Priceline?

[dairyou]

Has anyone used Priceline where you named your own price? What is the catch?

Trying to find a flight to Kona, HI from Sacramento, CA and all other fares are 518.00 and above. Priceline said they could give it to me 350.00.

Deb

 

[rkmassa]

The catch is you don't know your times. Could be any number of options-very early, very late, etc. You just don't know ahead of time. If you are very flexible in your travel and perhaps not traveling with small children, it might be okay. We have priced it for airfare and never found that big of a difference. Not worth 20.00 or 25.00 dollars, but you would be saving a lot more. It is a gamble. You can't get any refunds, so that is something to think about. You take the offer, it is yours no matter what.

 

[inkkognito]

I am afraid of using Priceline for air, but only because I am usually locked into a pretty specific time window (plus I had connections and you run the risk of those as well). But if you are open, it can save you a lot. Visit www.biddingfortravel.com to see some examples of going rates. I use Priceline all the time for rental cars and love it for that.
Barb

 

[NotUrsula]

When you use Priceline for air, you need to NOT count on doing anything else on your "travel" days but travelling. So, if you plan on taking a 7-day vacation, assume 9 days away from home, because the first and last will be travel-only days. It can make a difference in the number of hotel nights you will need, so take that into account. (though you can also Priceline airport hotels if you need a throwaway night for an early departure or really late arrival.)

You might get lucky and get good flight times, but if you do, that's essentially a bonus. For you this is probably not such a hardship, b/c coming that distance, your travel days are probably normally kind of a write-off as far as fun is concerned. It's a huge drawback for East Coasters, b/c they tend to count on having fun-time on their first and last day and blowing less than 6 hrs. each way on travel, so long layovers and early returns are really not worth it for them. (I'm only an hour behind in the Midwest, so it's pretty harsh for me, too.)

You can go to biddingfortravel.com and also betterbidding.com to see what flight times other people may have gotten on your route. The odds are fairly good that you would end up on similarly scheduled flights (it is by no means guaranteed, of course, and if too much time has passed, the schedule may have changed a lot, but past performance can be a useful reference guide.)

 

[dairyou]

When you finally give your credit card and commit, how long is it before you get your itinerary?

NotUrsula, you are right. Usually or first and last days are lost. We do this even going to WDW.

Thanks for all your advice. Has anyone of you actually used them for air yet?

Deb