Best Travel Store

[cactusrose]

Has anyone ever purchase airline tickets through this site? They have some good fairs but need to know if they are reliable.

[jjssitters]

I would like to know this too,anyone?

[isazakai]

Hi there,

 

I purchased a round-trip ticket to the Philippines about a month ago through this site. The prices were about $200 less than what I found elsewhere, so I decided to go ahead and make the reservation. Instead of paying online you actually have to fax back a payment agreement that they send you. It is a bit of a hassle for those of us who are accustomed to paying online instantly, but I had no trouble. Within 30 minutes of faxing it I received an e-mail saying they had received my payment. Less than one week later the tickets arrived via FedEx. From what I can tell, these are indeed real tickets.

 

You will need a physical ticket for international flights, so add another $15 for the 2nd-day FedEx delivery. You don't have any other choice in this matter, but I don't think you'll miss the extra $15.

 

I still have to contact the airline to find out what my seat assignments are (they weren't listed on the boarding pass), but I've had no trouble from Best Travel Store to this point. I had never heard of them before either. I think their lower prices can be attributed to their lack of heavy advertising.

 

I will let you know if something unusual happens with my ticket. I need to contact the airline soon for my seating assignment, so I can also confirm that my reservation is in their computer.

[cactusrose]

After checking with the Los Angeles better business bureau, I finally purchased my ticket through this company. I had the same experience as isazakai. I was able to purchase a one way to Copenhagen and saved amost $900 for the two of us over what the cruise line quoted. Of course the cruise line was including tickets from FLL to SFO. I have free tickets for that segment but if I had to pay for them the overall savings would have been $600. After I bought my ticket, I noticed that BT Store is a partner on tripadvisor.com

 

I'm very happy with my flight and the price.

[isazakai]

I contacted the airline today to get my seating assignments. They were all aisle seats, just as I had requested on the Best Travel Store website. In addition, she even confirmed the correct meal type.

 

So, the most difficult part of this whole process was having to use a pen to fill out the Credit Card Holder Authorization form and then faxing it to them...took an entire 15 minutes ;). If you can handle using some old technology then I'd certainly recommend Best Travel Store to everyone :)

 

These guys don't advertise like Expedia, so they can offer better rates. I do use Expedia for domestic flights, and I'd recommend them as well if you're staying in the U.S.

[vossjemi]

How do you contact them for pricing?

[isazakai]

Just visit http://www.bt-store.com and select your travel dates, departure and destination. Overall, the website isn't quite as easy to use as Expedia.com, but I didn't really have much trouble my first time through. One thing to note about the fares (at least for my international flight): the prices they show you at first do NOT include an airport tax. After you actually select a specific departure/return it will then calculate the new price with the airport tax ($136 for me). For my trip the final price was $892, compared with $1,100 to $1,200+ on other sites.

[cruisingmimi]

Hi isazakai,

 

I just checked out Best Travel Store and their prices are very good (best I've seen so far). I have been searching for flights from Boston to Rome for Oct. & every other website has been much higher. The connections aren't as good as other sites but I can live w/ that if the price is right. They are also members of the Better Business Bureau and you can check out their report right there on the website. Just click the BBB logo. They have not had many complaints against them.

 

It is certainly worth checking into. They didn't have return flights on the day I wanted so we would have to stay over an extra day.

 

Thanks so much for the info.

 

Mary

[isazakai]

You are quite welcome. One interesting note is that my tickets have a price listed on them.....and it is over $1,400! This must be the raw, non-discounted price. I quickly checked my bank statement to make sure I hadn't misread something, but all was okay. Just be forewarned, and don't have a heart attack. :p

 

And by the way.....as far as the cancellation policy is concerned, I don't recall ever seeing the words "non-refundable". It appears to be a stepped system, meaning the amount of refund decreases as the day of departure looms ever closer. No matter what, though, you forfeit at least $100 if you decide to cancel, even if it's months in advance. If you are less than 45 days from your scheduled departure you start losing a percentage of the ticket price, and this percentage steadily increases every few weeks or so. They will provide a section describing this, so make sure you take note of it.

 

Happy flying!

[cactusrose]

I contacted the airline today to get my seating assignments. They were all aisle seats, just as I had requested on the Best Travel Store website. In addition, she even confirmed the correct meal type.

 

So, the most difficult part of this whole process was having to use a pen to fill out the Credit Card Holder Authorization form and then faxing it to them...took an entire 15 minutes ;). If you can handle using some old technology then I'd certainly recommend Best Travel Store to everyone :)

 

These guys don't advertise like Expedia, so they can offer better rates. I do use Expedia for domestic flights, and I'd recommend them as well if you're staying in the U.S.

 

I don't recall seeing a seat selection area on their website. Did I just miss it?

[cruisingmimi]

I don't think they have a seat selection on travel store. I have been researching flights on their myself.

 

Go to http://www.seatguru.com

 

They have all the airlines listed and seat selections area too.

[isazakai]

I couldn't select the specific seat....just the seating type (i.e. aisle or window). I had asked for aisle seats on all flights and was granted this request.