I wanted to throw this out there and I hope this would be considered MR-related. I have recently discovered a web site: bt-store.com that only sells international itineraries and is about 25% less expensive than you would find on the airline web sites or travel sites. I was thinking this could be useful to some MR forum participants out there as you could rack up some miles for 3/4 of the price. Does anyone have experience with this site? Also, you can typically earn mileage for most itineraries on it.

If this is not the right forum, then please move it to the correct one.

I have about 20 minutes experience with this site. So far, it sucks. I picked an international trip I already have lined up, and wanted to compare price with what I have already paid. Search is long. And they make you search for each airline, so I had about 7 searches. And they never quoted a price. They just told me they could find no flights.

I suspect why it is cheaper (if, in fact it is), is that they search three days each way automatically, and they only quote if discount seats are found. When I search for flights, I already know I need to search multiple days each way if I have flexibility. And I'd much rather use ITA or EF.

I vote thumbs down on this site, based on a very limited test.

I've used this site in the past and I'll agree the user interface could be better but it very often does offer cheaper fares for international routings than other sites (as it also carries consolidator fares). As the previous poster mentioned it searches days around your target date but, in addition, also searches area airports in addition to the airport you enter, a real timesaver for folks in the Bay Area, for example. It also gives a detailed printout of the rules applicable to each fare (including whether mileage may be accrued, all fares i have ever checked allowed miles to be accrued).

One drawback (unless things have changed) is that a booking sometimes has to be completed by phone even after apparently completing an online reservation.

...it also carries consolidator fares).

Most Consolidator fares don't qualify for mileage in most programs. YMMV.

It is a very crappy interface, but a SEAsia open jaw through them was 22% less than united.com, booked as a W fare. If I lived in LA, I would just go to one of their offices.

YMMV, usual disclaimers.

I've played around with an easy LON-NYC search on their site, and 10 minutes later the best it can find is $50 more than booking with orbitz, and BT switched my dates within their 3 day search to get that option.

Can't figure out why they show a fare display without checking for availability, then make the user search each airline at a time??

So in other words ... my vote is don't bother ...

I and some friends of mine have used this place in my pre-FT days. They do sometimes have good prices, but I wouldn't go so far as to associate with MRs.

Most Consolidator fares don't qualify for mileage in most programs. YMMV.

True, but they do have rules for each fare and it would say whether or not the specific fare qualifies for mileage. I guess a drawback I saw in it was that you wouldn't get the booking mileage bonus but in general they could be about 15-20% cheaper...

Used them a few months ago to book my summer trip on United to Germany. about $200 cheaper than the best fare on ual.com/orbitz/ita/expedia etc. Unlike other consolidator sites, it did show fare class and rules before booking, so I knew it was going to be V on United and would earn miles. Had to fax my credit card authorization to complete the booking. For my trip to Germany on Christmas, they were more expensive than the regular sites.

I played around with it when I am looking for SE asia flights ex US. It does sometimes come up with some weird routings (rare). I almost purchased a ticket SFO-JFK-NRT-TPE on UA for less than 750 all in. However, I opted to fly China Airlines since it was the same price and gave the flexibility of having an open return ticket.

Most Consolidator fares don't qualify for mileage in most programs. YMMV.

Correct but ALL flights on bt-store qualify on United.

I purchased a ticket on AA to South America with BT-Store in March 2005. No problems, but having to fax a charge authorization was a bit annoying. Ticket was cheapest by about $50 (searching a bunch of consolidators) and earned miles. The interface does take some time to get used to.

Anyone have any recent experience with this travel site.

I'm finding MSP-SIN $350 cheaper than on NWA.com. Site indicates that Worldperks mileage will be accrued.

:confused:

bt-store very often has the best prices for one-way flights to Europe -- excellent when needed for doing a transatlantic cruise back from Europe to the U.S. Unfortunately, they only offer flights that begin in the U.S. - can't get one-ways from Europe to the U.S.
Haven't used them otherwise.

I'm finding trips to BKK for about $350 less than .bomb. Even though the fare rules say it's a W fare, it also says it's not upgradeable. Since W fares are upgradeable with SWUs, is a W fare the same no matter what the source or is a W fare from bt-store.com somehow different than a W fare from .bomb?

And also, why would .bomb only show Q fares if this other site has W fares available?

Any help greatly appreciated. thanks!

I'm finding trips to BKK for about $350 less than .bomb. Even though the fare rules say it's a W fare, it also says it's not upgradeable. Since W fares are upgradeable with SWUs, is a W fare the same no matter what the source or is a W fare from bt-store.com somehow different than a W fare from .bomb?

And also, why would .bomb only show Q fares if this other site has W fares available?

Any help greatly appreciated. thanks!

Same thing happening on NWA.com. Only Q fares available there. Don't know why these guys can get lower fares and why NWA does not release anything lower than Q. bttravel promises that I will get WP miles so for a fare with this many miles I'm not even concerned with upgrade possibilities.

:confused:

And also, why would .bomb only show Q fares if this other site has W fares available?


Maybe because it is a consolidated fare only available through certain travel agents?

I've used this site once for a one-way UA ticket from NY to SIN and the fare class stated prior to purchase was W. Post-ticketing, my reciept said the fare basis was WBULK and UA.com was happy to upgrade it with an SWU. I recieved full EQMs and RDMs and thoroughly enjoyed flying 10K miles in C for $500 as well as saving $2000 over the UA published fare.