Use of www.cheaptickets.com
 

Has anyone utilized Cheaptickets versus Expedia, Travelocity, biz.travel etc. to obtain tickets. Do FF miles still apply to these flights? It seems strange to me that on a significant number of city pairs, Cheaptickets has fares that are substantially below what can be purchased immediately from the other aforementioned sites or even the airlines own web site. Does anyone have any specific information regarding their ability to provide this service. I promise, this is not a thinly disguised ad, I am just rather curious how they manage to provide this service. Case in point. EWR-YYZ seems to always be available w/Cheaptickets on the exact same flight (mid-day inbound/outbound)on Air Canada. I have never been able to obtain this price/routing on any other site at this price.

Cheaptickets is a consolidator, kind of an anti-scalper: They buy from the airlines blocks of seats/tickets at discounts, but rather than selling them at jacked-up prices, they pass along the savings to individual travellers such as yourself. While they would make less on each ticket individually, profit would be made up by selling greater volumes.

I haven't used their website, but in the past have booked tickets through their telephone number. The reason I haven't used their website is that they require a credit card number to be stored in order to register. As much as I book on the web at other sites, I'm not particularly enamored with the idea of having to store a CC number just to look up a fare.

Frequent flier miles are awarded for flights booked with them. However, though I have not personally encountered this, it is conceivable they may offer fares that are not subject to mileage award.

The phenomenon of getting good EWR-YYZ fares unlike at any other place just might be the result of Cheaptickets' having identified and exploiting that route as a niche.

Concerning Cheaptickets' (telephone) customer service, it's hit or miss. Sometimes you get a decent rep; other times (more than with many other travel resources I've used), you get a testy wise-..., like the one who told me, "Look, you do your job, and I'll do mine, you know what I mean?" when I asked about throwing in an extra segment for the all-important segment/minimum miles credit.

FQTV is correct. Cheaptickets is a consolidator. Many of their tickets in and out of DEN, for example, are on Frontier and are sometimes well below F9's own fares. As far as I know they qualify for mileage credit but haven't used them myself so I can't vouch for that.

I have utilized Cheaptickets and have been very pleased... and have gotten frequent flyer credits.

William

I used them also but have not flown on the ticket yet so can't vouch for the miles. But service was reliable and ticket is fine and in SABRE. I called US directly and put in my FF#. On a side note and in a thread in the CO board, I get better connections from CheapTickets than I do from US phone or internet booking. Go figure!

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Everytime I've called them (numerous) the agent has said there are NO miles.

A friend of mine used cheaptickets once and was very pleased with the price, but no .....she could not get miles with the ticket. I would call them to make sure before booking.

I've flown on CheapTickets fares twice this year. In each case (Virgin and United) I received miles, although my Confirmation email when I purchases the United ticket said that no miles would be awarded.

I was also happy with the price. Cheaper than my cross-checks with Expedia, The Trip and the airlines themselves.

I've used cheaptickets several times. I look up the information on the web site then call with the itinerary I want and book it over the phone. I'm too paraniod to put my credit card on the net. I have always gotten miles with tickets from them.

One thing to note though. Make sure that what you want is what you order. Change fees are high and difficult. This spring I had a vacation ticket Seattle to Tampa via Vegas. The weekend I was outbound the company I work for wanted to send me to Vegas for training. It was cheaper to send someone else than change my ticket to allow the stopover.

For the posters saying call and ask if FF miles are awarded...have the agents you spoken with been able to answer the question? The cheaptickets fare rules do not cite a code--just the text of the abbreviated fare rules. Do agents on the phone know the site and the policies offhand?

I just used cheap tickets for a trip to Mexico. They were great, good price and they said I could get miles on TWA. I called the airline just to make sure and they confirmed it. You will have to call the airline and have them add you FF number to your tickets.

Just called them last week, and they could NOT help me for an international itinerary - but the agent specifically said you DO get miles credit even on their specially contracted rates! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Of course I can't confirm it! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Don't forget that if you buy tickets online from Cheap Tickets through PointClick at http://www.pointclick.com you'll get 10% of your ticket purchase price back (up to $100) PLUS point credit up the value of the ticket. Cheap Tickets is in the travel section but doesn't always show up. (By the way, if you decide to sign up and want to be really nice to me, on the signup page there's a space for the referrer's email address. Mine is [email protected]).

TravelLover,
You beat me to it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

BTW, it has been on my website for a while -
http://www.valueconsumer.com/Results...eapTickets.com

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For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for fiance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com

Used them last year on 2 Reno flights and got my miles with AAdvantage.
Service (booking) was acceptable; picking up the ticket (last minute deal) at their CTO near LAX was a 1 1/2 hr. exercise.