algorithms and lots of servers, Farecast can predict whether fares will rise or fall. Now for $9.95 you can “protect” the lowest fare from your search for the next seven days.

If the fare rises, you can opt to pay only your protected, low fare.

“Fare Guard allows customers to protect the lowest fare for one week without buying a ticket (when we predict prices are going down). Essentially this product puts our money behind our predictions,” David Shim, a Farecast spokesman, tells us. — BEN POPKEN

How Fare Guard Works [Farecast]

UPDATE: A number of readers said Fare Guard was essentially insurance. We asked David Shim for a comment and he replied:

“We don’t think of Fare Guard as insurance, rather we think of it along the lines of a mortgage rate lock. Fare Guard gives travelers the piece of mind that they have an additional 7 days to finalize their travel plans without having to worry about price increases. This is similar to a mortgage rate lock in that consumers have time to shop for their home, with the comfort that if interest rates do increase, they are guaranteed lower locked rate.”

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