I'd never taken the time to do this research before, so I was surprised to learn when I did that some E-Fares really offer little benefit over published fares.

I checked into the current Hawaii fares for travel SFO-HNL around the end of October. Price using E-Fares: $372.52. Price using regular Web booking engine: $417.52, a difference of $45. For that $45 you become restricted in your dates (E-Fares only being good for some dates) and the ability to upgrade (E-Fares are non-upgradeable).

If that's the case right now with the European and Pacific fares, too, wouldn't it just be smarter to use the normal Web booking engine in order to be able to upgrade using SWUs (assuming you have them, as so many on this board do)?

Has anyone actually seen measurable, significant savings using E-Fares over normal Web fares?