Farecompare seems to have implemented molto fluff in recent changes (graphics heavy e-mails, fancy pantsy java business on their pages, etc.) at the cost of common sense functionality.

Can someone explain how I can conduct an open search for business class airfares in a market? (First and coach seem to be the only options.) And, how I can layer an airline on top of that? (e.g., display SFO-EZE, on AA, in business, month by month)

This used to exist...maybe a link to the old format exists somewhere?

E-mails to the fare compare customer service yield no fruit.

Recently, I completely removed my profile from Farecompare. It has become full with junk graphics and Java crap, and does not load correctly anymore, even not with Internet Explorer!

I switched to Yapta: www.yapta.com^

I too noticed that the functionality of farecompare has made a nosedive recently. Unfortunate since it was so helpful in the past.

I don't even bother with it anymore. All the pop-ups and I can't even remember when I was able to find a deal with it.

Farecompare seems to have removed the ability to list business class fares.. as if the world can only fly coach and first class.

Along with the excessive scripting, I'd say it's impressive how Farecompare took a perfectly functioning website and turned it into crap.

I could not agree more, I wish websites would learn than more fluff is not better, look at Google! People made Google the most popular search tool because it loaded quickly and easily.

I use a slow connection through my mobile most of the time, I have had to quit using farecompare as it loads so slowly and sometimes not at all. it was not worth the frustration.

Farecompare, if you are listening, your product is great! But I can't click through 5 pages of memory and application-intensive screens to get where I need to go.

Thanks for confirming that I'm not offbase.

I imagine the farecompare powers-that-be write off "Flyertalk type users" as frequent flyer junkies that don't represent the real world. While they may be right to a an extent, they're neglecting the degree to which we may have evangelized farecompare to less frequent travelers in the past...and the fact that many of us aren't passing the word along at all now.

Hasta luego FC.

Actually, I seem to remember Farecompare employees posting here pretty frequently. I still use the "special Flyertalk search" feature (sort by CPM is golden) almost daily:
http://www.farecompare.com/search/flyertalk.html

The links from there used to go to the old version of the lowest-fare-by-month pages (blue was the main color) and were a convenient backdoor to "the old FC" until maybe 2-3 weeks ago. Now they go to the same awful Ajax'ed orange pages that visitors to the home page get.

I am a FT newbie and recently started looking at farecompare's PPM comparison - however I never seem to find any flights available for the fares that are listed? Am I just looking at dates that the fares are soldout (and is there a way to see if they are available on other dates?) or am I doing something wrong? Thanks again!

No, that's the new FC. They display fares you wish you can get, then pull the old bait n switch. I used to like them and travelocity dream maps - both are gone now. It always amazes me how a company can take a perfectly good and functional site and replace it with a slowly performing site with little to no functionality.

There's a consulting firm laughing all the way to the bank right now.

Farecompare can't decide whether they want to provide fare information or sell tickets. I assume the problem is all the real money is in selling tickets. So Farecompare keeps moving to referrals in that direction. But it has never been any good at that. And now it's no good at fare info.

As I remember it, that's always been FareCompare's sore point (look in the archives here; you'll see dozens of posts bemoaning "FC shows this fare but I can't find it"). They have always shown the lowest fare filed, even long after it's sold out -- that's why FTers use ITA, to see when such fares have availability. However, I always started with FareCompare to get a handle on what to search for -- which markets and which months.

flyingbrick is probably right: the $ is in click-throughs that sell tickets. There's no revenue in just providing reference information. ITA gets revenue from selling its software, ExpertFlyer and others sell subscriptions.

There are some factors that make people confused.

They are providing raw data here for FlyerTalkers, but also trying to give "prepared"data (i.e. all-in price) for general consumers. There is a one-way link from former (FT page) to latter (fare calendar page). People will see the first fare increment at this point. Then, many misunderstand what that calendar shows. It's NOT availability calendar. If the fare is not available on the date you select, will see the second fare increment. These are not really FareCompare's faults. I value FareCompare since I can see the raw data (and related fare information, which is something new by recent changes, I believe). However, there are many issues on regular consumer pages, which I don't use often.
I agree. If they realize giving raw data is harmful to themselves, I am wondering if the FT link might stop functioning like Trvlcty abandoned their Dream Maps.

While I'm glad they still provide this page, it doesn't negate the other complaints mentioned above (which I share) about the direction in which farecompare is moving. I'm all for them generating revenue, of course, but many of the changes (read: largely useless bells and whistles) they've implemented only serve to make navigation more cumbersome. Same goes for the fare alert emails. There's more and more garbage, which seems to hearken back to late-90s web design theory (more colors! more moving parts!). CPMaverick nailed it with the Google comment.

Take the fare calendar linked off the FT page. It used to be so simple, so straightforward. You could click a 'leave date' and immediately see the top fares offered, by whom, and at what price. Yes the new version offers similar information, but it takes much longer and isn't as intuitive. New features (even ones not useful to FTers) are fine, I just they wouldn't make the old ones less functional and harder to use.

I don't deny (or even agree) most of comments above. My concern is, "It's too late after losing something". I believe many posters here still use FareCompare to find fares. If once FC decide to remove the FT link, then can you imagine what will happen to MR forum? (this forum has already changed a lot) I don't care who uses FC or who doesn't use.