Yeruf

I am considering purchasing a year of the Bestfares.com website. We travel quite a bit and on the surface they seem to be worth the $$. Does anyone out there use them and are you happy with their service? Thanks!

hugglynn

I subscribed to the magazine a few years back after hearing an infomercial broadcast while driving. I must say I found it to be useless and basically, Tom Parsons just full of hot air.

Seamus

Have to agree with the previous poster - I let my membership lapse because they never offered anything better than I could get myself.

Patrick

There have been other posts on this subject. I have no personal experience, but the general agreement has been to forget it.

bigtyke

i have been a member for several years and it has paid for itself many times over. Do a search to get everyone's comments.

diart

Here is a list of some of the deals I have gotten off of bestfares over the past few years that I can think of off-hand:

$89 ($58 fare + $41 tax/fees) ROUNDTRIP from Houston to NYC - one month's notice.

$320 ROUNDTRIP including all fees from Austin to Maui - 2 month's notice

$62 ROUNDTRIP + tax/fees from San Antonio to Cleveland

$179 + fees RT from Dallas to Honolulu on United

$19 ROUNDTRIP from Dallas to Nashville

$49 hotel room in French Quarter on Bourbon St. - normally $200 (Crescent something?)

$108 ROUNDTRIP incl. fees/tax from Houston to LA.

$229 ROUNDTRIP + approx. $100 gov. taxes from Dallas to London

$138 RT ($150 incl. tax) Dallas to Denver

$111 RT + taxes from Austin to NYC

$89 RT + tax to Atlanta

PT Cruiser rental in LA 5 days for $75

Caribbean cruises starting at $249 regularly

$129 per night for a B&B in Lahaina, Maui w/in-room hot tub.

One Free week international mobile phone rental. Incoming calls $.99 per minute - Outgoing $2.99.

Two-for-one hotel stays in LA. Stayed at the Carlyle, a small boutique hotel right where Beverly Hills & West Hollywood meet for $65 per night.


As you can see I have used bestfares a lot over the years. I do not use Travel Agents EVER. I have very few complaints about bestfares. They used to keep you on hold for 15-20 minutes but that has improved drastically. They have also changed the format & I don't find the deals quite as easily as I used to but that may be due to 9/11. I think that the format was changed a little while after that. Also, you don't know what times flights are available until you call the number provided but they will tell you prior to booking unlike hotwire or priceline. The airlines are always the biggies: United, AA, NWA, SWA, USAirways, Continental, etc. A lot of times you have to change planes but not always.

I have come to believe that bestfares works for certain types of people. (I don't mean anything derogatory by that.) I always refer co-workers & friends to bestfares but I find that many are not willing to do the work required. They usually come back to me & want me to find them a flight, hotel, car, etc. for them. It is a matter of preference I suppose. I like to take extra steps to save money when I can & some people prefer not to have to bother. When I am planning a trip I check the site several times a day & I am ready to book as soon as I find something. Some sales last days & some don't even last an hour! I tell people that they have to be ready to jump on something when they find it. If they find a great deal they need to book it -- decide in advance when, where, how long, etc.

If I am not mistaken they will refund your money if you are not satisfied. I had one co-worker (creep) that joined then quit his membership, got his money back, then started coming to me to book something for him when he wanted to go. NO WAY! The nerve!

Anyway, as you can tell I am willing to fly out of Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio even though I live in Austin. I think a 1-3 hour drive max. is not too bad if I save a couple of hundred $$. We have family in all 3 cities so we can visit them as well.

Just call them at 800-880-1234 & find out if I am correct about the money back guarantee. For $5 a month ($60 annual membership fee) you get a travel magazine w/good information plus car rental & hotel discounts plus access to all the deals on the website. While I check as many sites as I can I find bestfares to be most useful for my needs. Good luck.

Yeruf

Thanks so much! I am like you and do alot of research before making a trip. I think I will give it a try!

djkbooks

I joined Bestfares a few years ago just ahead of a trip to Paris. I had diligently shopped flights and fares.

In my observation, Bestfares does not have any exclusive fares, rather collect all the fares available from various resources.

