Using Priceline for flights??
 

I use Priceline for hotels on every trip and think it's great. I've really been lucky and have always had great hotels at great prices.

But I've never used Priceline for Airfares. What experiences do you have that might help me?
Is it just as good for flights as it is for hotels? Are there good deals to be had?
Any real negatives?

I've used PL for hotels dozens of times, but no air tickets.

The first thing you'll find is that you cannot specify the time! "Your trip will start 6am to 10pm". That's enough for me to go somewhere else.

If you're so desperate that you have to go regardless or time, routing and airline, then there are other disadvantages like often no FF miles, and also if there's an irregular event - cancelled, long delays, etc - you are often the last passengers being accomodated.

I mean, using PL for hotel doesn't specify you can only check-in after 10pm...

I used PL for a flight to Ireland 5-6 years ago. So, leaving from Newark into Shannon, there were only a couple of options since they say you could get one stop over on the way. Since there are several flight out of Newark to Shannon each day, I figured the worst scenario would be Newark to Boston to Shannon. As it turned out, got a direct flight on Continental.

Remember if you do bid on PL, you have to figure in taxes & fees, which can come out to about an additional $60 or more over your bid.

I've had great luck with skyauction.com on flights to Munich. You know the exact costs because they tell you up front what the add-on fees/taxes are. You have to be very patient and not get caught up in the bidding. I've found that bids ending on a Friday early evening have been my best bets since I believe a lot of people were bidding from work and leave their computers around 5-6PM to head for home. That's just my guestimate. ((b))

No, not really desperate, just looking for a good deal.
I've checked all the usual places like Travelocity, kayak, etc and they are all roughly the same price.

Maybe I'll check out Skyauction, but since I'm flying out of Buffalo, It's not a popular route.

Still hoping for a deal.
SOunds like Priceline might not be worth the risk.

Your best bet is to read the FAQ on airline tix on biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com The biggest problem has been mentioned by rkkwan. If time is an issue, b/c you can't decide what time the flights are, you could wind up losing as much as 2 days of a trip (ie you can pick the date, but if the flight is at 11:59 pm, you've lost that day and coming back, if the flight is at 1 am or even 6 am, you've lost that day).

The other major issue has been mentioned by Budman, the tax and fees. You have to really do research to find out what it typically is on the route you want (and sometimes different airlines have different fees) and make sure not to overbid. I know someone who bid on PL w/o realizing the extras were not included. She wound up paying MORE than she could have bought a ticket for from the airline b/c she didn't anticipate the added fees.

Out of a location like Buffalo where there are not many airline options, I don't know that it's worth it. Can you not use jetblue? Where are you trying to go?

McLaure, actually I'm quite surpised how many airlines are flying out of Buffalo. I want to fly to San Francisco.
I know I'll have to connect somewhere, and there are so many choices on kayak. I can connect in New York, Washington, on and on. I don't really care where I connect, I just want a good price.
SInce we'll only have 1 week in SF, I sure don't want to lose 2 days. Good point.. Thanks everyone

Forgot to mention, at the moment, anyway, JetBlue is WAY more than other airlines. I'm quite surprised..
Maybe they will have a sale. ... but out of Buffalo???
I know with Jet Blue, the closer to the date, the more expensive the tickets, but we aren't going til Oct.

There are fares in October for BUF-SFO on most dates, on most airlines for about $260.

I doubt you'll find the fare much cheaper. What dates are you going? Do you think $260 is too high?

I got TRI (Tennessee) to SNA (Orange County, Calif.) for $100 + taxes and fees. That was a few years ago. I second the suggestion to check BetterBidding and BiddingForTravel for info. The real Priceline pros hang out there.

I have found kayak website to be most reliable about finding lowest fares - and they can give you option to check out other close airports for departure and/or landing.

Only downside is you can not book on the site - have to go to airline webiste to book.

Agree that the 6 AM to 10 PM time window is a deal killer for me - also, I don't want a 12 hour layover in some remote airport.

I have had really good luck getting inexpensive flights by checking daily e-mail updates from
www.airfarewatchdog.com.

I think $260 is a good price, but since I've never flown to SF, I wasn't sure how low I could expect to go. Doesn't hurt to try. But if you folks think $260 is a good fare, then I'll go ahead and book it in a few days.
I'll check out airfarewatchdog.
I hadn't heard of it.
Thanks to all for the advice.

I highly doubt that fare can go lower than $250-260 I'm seeing. Now, you have a choice of airlines and schedule. If you wait longer, you may not.

Having said that, I hardly ever book domestic trips this far in advance.

Ok rkkwan, now you have really confused me!!!
If you don't book this far in advance, do you usually still get good fares?

As for choice of airlines, I really don't care who I fly with. It's all the same to me, even though I know some people have preferences.
I don't fly enough to worry about airmiles.

Maybe I'll wait awhile.

If you have firm dates and unlikely that your trip will be cancelled or changed, and you feel comfortable with the fare (($260 r/t seems really fair to me)) I would book with one of the major airlines now.

Put your mind at ease and not waste alot of time checking fares.

Plus you can probably have not trouble getting the departure times you want.

Just an opinion

Yes, I think I will go ahead and book.
I remembered why I wanted to check for lower priced flights.
The last time I was at the Buffalo airport, I talked to a fellow that had just returned from the west coast.
He told me he paid about $200 for his flight.
It was actually talking to him that prompted me to plan a trip to SF. He started the ball rolling and now I'm really excited about seeing SF.

You can look into Airtran.com as they're having a sale right now. Buffalo to San Fran in September is $109. each way. That's pretty cheap.

the only air fares I`d do with priceline, are the ones that leave the east coast for Europe. You pretty well know most of the flights leave in the evening and arrive the next morning.

I think Cheapoair offers some great airfares. I just got their Independence Day fares alerts newsletter, with 25 low fare deals. I've been using their service for sometime now and I'm quite happy with them.