Methodology

1. Data source

Prices are retrieved continuously via the Travelpayouts API, which aggregates fares published in real time by more than 700 airlines and reservation systems (GDS). Faro does not negotiate fares and does not receive promotional prices in advance.

Each monitored route is sampled regularly: several requests per hour covering the departure dates available over the next 6 months.

2. Anomaly detection

For each route (origin → destination), Faro maintains a rolling median of prices observed over the past 30 days. This median serves as a stable statistical reference, not very sensitive to extreme values.

When an observed price falls below 75% of the median (i.e. a gap above 25%), it is considered an anomaly. A fare is published as an "error fare" only if the gap exceeds this threshold, and if the fare consistency is validated by several consecutive requests.

3. Verification

Before publication, the fare is re-verified within a short delay via a second independent request. This double check reduces false positives linked to API errors or already-exhausted fares.

The system records the exact date and time of the first detection, which are shown on each flight page as a verifiable timestamp.

4. Publication

No fare is selected, promoted or sorted manually. The display order relies solely on the relative gap from the median price (largest to smallest) or on the filters chosen by the user.

Faro receives no payment from airlines to feature a fare. Revenue comes solely from affiliate commissions paid by Travelpayouts (Aviasales) when a user completes a booking after clicking the link. These commissions do not influence either the selection or the order of the results.

5. Expiry and archiving

Error fares are by nature ephemeral: 75% are corrected within 24 hours by the airline systems. Faro periodically verifies each published fare and automatically removes it from the main list as soon as the price is no longer available or has been corrected.

Expired fares are kept in the public archive for historical and statistical purposes, with the expiry date and the availability duration. These archives are not bookable and are flagged as such.

6. Known limitations

Faro shows the fares as returned by the API providers. The actual prices at payment may differ due to baggage, additional taxes, seat selection or real-time fluctuations — always check the final fare on the airline or comparison site before paying.

A fare may disappear between the display on Faro and your booking attempt. This is the direct consequence of the ephemeral nature of error fares.

7. Transparency and contact

Faro applies this methodology automatically and consistently — no fare is hand-picked. Detection thresholds evolve as the historical dataset grows, keeping the error-fare definition statistically sound.