Priceline Question
 

I was thinking about taking a solo trip in Rome in November for a few days. Since I am flying solo, I can be more flexible with dates and times to leave. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone has used the "Name Your Price" option on Priceline.com. I realize it is like a auction, and companies basically accept or deny your bid for a trip, but I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with this and how much they saved if it worked. Thanks!!

I haven't but a friend of mine and her husband bought tix to Ireland for $700 each, as opposed to $900 being charged directly from Continental Airlines.

This seemed like a good deal as they thought they had saved $200 per ticket. But they realized too late they had inadvertantly entered the wrong return date and scheduled their flight home a month later than intended. They immediately called Continental Airlines, but Continental refused to help since the tix were bought on priceline. They spent a couple of hours on the phone talking with priceline supervisors to explain their mistake. In the end they learned that a ticket bought in priceline is completely inflexible for any reason, so they ultimately had to pay $900 each for one-way tix home on the date they actually needed.

I've used priceline for hotels and I have been very pleased. If something were to happen where my plans should change, it would be no huge loss if my hotel room went unused. But plane tix are a different story, and personally I'm a little risk averse after watching my friends go through this problem. So if you still decide to do this, be aware there will be NO changes, period.

I use Priceline for hotels and have been very happy each time. I would love to use for flights but I'm not flexible about travel times and possible layovers (we have a child). But if I were a single traveler, heck yeah I would go for it! :-D . On a serious note, I agree with P_M, make sure you do it right otherwise it would be an expensive mistake. Also, make sure the saving is worth the long flight/layover you might end up with! Good luck.

Thanks for the replies!! I do agree it is a bit risky, but I hope that maybe I can save 20% to 30% off the bottom line price on their website. It is definitly an advantage for the solo traveler. No way I could have pulled this off a couple months ago when I went to Europe with two friends. Thanks again!

I know this reply will have nothing to do with Priceline, but you might also take a look at packages. Since it's the off-season, you can sometimes save the 20% to 30% off regular prices by just booking a package with a company like Go-Today.com (even counting the taxes and single supplement for the hotel room). And you might also see upcoming sales on flights to Europe as people hesitate before purchasing a flight with the new, more stringent luggage rules, making the airfare cheaper than it might normallyl be this Fall.

Europhile, if you are inexperienced with PL, go to www.biddingfortravel.com, a tutorial for using PL, and be very sure you understand the bidding process. You can also find the successful bids of other PL users there.