|
 |
 How to Save on Your Next Flight
Read More Traveler Tested Reviews
Get Discount Airfare Deals in Your Inbox
 Share Your Thoughts on cFares.com!
Join a wholesale club and save money on a golf-cart-sized block of toilet paper or a bulk bag of frozen pizzas. Now you can also get wholesale prices on flights, too -- but don't expect to find stacks of tickets on the metal shelves of your local big-box store. cFares.com, one of dozens of discount airfare sites that have popped up on the Web in the last few years, carves out its niche by claiming to offer discounted "wholesale" airfares to those who pay a $50 membership fee.
In the heavily populated world of airfare booking sites, competition is steep. cFares alleges that it's better than its competitors because it searches for fares from sources the other sites don't touch, like consolidators and online travel agencies. According to the site, you'll make up for your $50 membership fee in one to two purchases. Sounds good -- but is it true?
cFares works directly with consolidators, companies that purchase airfare tickets in bulk. Consolidators typically resell their fares to travel agencies and do not work with cFares' online competitors, such as Orbitz and Travelocity. Fare aggregators like Kayak.com are not connected with consolidators either; you won't find listings of these fares on most airfare search sites.
cFares also offers a hotel search function, although the site's main focus is wholesale airfares.
You don't have to purchase a membership to get a look at the fare offerings or to book a flight with a travel provider listed in your sesrch results on cFares, but you cannot buy any "wholesale" fares on the site without upgrading to a Platinum membership. For an annual fee of $50, Platinum members may purchase cFares' tickets, either through the site itself or by connecting to an alternative online travel agency or airline and submitting a rebate to cFares. Platinum members may book an unlimited number of tickets for friends or family members. A Platinum membership fee may be refunded within the first 30 days, as long as no tickets have been purchased with the membership.
Before crowning cFares the Costco of airfare booking sites, we put it to the test. We examined whether cFares lives up to its claims that it offers the best selection of low fares online and whether its $50 membership really pays off. 
 Test Drive
How It Stacks Up: I tested cFares against three of its competitors: Vayama, Kayak and Travelocity. I first searched for fares from Los Angeles to London in June, part of the high season for European travel. The airline sites that cFares searches are listed on the left of the results page so that you can see what has been covered (the airlines searched in each session change depending on the itinerary and often include major airlines such as United, US Airways and Lufthansa).
The lowest available airfare was $1,180 from cFares with a rebate -- only $17 lower than $1,197 for the fare without the cFares rebate, which could be booked by leaving cFares and going to the lessno Web site. With the $50 membership fee tacked onto a cFares ticket, the lessno's $1,197 was the best bet.
For the same dates and itinerary, I found the following roundtrip fares: $1,230 on Vayama, $1,333 on Kayak and $1,353 on Travelocity. cFares smashed the competition in this case -- and by referring me to lessno, an online travel agency.
My next test drive was an autumn roundtrip flight from Philadelphia to Portland, Oregon. I got a cFares ticket from $243 with rebate, and a "travel site" ticket for $263 from CheapOair. Again, keeping the $50 membership fee in mind, the $263 price offered by CheapOair was the cheapest ticket. Other sites gave us the following fares: $333 on Vayama, $284 on Kayak and $238 on Travelocity. Travelocity was the low-price winner.
Wondering whether savings on a higher-priced business-class fare would more easily recoup the $50 membership fee, I tried the same Philadelphia-to-Portland itinerary in business class instead of economy. cFares and Kayak both came up with a $1,272 roundtrip fare. Travelocity showed a roundtrip business-class ticket for $1,240. And Vayama found no flights matching my request.
 Neat and Nifty
When searching roundtrip flights, users can choose to compare their results to fares on Hotwire, CheapOair, BookingBuddy, and Comparison.travel. Since these price comparisons don't show up in the "travel site" results, a new window will pop for each site you select and you'll be directly connected to those sites. If you're already planning to search for fares on a bunch of sites (and we recommend that you do), this feature prevents you from having to type your itinerary over and over again in each site's search engine.
Buyer Beware
Some ticket savings are offered in the form of rebates. The user books a fare through an alternative travel booking site, then returns to cFares to claim a rebate. However, rebates are only good if the member's name is on the ticket. This means that if you're buying a companion ticket, you will not get the rebate savings.
The Bottom Line
cFares' airfare search strategy, which combs travel agent and consolidator sites, offers low fares -- sometimes. But more often than not, as we proved in our test drive, you can find a lower fare somewhere else on the Web. If you find a reasonable ticket price through cFares, the site is a useful tool only when your savings exceed $50. Because cFares allows you to search a unique set of sites that aren't accessible on most other booking engines, using this site can make your bargain hunt much more thorough.
In the end, cFares falls short of its claims that it provides the lowest prices on the Web, but it does join the long lineup of airfare booking sites that should be checked each time you book a flight. Sometimes it generates a bargain; sometimes it doesn't. Bookmark cFares and run a search next time you need to fly, but don't pay for a membership unless you find something really special.
Independent Traveler Grade: B
What does this grade mean?
How would YOU rate cFares.com? Share your opinion!
Related Links
Traveler Tested: Yapta.com
Traveler Tested: Vayama.com
Get the Best Airplane Seat
Find Discount Airfare Deals
Write About Your Latest Trip
--written by Caroline Costello
Editor's Note: IndependentTraveler.com is a member of the TripAdvisor Media Network, an operating company of Expedia, Inc. Expedia, Inc. also owns Hotels.com and Hotwire.
|
Last Updated: 01/05/09
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Share This Page:
E-Mail
Print
RSS
Save
|
