Bestfares sent me a promo stating "$518 RT from SFO to any of 15 cities in Europe thru June 15 with quad miles" it sounds OK to me.
Anybody ever use them?

I made the mistake of purchasing a membership there last year and not cancelling it immediately. I've never gotten one penny of savings from their site. Everytime there's something of interest, you have to call them and sit on hold since they love to keep the major details a secret so you won't go to another site and buy it elsewhere. Though I'm not a member any longer, I noticed recently they were advertising promotions offering "quadruple miles" but of course you had to call them to find out what this really meant. I did, and after a long hold time I was connected with someone who had no clue and told me I needed to call another number (which took him several minutes to find). I did that, and of course they knew nothing there either but told me to call the first number again. I finally gave up after another long hold period.

When I first joined last year, I was billed immediately but received nothing. I called to inquire and was rudely told that new membership kits are sent out by bulk mail every 6-8 weeks. I refused to accept this since I had already paid $69.95 and insisted that they FedEx the materials to me. They fought but eventually conceded and did as requested. Of course considering what they send out I don't know what I thought the hurry was!

Incidentally, my renewal (for the cancelled membership) did arrive this year via third-class bulk mail, which violates USPS regulations by including unique information inside (membership card). I'm not impressed with their offerings or their ethics.

I just cancelled my membership. I received a membership card that was so badly printed that only 1/2 the info made it on the card. I called 3 months ago to request a replacement...oh, and maybe they could send me some of the monthly magazines, since I've gotten only one in nearly 6 months? I'm waiting on my refund (which, by the way, is being 'prorated,' despite their complete lack of any customer service.

This company has been noted many times....and the score seems 95% nay and 5% yea. Use "bestfares" (w/o quotes) in the search feature of FT to gain some useful background info.

I had been in the highly qualified 5% yea factor, until recently - now I'm firmly a nay.

To explain, the only reason I gave them a qualified "yea" was the included Quest membership. In previous years it offered $$$ NWA discounts - I saved my membership fee 5-10 times over. However, late last year the Quest perk was switched to $149 companion tickets - not a plus for solo travelers and many times my spouse and I can't travel on the same schedule.

My Best Fares membership expires in another month, so I called Quest last week to see if the Quest offering had changed (wanted to grab the perks while they were still available to me) -- found it's now strictly $$$ off on American airlines. Unfortunately,
AA has a very low profile around here...

As for using Best Fares to book a flight - as others have said -frustrating at best. Never able to actually use their suppposed big savings. (by the way, those savings usually seem to be for TWA or America West flights)

I will give them one thumbs up - their site can be helpful - the "snooze alarm" alerts
give the heads up necessary to nab seats during short lived sales.

I was a member for a year -- what a waste of money. Tried to book a few tickets and never could get them to price at a 'good' rate let alone a 'bestfare' except for sometimes on TWA. (I'll go to lowestfare.com for that)

Waste of money to subscribe; magazine is only passingly interesting and in this industry out of date before it gets to the mailbox.

Learn from my and other's mistake; save your $60 and check their Snooze Desk and here. You'll do much better.

I, too, was a member for a year and tried three different times to phone in a reservation. Each time I was on hold a long, long time. Once the person on the other end quoted me a fare higher than I could get by just calling the airline. Never did book with them. I think that company is living on the "celebrity" of Tom Parsons, who seems to keep getting booked on morning talk shows.

Out of curiosity, would someone mail a usermame and password to my email address under info. I would be interested if they still have the same 25 "great" deals and "wonderful" promises as they did 3 years ago.

I too have been a subscriber.Their customer service is poor and unreliable.However,I do see Bestfares quoted here in flyertalk.
There is some good info in the newsdesk section,so save your money,just use the free parts of the site.

I had a bad experience also. They gave me a comp membership for an additional year but when my password and ID number expired, theyclaimed they never gave me anything. Just use the free part of the site for "Snooze You Loose" info.

Perhaps it's off-thread but I have used 1-800-AIRTRAVEL to book UA tix and have been very happy. On full fare they save me 15% or so. They have deals to save $$ on other airlines too but I haven't any experience with that.

Wow! Am I glad to have followed this thread. I've been using Bestfare's newsdesk as a source of reference for about 18 months. It has proved useful in alerting me to specials that have just cropped up. I can usually decipher which airline they use in their "Members Only" (which BTW has become predominant) leads by the gateways they use. I was considering joining, but after reading these posts, I'll park my bucks elsewhere.

Thanks for the feedback. Based on all the negatives, I cancelled. Now I hope they do the "right thing" and credit me promptly. Did I read about a complaint web site somewhere on FT?

I agree that the info is not of much value. And the organization of the data is difficult to get through - and insufficient detail to know the real scoop. Looks like a Travel Agency that just posts "specials" as come ons. I cancelled after a year.

I cancelled after a year as well. The one time I tried to book a trip to Japan I called and the "best rate" they could get me was the lowest published fare at the time, which was on BA. If I'm going to book a published fare, I can do that on the airlines' web site and get an online booking bonus. There were consolidator fares on TISS at the time lower than that anyway.

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