Airfare, Fairly

FareCompare, with its HQ at the intersection of Preston and Frankfurt roads, gets a profile in Condé Nast’s troubled Portfolio today, and the low-airfare-finding Web site is touted as oh-so-much more:

FareCompare’s most recent incarnation has been its most unexpected. It’s not just offering a reliable way to save money on air travel, as the average consumer may think. FareCompare has also become a provider of alerts and trend reports to airline-industry analysts hungry to understand the pricing moves of the companies they watch; its information is coveted by investment banks and hedge funds; and it’s a thorn in the side of the airlines themselves.

It has something to do with route-specific maps of fare history. Which sounds fair. –Robert Wilonsky