They give you a month to try their service and cancel for a full refund. I did not receive my membership kit until three weeks after I signed up on line.

Anyway, after spending considerable time over several days (once I got my password) sifting through the fares at the Bestfares website, I finally found what looked like a great fare for our dates.

I set about phoning Bestfares (you must book through them and have a the code for that particular fare). I tried off and on for several days, giving up after half an hour or so on hold each time. Note you can phone only during regular business hours 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Central time, Monday-Friday. After a few days and having to wait until Monday, I decided to hold until someone answered. Nearly an hour.

The rep insisted that we would have to connect in St. Louis (Boston to Paris?). Finally, she found flights (inconvenient departures times each way) connecting in NYC with a six-hour connection in one direction and a way too short connection in the other. When she calculated the "final" fare, with the fees, taxes, etc., it was less than $10 lower than direct flights on American (with the extra leg room) and at convenient times.

I then phoned a consolidator who matched the lowest American fares, on the direct flights at my preferred times, I had found on the web and gave another 10% off for booking the same day.

The good news is that Bestfares refunded my membership fee, without a hassle, even though by then it was several days past 30.

diart

Too bad some of you have had bad experiences with bestfares. I just have never come close to finding the deals like I have found on any other site. People are astounded (& probably disbelieving) when I tell them what I have paid. I never fly w/in the continental US for more than $200 EVER since I found bestfares.

As far as calling to book a flight I need to clear that up. Yes, sometimes the hours are between 8am - 6pm CST but that depends on which travel agency is dedicated to that particular sale. Sometimes the hours are as late as 11pm & sometimes 7 days a week. Occasionally they will just give you the info & which airline to call. It varies. I have called & spoken w/agents in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, etc. -- and during that time the phone number provided (non-Dallas) is specific to that sale.

Oh, and just because bestfares is in Dallas does not mean the best deals are found originating out of DFW. Not at all. In fact, I find more deals out of NYC, Atlanta, Florida, LA, Chicago, & Boston.

As I and the previous posters mentioned the wait on the phone used to be awful but that has vastly improved. I haven't waited any excessive length of time in the past couple of years that I can recall. Usually I get straight through.

Hope it works for you. Really, is $60 too much to gamble to try out what will probably save you in excess of that the first time you use it? (BTW, the creep that cancelled his membership yet wanted me to save him $75 per ticket w/MY membership cancelled after several months & got a full refund.)

Happy travels!

crepes_a_go_go

I was just about to post a question about bestfares.com, decided to do a search. Glad I did. I was about to plop down my $60 without doing any research which is SOOOOOOOOOO unlike me. I have to admit I am OCD when it comes to bargain fares. The prices they show on a trip I need to book right now are incredible, but I wonder if it is one of those things "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is" situations.

Has anyone used them in the last 3 months who would like to comment on their experience? Appreciate it.

travleis

A friend let me use his BestFares password for a year awhile back.
What a waste.
Inconvenient, lots of hidden fees and taxes not included in the gimmicky price, hard to actually book fares that were advertised, and other non-fee sites now compete well.

threehearts

I also joined Bestfares about 2 years back and did not find the service very helpful. I am fairly travel saavy but the work it took to book a reasonable price was not worth it compared to what I could do myself online. I would not join again. Threehearts

bigtyke

You might sign up for their email alerts that are put out every few days telling of special fares.

Also besfares.com has a fare finder feature that is very useful. It is open to all and shows several airlines as well as special bestfares "member only" fares. If nothing else, it gets you a good starting point.

bigtyke

Just saved $170 on my rental car by using a bestfares coupon and promo.

Also, after listening to Tom Parsons on the radio last week (he is on for 5 minutes each week on our local radio travel show), I learned that US Air is having a sale. I confirmed it on the fare finder feature on the bestfares.com website (public part of the site) and then went on the US Air website to save at least $35 per person on the best fare I could have hoped for to Hartford.

travleis

You can also sign up for free farewatcher e-mail alerts at places like travelocity, so that any time any airfare drops below a threshold you decide on, they alret you via e-mail.