With all the negative posts I read here about Priceline I wanted to post a positive experience. I am about to have surgery and since my mother in law passed away my husband could not be home with me. My mother wanted to come down from Maine to take care of me.he last minute fare on Orbitz, Expedia etc. was anywhere from 697.50 to 1592.00. I put a bid in for 195.00 and within 5 minutes it was accepted, according to Priceline we saved aprox. 74%.
Yes it is risky and she does have to fly back at 6:30am but we know there are only two carriers that fly BGR-HPN with 1 stop over , so we pretty much know what are options are American or Continental, which are fine with us. Since I booked this flight on monday for a thursday departure, I am beginging to feel Priceline is the way to go for last minute flights, which is where I have always had good luck with them. Never for anything far in advance

You're right - Priceline is great for last-minute airfares, though times can be hairy. Otherwise, I'd probably shy away from Priceline for domestic air travel. If you can save hundreds though on a last-minute excursion, might be worth it.

Though I have never used Priceline for international air travel, I'd probably use them for that in the future also. You're likely to have a red-eye no matter what you do anyway, so unless you are hung up on a particular airline, I see no reason not to use them. In September I didn't use them because I got a great deal to Europe on an open-jaw with Northwest.

And of course - Priceline is great for hotels too.

Andrew

Yes, Priceline is great for those kinds of trips. I bid for a next-day flight for my parents when my grandfather passed away and they had to get from Florida to LA ASAP. The flights everywhere were $1250 to $1500 each and they couldn't get a bereavement break from the airlines, so I bid Priceline for them and got them flights with really good routings (1 logical stop going, non-stop coming back) and decent times for $630 (incl. tax) each.

Never had to bid that close for myself, but earlier this year I did bid a flight NYC-Toronto with only five days notice, got a good deal on that too $142 incl taxes for non-stops vs. the $420 all airlines were asking.

I have been a priceline fan for a long time BUT have recently had 2 not good experiences....
1. booked a flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on priceline. I saved $16 on the ticket (good news) EXCEPT they routed me from Los Angeles to Phoenix (with a 2 hour layover) then on to Las Vegas. This really upset me. I would have rather paid the $16 to avoid the layover ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THERE ARE MANY MANY NON STOP FLIGHTS FROM LOS ANGELS TO LAS VEGAS DAILY! It's actually more difficult to find one that Isn't a non -stop! (guess I knew this was a posibility when I booked but when there's 100 non-stops per day you think your chances are pretty good of getting one)
2. I was billed twice for the exact same room in Las Vegas at Treasure Island(1 room for 2 nights)....I was billed 2 rooms for 2 nights....crazy! Not sure where they got this one. I ultimately got it resolved and will be getting a credit but the only way to contact this company with a problem seems to be through email. I called 800 operator and they just kept giving me a phone number that is all phone prompts. No Option (such as push zero to be connected to an operator). It was very frustrating! I'll feel better AFTER I receive my credit on my credit card.
Will I use them again? Most likely, but still wish they'd get a real phone number....makes you feel like they're hiding from you when you have a problem.

Mindy, first of all I'm not sure why anyone would use Priceline to save all of $16 on air travel. That hardly seems worth it considering what you give up in regards to choice of times and flights. I would need to save well over $100 even to consider using Priceine for air travel.

Your complaint about your Los Angeles to Las Vegas flight via Priceline having a stop in Phoenix is completely groundless. How do you think Priceline can afford to sell you cheap tickets? They get unsold seats on less busy flights. You should EXPECT to get lousy routings with Priceline - your time and convenience is what you trade for saving money (have you ever heard the expression "there's no such thing as a free lunch?"). Sometimes you get lucky and get good flights on Priceline anyway, but you should be GRATEFUL for good flights, not EXPECTING them!!!

I've never had a problem with Priceline double-charging me for rooms. If that ever happens to me, I am not worried about it at all. If I am unable to contact Priceline to deal with it, I will simply dispute the charge with my credit card company. If they are unable to get in touch with Priceline either, then Priceline doesn't get paid - end of story. The same goes for any other merchant whom you pay by credit card.

Andrew

Andrew, You're right. I wouldn't have used priceline.com to only save $16 (actually, I believe it was $18. but the same difference). I would have booked the sure thing. It's just that from Los Angeles to Las Vegas (or even near by airports such as Long Beach, Burbank, Ontario, John Wayne( 98% of the flights are non-stops....it's only a 40 minute flight! I didn't even know there was such a thing as NOT getting a non-stop flight for a 40 minute flight. Live and Learn! I now know and won't let this happen again. Now I know of Jet Blue where you can fly for $19 each way....better than priceline.,hotwire, American, Southwest or any! Now that I know that America West flys from Los Angeles to Phoenix, then on to Las Vegas....I'll NEVER go through priceline again...assuming the worst, this is what I'd get again. I have no one to blame but myself for this. As for the hotel, not sure what happened. I did dispute it with my Citibank Visa but it's just an additional hassel. I would have felt alot better knowing I could reach an opertor immediately. I sent priceline.com an email immediately but all I got was some type of automated response that didn't even address my situation. It took me another 48 hours to get a real email with an apology and word that the credit would be issued....they said it may take 2 billing cycles! I'm not knocking priceline, I've used them many times but I still contend that they need a customer service department that can handle problems such as mine on the spot! Obviously, you've never had a problem but if you had....you'd feel the same as me. When you're leaving on vacation for a few days, you like the peace of mind that the problem is resolved BEFORE you leave. I've never had any problems with car rentals with priceline, and up until now, I'd never had a problem with hotel either.

Just get a live priceline.com operator who can offer some reassurance for working out problems without waiting 48 hours for an email reply. When you're billed an additional $180, 48 hours can seem like an eternity. Mindy

I think Andrew and Mindy both had good posts, especially with Mindy accepting responsibility (vs. assigning blame) and explaining the hazards of PL. Both provide travellers with potential upsides and downsides of using PL without being derogatory to each other.

Buying airfare thru PL is much more complicated than getting a hotel room, JMHO. I spend a lot more time with my bidding strategy for airfare. I've gotten some great deals with both though. I saved about $135 recently on a $400 fare...great since we're laid off and $$ will be tight soon.

Although Mindy only saved $18...keep in mind that round trip from LAX to Las Vegas is only something like $89 on Southwest. Now with Jet Blue competing out of Long Beach, it may even be less. With such low fares, it's pretty stupid to take a chance with priceline.com (as Mindy found out). Also consider that should you drive, it is only 3 1/2-4 hours (if you drive like my husband does). I have to agree with Mindy, I didn't even realize you could get from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on ANYTHING but a NON STOP.