A post on the FareChase site makes the situation clear: "FareChase will no longer be available after March 25th."  The lack of a press release, blog post, or anything else or significance implies that the matter isn’t up for discussion.

 Yahoo FareChase

As for why FareChase is closing, its parent company is apparently trying to narrow its focus.  "You can continue to find great deals on flights, hotels, and cars on Yahoo! Travel," the post continues.

And in all honesty, the move does make sense.  FareChase and Yahoo Travel look highly similar, but the second site is a little nicer-looking and has a name that’s more in line with the rest of Yahoo’s products.  If costs need to be cut – and at Yahoo, they clearly do – FareChase represents a good place to save a few bucks.

A hat tip goes to Brian Womack, who noted, "Yahoo Travel relies on Sabre Holdings Corp.’s Travelocity to book trips for customers."

Their new Personalized Trip Recommendations module features ten destinations based on a users online activity and preferences. The module also links to information on air/hotel deals, weather, travel suggestions from Yahoo users and a destination Travel Guide.

"We want to fundamentally transform the way people plan and research their trips and our Trip Recommendations are designed to inspire people with new ideas of where to go, and the best price for getting there," said Jasper Malcolmson, director of Yahoo! Travel.

"By tapping into the collective intelligence of other like-minded travelers, there is a greater ability to plan and take truly memorable trips – no matter how near or far you want to go."

The site also features Personalized Travel Deals that show results of the best hotel and flight options based on closest airport and the best prices found by other Yahoo users.

In addition Yahoo has added a new mapping functionality that allows other maps to be layered over a Yahoo Map providing greater detail of a location and customized mapping options.

The Yahoo Messenger Flight Planner is another new feature that has an instant messenger plug-in that allows users to research and make flight reservations in real-time with friends or family. The flight planner plug-in searches for the most economical fares on Yahoo FareChase, enabling users to choose the best flight deal together.