Bing Travel may predict whether an airfare will rise or fall, but Continental took some of the worry out by giving travelers the option of locking in airfares for 72 hours or seven days for a fee.
Continental calls the new feature FareLock, and for fees starting at $5 for a 72-hour hold and $9 for a week-long hold, it gives consumers the ability to lock in the airfare without any obligation to purchase the flight.
Travelers can purchase the ticket during the FareLock window, use an auto-ticketing feature to book the flight at the end of the lock period or take no action and lose the lock fee.
The fees vary, Continental says, based on the itinerary, the number of days until departure and the length of the hold.
Like other passengers, travelers using the FareLock feature can make reservation changes or cancel the booking within 24 hours of ticketing and get a full refund. However, these passengers would forfeit the lock fee, Continental says.
FareLock may drive some incremental bookings and ancillary revenue for Continental from travelers who would have been concerned about fare increases.