Priceline Flight "winning bid" question

[Ranger111]

Just scored a 30 percent discount -- more or less $460 down to $333 -- on a Priceline roundtrip flight bid.

I travel this route occasionally and have always been able to knock 30/40 percent off the price and I always get the 6 a.m. flight leaving and the 5:30 a.m. flight returning. Fine for me, those would be the times I would pick if I were paying full price.

Leave Saturday, bid last night. My departure airport is tiny -- the arrival airport is Ontario, CA.

I checked the handful of flight possibilities and saw they were all pretty solidly booked as far as I could tell.

So, decided to bid $350 with all taxes and fees. Priceline came back and said "sorry, no go." But I was offered $333 guaranteed with taxes and fees if agreed to fly off-peak. I know the off-peak times for this particular flight so, I said sure.

My question, I have done this maybe a half-dozen times over the past five years and I have always "won" straight out and never had this offer before, which was the flight I wanted anyway and cheaper than I bid to boot.

Anyone else had this?

 

[seashoreCM]

Anyone else had this?

No. For me, specifically, I abhor early morning flights so I don't use Priceline. Anecdotal evidence that came my way over the years suggests that Priceline usually serves up early morning flights.

I thought that Priceline automatically ferrets out the off peak flights for that particular day given the jumble of information it gets from behind the scenes day in and day out. So it surprised me that mention was made of Priceline's asking if you would like to fly off peak.

How could you have always "won" and never gotten the flights you wanted anyway?

* Only significance of green: One of several definitions of "this" bolded above
* Only significance of red: One of several definitions of "this" bolded above

 

[Day-Day]

I've never bid on a Priceline flight but have looked into it. I'm afraid I will be too disappointed in the departure and arrival times.

I don't understand why Priceline did not award your original bid of $350 and stick you with the same flights that were offered up as off-peak for $333. Maybe these were offered to Priceline from the airline with some stipulations on how they are sold (just a wild guess). I thought Priceline always had a warning that the flights awarded on a bid could have departure times at any time during that day so this is interesting.