Anyone have experience(s) with Priceline?
I'm tempted for airline tickets....but have read some negative press....thanks.

Zil, I'm leaving for France next week on a Priceline ticket I bought in late February. LAX -CDG @ about $450 including taxes. American Airlines, through JFK going and OHare coming back. Midday flights.
Maybe you can draw from this a little tidbit that can help you:
I had used priceline a number of times for hotels and always been pleased, but this was my first airline experience. First I offered $359 plus tax, indicating I'd fly from LAX to CDG only, and was turned down. Then I added Orly as an additional destination airport and raised the price by $10. I knew I wouldn't be flying there, but it allowed me to incrementally raise my bid. Turned down again. Then I raised my bid again by $10, and this time added Long Beach or Burbank or some such place to my departure locations, and lo! it came through. $379 plus tax!

Only thing (it's not related to Priceline but rather the airline): since then I've received three emails from Priceline saying, "Your carrier has made a change to your itinerary." Originally we were to come home through Boston but it changed to DFW. Then the return flight changed by an hour. Then the return flight changed to an ORD connection. All of these were within an hour of the original departure time so I didn't worry. No changes in a month, though, so everything seems -knock wood- set.

If you have some flexibility I'd say to try Priceline. Just remember: they can give you a flight any time in the 24-hour day you name. So if you want a weekend, say, in Las Vegas, know that you might get a flight out at 11:30pm on Friday and a return at 5:30am on Sunday.

Good luck!

I used Priceline once and will never use them again. I was late getting to the airport, but the flight had not left although It was pre-boarding. Since the person at the check-in counter had to use the restroom and no one else was around I did not get to the gate in time. I was going home to a funeral and since the ticket was purchased through Priceline the airlines refused to book me on the next flight, simply stating I needed to contact Priceline for a refund. I ended up having to pay for two RT tickets. Word to the wise, check in early, get travel insurance and pray you never have a need to make any changes to your itinerary.

i don't intend to be mean, nor am i a pricline defender, but the problem described above was not a priceline issue really...it was that the passenger was late in arriving at the airport....a word to the wise....priceline only complicated the issue...

"pray you never have a need to make any changes to your itinerary"

And I don't mean to be mean, either, but I thought it went without saying in my earlier post that you must be prepared for the no-changes/no-refund policy. Flexibility in scheduling and being sure you're going are the keys.

Clea obviously had a horrible time, starting with the reason for her trip, then being late. It was bad all around. But again, it doesn't seem to have been Priceline's fault that everything went south...

I used Priceline in November 2002 to bid on a 4-day vacation to somewhere warm during the Christmas holidays. I investigated all the previous bids on such vacations and all and eventually bid $1349 on a roundtrip airfare and four nights at a hotel bid for four people in the Bahamas. We won it, and it went off without a hitch. I should add that I'm not sure I would do this for a European vacation, where I actually know what I'm doing and what normal prices are - it seemed like a bargain and we took advantage of it,and it was OK as far as vacations go, but not anything to write home about.