We had excellent luck w/ the new PL just this past New Year's Eve. We bought the airline tickets 2 days before our scheduled departure---and they were much cheaper ($80.00+/ticket) than anything we could find elswewhere, including Travelocity, Expedia, and Bestfare.com's last minute deals/getaways. If memory serves, one of the good things about their new conventional airline pricing is that the price that's on the screen is the price that already includes gov't taxes and airline fees--so I guess we saved even more than 80 per ticket. I liked that we got to pick our flight times from several that were available.
I think maybe the new PL is best for tickets needed quickly, as opposed to tickets you need 3- 4++ weeks out. For those, Expedia and Travelocity, etc. may definately be better. It's strange, but I paid less w/ the new conventional pricing on PL than the amount that I had bid on PL for the same tix 2 days before.