Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account Information: Your email address and name. If you sign up with a password, we store it only as a bcrypt hash. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email address, and an account identifier from them. We never receive your Google or Apple password, and we don't access anything else in those accounts.
• Route Preferences: The routes you track, including airports, dates, airline, cabin, fare type, and any price targets you set.
• Billing Information: If you subscribe to a paid plan, Stripe collects and processes your payment details. We never see or store your full card number.
• Email Preferences: Whether you want fare alerts and our newsletter, and when and how you told us.
• Communications: Messages you send us by email or through our contact and support forms.

Information Collected Automatically

• Account Activity: When you sign up and sign in, and records of the alerts and emails we send you.
• Server Logs: Like most websites, our web server records each request's IP address, time, page, referring URL, and browser type.
• Cookies: One essential cookie keeps you signed in. See Section 6.

We do not use analytics services, advertising networks, or tracking pixels.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To check fares on the routes you track and email you alerts.
• To run your account, process payments, and manage your subscription.
• To answer support requests and send you important account and service notices.
• To send our newsletter, if you have opted in (see Section 3).
• To keep the Service secure and to detect and prevent fraud, spam, and abuse.
• To comply with legal obligations.

To check fares, we search airline websites using the airports, dates, and cabins you track. We never send an airline your name, email address, or any other personal information.

3. Emails We Send

• Fare alerts and account emails: Sign-up codes, password resets, fare alerts, and billing notices are part of the Service. You can turn fare alerts off in your account settings.
• Newsletter: Occasional product news, sent only to people who have opted in. Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link, and you can change your choice at any time in your account settings.

4. Information Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. We share it only with the service providers that help us run FareCat, and only for that purpose:

• Linode (Akamai): hosts our servers and database in the United States.
• Stripe: processes payments.
• Postmark: delivers our emails.
• Zoho: hosts our support mailbox, meow@farecat.com.
• Google and Apple: confirm your identity when you use their sign-in.
• OpenAI: until September 2026, FareCat offered an AI fare assistant. Questions typed into it were sent to OpenAI to generate answers, and we keep a log of those questions with your account. The assistant is no longer available.

We may also disclose information:

• If required by law, regulation, legal process, or a governmental request.
• As part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case we will notify you.
• When we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of FareCat, our users, or the public.

FareCat's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

5. Data Security and Retention

All traffic to FareCat is encrypted in transit with TLS. Passwords are stored only as bcrypt hashes, and access to our servers and database is restricted to the people who run the Service. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

• Your account: We keep your information while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time from your account settings. This immediately removes your account, routes, alerts, support requests, and email preferences. We keep a record of the newsletters we sent to your email address, and copies of deleted data may remain in database backups until those backups are deleted.
• Server logs: Deleted after 14 days. An IP address tied to a security event, such as spam sent through our contact form, may be kept longer.
• Fare data: The prices we collect are stored by route and date, not by person. They are not linked to you and are kept after you delete your account.

6. Cookies

FareCat sets one essential session cookie that keeps you signed in. It is required for the Service to work. We do not use analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking cookies. If you pay with Stripe, Stripe may set its own cookies on its checkout pages to prevent fraud.

7. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Deletion: Delete your account yourself from your account settings, or ask us to do it.
• Portability: Request a machine-readable copy of your data.
• Objection: Object to certain processing of your data.
• Withdrawal of Consent: Withdraw consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing from the newsletter.

To exercise any of these rights, email meow@farecat.com. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Children's Privacy

FareCat is for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to use it. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

9. International Users

FareCat is operated from the United States, and your information is stored and processed in the United States. Data protection laws there may differ from those where you live.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it last changed. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or with a prominent notice on our website at least 14 days before they take effect.

11. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices: