Hi Rita. I will try to stick to the question.

I have been a BestFares member for about 4 years. It was not started as a hobby by a bunch of college co-eds who purchased bulk fares. It was started as a travel newsletter by Tom Parsons who like a number of us seemed to be able to secure better travel deals for himself and fellow employees at a firm he worked for on his own compared to those fares offered by so called travel professionals. Just like Randy Peterson he became a self taught expert in his field of travel!

BestFares was one of the first travel web sites to offer unbiased travel "information;" something that until then was hard to come by. Four years ago being a BestFares member DID result in savings generally not available to the public via other sources because the way Tom went about securing it was unconventional.

But I think things have changed. Today there are a variety of travel information sources to choose from. Additionally, BestFares seems to have "lost" its edge. I continue to subscribe because it offers travel tools I continue to find useful; a compilation of the lowest fares from A to B whether published, privately negotiated or internet based. Although it seems more and more difficult to actually secure some of the low cost "member only" fares advertised, I continue to find the resource a useful one to keep track of what really is a good fare.

An example. Several months ago my wife had to travel to GPT from the Bay Area. Although with a lot more investigation we probably could have discovered the published fares from/to Sacramento [SMF? (about 110 miles away)] were about 40% cheaper than from the Bay Area proper, we learned this info in about 30 seconds using BestFares' online fare checker. We then had to decide if it was worth driving the extra 70 miles for this level of savings.

Another feature is snooze-you-lose [SYL] fares. Everyday [three times a day] BestFares publishes 50 or more such fares whenever there is an unusual change [thus rather being locked into a particular route, you learn of changes systemwide]. Sometimes the fares are "mistakes" which get remedied by the airlines in several hours or so. Thus sometimes you can secure a heck of a bargain if you have some flexibility and act quickly [the more you follow these fares the more you learn what may and may not be a "mistake"].

Another feature is regular e-mail alerts whenever special fares are introduced. True today you can secure such alerts from a number of on line sources. But with BestFares you get a feel for the level of fares some months [or even a year or more (where there is a mistake)] in advance.

True you don't need to be a "member" to discover this information nor usually to secure the fruits. But the information continues to be valuable to us. Someone has to pay for this information and that is the subscriber. So if you appreciate the information you may want to consider becoming a subscriber. If you don't, then don't. If you're making your decision based upon whether or not you can secure some special member's only fare, you're probably going to be disappointed. If you want me as a member to secure it on your behalf, send an e-mail.

Anyway, hope this helps and no I am not affiliated in any manner with BestFares!