kwl

We are considering using priceline for the very first time. From what I read, they can book you on flights as early as 6 am. Any experience with what they do/don't book you on more often than not?

Thank you in advance for any input.

kate

Visit biddingfortravel.com for great insight to Priceline. Yes, the date your provide them with can mean any flight from 0001 to 2400----

DanB

I've used them 4 times. I believe I got stuck with a 7am flight once. The others were between 8am and 1pm. The pervious reader said they can stick you with any flight between 0001-2400, but I believe you can narrow it down between
6am and 10 pm or something like that. There's a new site called "you price it". (www.youpriceit.com). I've not used it, but it looks like you can narrow the time windows a bit. I've been really lucky with priceline but it's a risk. You really have to be flexible.

sarah

I was booked on a 6am flight from Newark to Hawaii. I did not mind so much as it put me in Honolulu at 12pm also we had not problems with traffic or connections. Might be annoying to get up that earlier but I think it is helpful in terms of delays and connections missed.

kwl

Thanks for all the input. Flights for our day of travel were going fast, so we opted out of priceline this time. Just don't know if I could do the 4 am arrival at the airport. I will venture back to priceline or bidfortravel for our next trip.

Sarah

KWL where are you going ?...sleep at the airport hotel. If it is a long flight you will make it ok. All the crowds that you don't expect to see at that time will wake you up...for me it is always an early morning angxiety about what could go wrong.

A

I've never used priceline.com because they can book you at any time with an abundance of connections. Try travelocity.com and choose that your travel dates are flexible. You will get the lowest rates available and from there you get a calendar for when the rates are effective.

Several times I have found the lowest fare on travelocity.com and when I put in a bid on priceline.com for $20 less, they couldn't beat the price.

For $20 more, I would rather have some control over the airline, flight times and number of connections.

If you are a little flexible on the days of the week and you want me to search for you, send me your information and I'll see what I can come up with. I am an excellent researcher when it comes to inexpensive travel.

P.S. Using the feature on travelocity.com that I specified above also returns alternative airports for less $$.

P.S.S. Expedia.com is the best for hotel prices. (If you are booking a hotel)

Danny

I used pricline last fall and the trip turned out to be horrible. Going from RDU to LGA and had to make a connection in DFW. The normally 2 hour trip turned out to be a 9 hour journey to hell and back. But I know some people who love them and use the service all the time. Its a gamble. I'd use it again for biz travel but NEVER for a vaction or holidays. And the last post mentioned using expedia for hotels but I think quikbook.com is always 20 to 30% cheaper than expedia. Good Luck

Lori

As someone who has used Priceline for airline tickets, I just wanted to clarify about the possibility of getting an "abundance of connections". You, the bidder, set the parameters for connecting flights. If you get an abundance of connections it's because you indicated in filling out the bid form that you were willing to accept up to x number of connections.

Flight times can only be controlled insofar as it's understood that you may depart anywhere from 6a.m. to 10p.m. If you indicate that you're willing to include red-eye flights, the departure could be literally any time. Again, you could investigate which airlines fly your route and see what the worst-case scenario could be if you use Priceline.

I did use it for tickets from Detroit to Orlando for my family. At $90 a ticket, I was very pleased.

Sarah

Lori: You also want to point out that priceline does not let you put in a consecutive bid for same trip unless you agree to added connections or some other change in your original request. Sorry but your post did sound like you were working for the company. This is a poor policy of pricelines and can be avoided if you the traveler can wait a week or so to put in your next bid. If you are a first time bidder and you have no idea this is going to happen you are forced to make some kind of allowance or do as I did and look elsewhere. The changes priceline will ask you to alter is departure airport, added connections, traveling outside of 6am-10pm time frame and others. This is very annoying if you are not prepared and don't have time to wait on next bid.

I did get a great deal on Priceline 8/00 $484 round trip Newark - Honolulu but the following summer the best I could get was $699 or at least my rejection email suggested this would win a seat for me. I ended up finding this price by waiting for a one week sale by continental. I was able to book the flights directly with airline. These relationships between airlines and discount ticket shops, bid shops are changing all the time so you should monitor what airlines are offering just as you check this board. Last summer and most months leading up to I did notice that it was rare that the best deals did not come from anyone but the airlines at least for my Hawaii route. Earlier it had always been cheap tickets offering the best price (originally based in Honolulu).

I would still bid at priceline just be mindful of the changes they force you accept for a ticket and don’t count on getting a ticket as they advertise 20% below counter prices. Good Luck!