Tips for bidding for flights on Priceline?

[AmyAnne]

I have used Priceline a lot for bidding for hotels and cars. But never for flights. Just wondering if there are any tips for making it work. About how much less than a published fare is reasonable to bid? I assume you can bid once a day - is this correct? Anything else I should know?

 

[supersnoop]

I hear horror stories about flight times and connections. The savings, which is very, very small, is never worth the extra trouble.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

You can bid more than once a day

 

[ain0004]

, I personally have never tried this. On our last flight. We sat near a family who did Priceline. Not hey always choose Tampa vs Orlando. They claim they get more direct flights out of Detroit. They also stated this was their first evening flight and usually get very eArly In the morning flights. They also name their own price with cars too.. Good luck with your bidding

 

[anniemck]

Make sure you are open to multiple stops and long layovers as well as various airports in area such as Tampa and Daytona.

 

[Ranger111]

I have done it a few times. Each time I did get direct -- non-stop -- flights, but I got the 5:05 a.m. or the 11:55 p.m. flight (I am exagerrating a bit, but not much) and the flights were about 70 percent full.

I SAVED at least 30 percent, maybe more like 40 -- have not done it for a couple of years.

So, you can save quite a bit, but you do have to be willing to take quirky times, maybe have several stops/connections, etc.

Just depends on how much you want to save $$$.

One caution, each time I did it, after the flight deal was sealed, they offered a dirt cheap car rental -- like $9 per day....really, really cheap....

But twice, the car rental place was not open when I needed to return the car at 3:30 a.m. and there was no "system" in place to handle that really.

Both times this was at ONT. I ended up leaving the car on the street (alley, actually) and dropped the keys through a door slot. Avis and Hertz of course were open at that time

I was very uncomfortable about that but it has been a few years and have not heard anything yet.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Another negative - you don't earn frequent flyer miles.

 

[MillauFr]

I hear horror stories about flight times and connections. The savings, which is very, very small, is never worth the extra trouble.

Ditto. I am willing to pay a little extra to fly non-stop and at reasonable hours.

 

[Ranger111]

Ditto. I am willing to pay a little extra to fly non-stop and at reasonable hours.

Yes, normally I agree. But sometimes I do not care when I get there and if I make a bid of 40-55 percent below the current fares, well, if it is a few hundred dollars saved (which is what it would have to be), I take it.

Which is why I've only done it three times.

Should add, you won't get any bargains doing this in advance, You really need to do this last minute to save any significant amount.

This Web site explains it pretty well:
http://www.portlandtraveltips.com/2013/01/28/how-to-save-money-with-priceline-part-3-airfare/

 

[rwdavis2]

Although you may save money if something goes wrong you will have the airline and Priceline pointing fingers at each other. I have read enough horror stories to never touch Priceline.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Although you may save money if something goes wrong you will have the airline and Priceline pointing fingers at each other. I have read enough horror stories to never touch Priceline.

I have used bidding on Priceline several times for car rentals with zero problems. I would never use it for airline tickets.

 

[Lewisc]

Which is why I've only done it three times.

Should add, you won't get any bargains doing this in advance, You really need to do this last minute to save any significant amount.

This confirms what I've read in other boards. The (only) real bargains are in markets where airlines still require 7 day (or more) advance purchase in order to book discounted fares. PL NYOP might give you a fare similar to what you might have gotten if you booked early.

Booking far in advance to places like MCO. Shop and you can generally get a good fare. Probably even a fare which loses the airline money. Unlikely the airline will be offering PL NYOP customers a fare which will result in the airline losing even more money.

A few PP gave misleading information. PL won't book you to alternate airports like Tampa and Daytona unless you specifically agree. PL will look for a N/S flight but will book a flight with one connection. I haven'[t checked the "fine print" recently, I think there is a maximum connection time.

 

[leebee]

I've booked probably 10 flights using Priceline. I might be lucky, but I've never had a problem- even when equipment didn't come in, or weather did, and we had to be rerouted/rescheduled. I find it's a great deal, as I can save about 50% off of the published fares, if I have the time and patience to be flexible. Priceline is very fair- they ask you if you will accept more than one connection, ask if you'll accept alternate airports, ask if you'll fly on non-jet equipment. However, you want to read ALL the fine print, and maybe check out betterbidding.com for hints, bidding help, and to see what fares people might have paid for a similar itinerary.

The only thing I don't love about Priceline is that it seems the flight going TO your destination is always the last flight of the day, and coming home they tend to book you on the earliest flight of the day. THis makes me feel like I've lost a couple of days of vacation!

 

[MAH4546]

Another negative - you don't earn frequent flyer miles.

Actually, on a domestic airline, you almost always do. Domestic airlines have long gotten rid of non-mileage earning fares, although only AA has entirely eliminated them. So if you get AA, 100% guaranteed! you'll earn miles. Priceline doesn't promise anything, of course, but you get the miles.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Actually, on a domestic airline, you almost always do. Domestic airlines have long gotten rid of non-mileage earning fares, although only AA has entirely eliminated them. So if you get AA, 100% guaranteed! you'll earn miles. Priceline doesn't promise anything, of course, but you get the miles.

See #11:

http://www.priceline.com/InformationCenter/html/faq.htm

No upgrades either.

 

[MAH4546]

See #11:

http://www.priceline.com/InformationCenter/html/faq.htm

No upgrades either.

And your point? I specifically said Priceline doesn't promise anything. However, in actuality, you will get miles and you can always upgrade using elite instruments and, on American Airlines, miles. AA eliminated mileage and upgrade restrictions on consolidator fares in 2009. You won't get upgrades or miles on almost all foreign carriers, however, and on Delta the flights often won't qualify for mileage upgrades.

 

[NotUrsula]

The key point is that you should be prepared for the first and last day of your trip to be completely given over to travel time. This means that it is workable for a longer trip, but is useless for any trip of less than 4 days, unless you are planning to go to a funeral on day 2.

It is good for last-minute emergency flights, but not for same-day arrival. If you need to get to a funeral, make sure that you are able to fly out early the day before the service, because otherwise you may well not arrive in time for it.

When dealing with resort destination flights, what a PP said is usually true. You will almost always be given the latest possible flight TO the destination, and the earliest possible flight FROM the destination, and there is a very good chance you can end up killing time in an airport on a very long connection; sometimes for 8 hours or more.