IMHO, AwardPlanner is perfectly safe. I used them to plan three trips in 2002-3, and I liked them a lot. Then they raised the membership fee by over 100%, with very little explanation as to why. I was pretty turned off by that and did not renew. I felt like they were basically trying to get me to quit the service, and I still don't quite understand it.

But while I was a member, an agent named Yvonne handled my bookings. She did a very nice job.