MSN and Farecast.com, the airfare prediction Web site, have today announced an agreement in which MSN will offer its users free airfare predictions and planning tools on the MSN Travel Channel. The addition of Farecast’s innovative technology and planning tools on MSN Travel will hopefuly empower its millions of monthly users to make more informed decisions when planning and shopping for travel.This agreement marks the first distribution deal for Farecast to bring its unique travel technology and planning tools to a broader consumer audience. Farecast will be joining the existing list of premier travel content partners on MSN, including Expedia, Frommer’s and Travel+Leisure.

We are thrilled to partner with MSN, said Hugh Crean, president and chief executive officer of Farecast. This agreement is further validation of the value of Farecast’s predictive technology to help people make smarter buying decisions and be more empowered when shopping for travel. MSN is committed to delivering innovative content to its loyal customers, and we look forward to being a part of its growing travel channel.

In addition to free airfare predictions, MSN Travel users will be able to access Farecast’s unique travel planning tools. With Farecast, MSN customers will be able to answer many trip-planning decisions, such as when and where they should travel, where they can afford to travel on their budget, and the best airfare deals from their home airport.

Farecast is changing the way consumers shop for airfare by helping them answer the difficult question, ‘Should I buy now or wait?’ when shopping for an airfare, said Jeff Dossett, executive producer and general manager at MSN. Integrating Farecast’s unique airfare predictions and tools is part of our overall strategy to build out a rich set of innovative and differentiated content and services in travel and across all channels on the MSN media network.

Farecast.com is the only travel Web site that uses a database of over 175 billion airfares to help consumers know when to buy and when they have found a good deal when shopping for travel. In a recent audit, Navigant Consulting Inc. confirmed that Farecast’s predictions are 74.5 percent accurate, and travelers purchasing two tickets could save an average of $55 by using Farecast’s predictions.