Jenmom

Hello, I just found a very low fare from Miami to Paris for February 09 travel on Best Travel Store (www.bt-store.com). They offer the same flights as Expedia or Travelocity, but for less. Does anyone know if www.bt-store.com is a reliable business and if yes, what is their trick in being able to offer cheaper fares than the better known websites?

AustinTraveler

It's probably so cheap because the flight originated last year.

Just for fun, I googled this company and there are a flurry of first-time posters (kind of like you) on other travel forums either asking about this company or replying how wonderful it is. Sorry, but I'm skeptical.

Here's a good reply from FlyerTalk:

I too suspect that this travel store is highly suspect. There are too many red flags here.

1. The domain is registered to a person living in an apartment in Arcadia, California--very comforting!!
2. I haven't been able to find the corporation registered in the state of California;
3. The administrative contact lives in Singapore--not a big deal, but why is there not a presence in the US?
4. We have a flurry of new and inactive FT members posting on the topic.

My conclusion is: give this company a wide berth. There's something fishy going on here.

NJ_Gal

Stick with expedia. Better to pay a little more and be sure then payless and get left out in the cold.

djkbooks

I have a trustworthy friend to travels to Paris often (from Atlanta) and has used bt-store many times when they had a more favorable fare than anywhere else, with no problems.

With any third party booking agent, all you need do is obtain the airline booking number and verify all on the airline's website.

I shop them regularly, but have not found them to have lower fares for my destinations/dates. Same goes for most third party agents these days.

But, you should check airlines directly. It's usually better to book directly (unless there's a truly significant savings) as, if the schedule changes, etc., sometimes you can get bounced back and forth. And, sometimes, when booking through a third party, you cannot select seats (if that's important to you), or the seats you select are not the ones finally assigned.

Another we've both used with great results has been www.1800flyeurope.com

But, each trip is an entirely new endeavor.