Bestfares.com - Is it for Real??
 

You see so many "member only" fares on bestfares.com that seem ridiculously low and also they claim that you can also accrue mileage on all of them. Is this site for real? Any "fine print" we should know about? Any first hand "member" experiences? Honestly it always sounds too good - to be true!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares

Thanks for the links upgrade me but they appear to be from 1999 and 2000 so maybe a new thread was good. Its always nice to have you cruising around telling people to do a search. Nbarve: To answer your question...no..I have not ever used bestfares. If I find any info I'll let you know. Good luck!

Only once did I ever try to book a member fare on Bestfares - several years ago - and found no availability.

HOWEVER I have found Bestfares to be a good timely source of info on fare updates and changes using the city lowfare search.

I found Bestfares.com not very reliable and the the prices they advertised never available. I'm sure there are some good stories to report about the site.

If you are talking about the BestFares which is headquartered in Arlington Texas than I can vouch for the authenticity of the company. I can't tell you if the travel deals are better than other places, but I can tell you it is a very long standing and well run company. For years I ran a photography company and they hired us several times to do things for them. They have a track record so to speak and IIRC they have been around like 20 years. So availability might be spotty, but the company should still be there tommorrow. It is not like a lot of the companies registered in Florida that sell you packages good for a year or two and then go out of business in a month or two.

A: Did I complain about a new thread?
B: The reason the links (all from MilesBuzz) are old is because the moderators have had the good sense to move more recent threads elsewhere. But a quick check in TravelBuzz shows:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bestfares

I once subscribed to Bestfares.com. I was disappointed with them, mainly because the telephone agents often were unable to even pull up their own members specials.

This went on for a while, then one day I asked to cancel my membership. They cheerfully refunded the money, no questions asked...

I the found a number of small travel agents who seemed to very good at coming up with good deals and service. Now, sadly they are no longer in business and I have to do my own work. There are some links on FT pertaining to consolidators and agents that sell discounted international business tickets, but Bestfares.com was never a solution for me..

I have used them several times. What they do is make deals with different travel agents or travel companies. I have always managed to get the ticket I needed, BUT they charge you a fee to issue the ticket. Any where from $20 to $50. You have to add that to the fare they show and make a decision

always had to wait on the phone...

didn't have that kind of patience expecially since it never turned out

Indeed, the question really isn't about miles and points. I'll move it to TravelBuzz.

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
MilesBuzz and Delta moderator

I used them a couple times in the late 90's, and found them to be such a pain to deal with that it wasn't worth the hassle.

Example: Called to book fares, charged mine to my credit card, my sister's to hers. They called back a week later to tell me that my sister's card didn't go through, they need a new card, but can't give me the fare as it's expired. 2 hours of arguing with them, I got the fare.

Find out they have now charged my sister twice for the same trip, and getting a refund took 4 months, as they wouldn't admit any wrongdoing, until I got a VP on the phone and caught her in a lie about the whole thing.

Spent too many hours on the phone either on hold or arguing with them, just wasn't worth the money I was "saving"