Has anyone used Priceline on flights???

[ellenec]

Thinking about bidding on Priceline on a flight from NYC to Ft. Myers. What would you start your bid at??? There will be 5 of us Thanks in advance

 

[KibbyCat]

It's been awhile, but I've purchased airline tickets from Priceline many times. In general, they claim that the "Name your own price" tickets are at least 40% off published rates. So, I'd look on their site (or directly at the ailrine websites) for the dates/city combinations you want and find the lowest published rates. Then, start by bidding about half that amount (or more, depending on how truly discounted you're looking for). Be aware, though, that if your price is not accepted, you can't just up the price on the next bid - you have to either adjust your travel dates or airport. Or else wait 7 days and try again. Or log in using a different email address. Usually, if they don't accept your bid, they'll counter-offer, and then you can choose to accept the price or bid again.

 

[azdizzymom]

You do realize you won't know the airline AND FLIGHT TIMES until AFTER the bid is accepted. The tickets are the non-refundable and you can cancel them either. You need to realize you might get the red-eye flight down there. If that is not an issue go for it. You might not get a direct flight. You might have several hours layover somewhere. Just make sure you know exactly what you are getting into before submitting a bid.

 

[NotUrsula]

It works from a price perspective, but there are some caveats. The most important is to make sure that you are prepared for your entire first and last days to be travel-only days -- do not plan to have them be part of your actual fun-time, because most of the time they won't be when you're going to a leisure destination: you will usually either get there quite late and leave very early, or spend a lot of time in an airport on a long layover.

The second caveat is that most airlines will NOT honor these tickets for standby unless the reason you cannot get on the original flight is force majeure, such as your connecting plane being weather-delayed. If you miss the flight or arrive at the airport too late for your baggage to be checked, the tickets will be worthless; no upgrading, no paying the difference in fare; it is full-fare cash on the barrelhead only to get on another flight that day. If they normally have a flat-tire rule they won't apply it for PL tickets.