Would you or have you used Priceline??

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

Looking to save some money:
I'm looking at Priceline to fly out of MI to MCO in Dec (14 to 23). And I was wondering if anyone has used this around Christmas time. Is it worth it??. Is the name your own price a good thing to do??. Please let me know how it worked out for you.

tigger2ntinkerbell

 

[gilby]

I have been wondering the same thing, flyin gout of MSP.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

If your time is really flexible and you don't mind flying at odd times, there can be significant savings. My parents have done this a few time to visit my brother and his family. I haven't personally done it because I usually have specific times and days that I can fly.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

ETA ~
Sorry didn't realize you were asking about flights... haven't tried that, I like having more control over flight times. I'd have to save a lot of $$ to consider it.


Yes at least 3 times personally and a couple times for my mom. Never in FL though ~ twice for DLR visits, once in S UT *during National Parks trip* check out www.betterbidding.com and www.biddingfortravel.com for great tips, also check out LMT and this fantastic tip!

 

[punkin]

If your time is really flexible and you don't mind flying at odd times, there can be significant savings. My parents have done this a few time to visit my brother and his family. I haven't personally done it because I usually have specific times and days that I can fly.

I wouldn't do flights, but I really like it for hotels.

 

[mrsklamc]

Have done hotels and rental cars but not flights.

 

[got2travel]

When I fly, I am really picking about departure times, so I don't like to use Priceline. I don't want to fly home from Disney at 7am, but that would be a possible flight on Priceline, so I don't use them. I have used Priceline quite often for hotels and cars though. For flights, I use www.kayak.com, they search all the sites and give you the best deal. They will even display what they call hacker deals in which you book your outbound and return with different sites, but combined they end up being a better deal than booking on the same site.

 

[Green Tea]

I would not do it for a week, but for a long trip the savings can be significant. I don't think you will have much luck in that time period though. Christmas flights book up on their own.

 

[3boymthr]

I've done it for hotels and cars but for both hotel rooms and cars the savings were no where near what was advertised. Plus I don't think that we got as much value for our money as you'd think you'd get. The rooms were no where near the ratings that I requested/expected. Nice, but not 4 star the 4 star I requested, more like 2.5 star (small things - older decorating, broken key, etc.).

 

[DVC-Don]

I've only used Priceline for rental cars/vans and it worked out just fine. I want too much control over flights and rooms to use them for that.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'll never forget the year my FIL bought air tix on priceline....they had them traveling overnight,taking about 12 hours to get somewhere that normally takes 6 or 7.....I'd never use them for flights,, b/c it can be a wicked surprise,airlines,flight times,etc. just keep searching on the discount sites......

 

[Green Tea]

When I did use them for flights I was shocked at how good the flight I got were. It was definitely not the least expensive/worst timed flights I could have bought conventionally.

You have a couple of options when booking. They won't put you on flights with a layover of more than a set number of hours (?2 or 3) You can choose if you are willing to fly on a non jet. You choose whether you are willing to fly during off peak hours which is how you could end up on a red eye. I think their standard times unless you choose otherwise are flights between 6am and 10 pm.

 

[Cruise]

I'll never forget the year my FIL bought air tix on priceline....they had them traveling overnight,taking about 12 hours to get somewhere that normally takes 6 or 7.....I'd never use them for flights,, b/c it can be a wicked surprise,airlines,flight times,etc. just keep searching on the discount sites......

That may have been the case long ago, but Priceline has changed their policy on flights that you bid for.

From the Priceline website:

However, for exclusive savings, you can let us choose your flight times for you (for example, you can Name Your Own Price®). With this option, most flights within the United States and U.S. Territories will start between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm on your travel dates, arriving no later than 12:30am the next day.

They used to also be able to give you multiple stopovers, but that policy changed as well and now you'll have no more than 1 stopover.

I used Priceline just earlier this month to name my own price for a flight. I fly from a smaller, regional airport so I'm always going to have at least one layover at a hub anyway... so that part was moot for me. My flight out was right at that 6am allowed time (which was fine with me) and gave me a 3 hour layover at a hub - not ideal, but not overly painful either. Returning flight was at 1pm and gave me 1.5 hour layover - which is about what I really like for a layover cause it buffers against a slightly delayed arrival and gives me a few minutes to visit the restroom, grab a snack, etc.

I saved about 28% doing name your own price. But, again, since I fly from a small, regional airport, the prices are always really high anyway so 28% translated to over $200 savings for me. Definitely worth it to me.

I agree with the others that say you need to be somewhat flexible.. but I usually am so I'll try Priceline again for another trip I'm planning in January.

 

[Feistygirl916]

I just used the "name your own price" for airfare on Priceline yesterday!

I got my brother a r/t ticket home with 24 hour advance... He leaves today and airfare is always outrageous when it's less than a week before the flight.

Flight was priced on the airlines website for $560, and I only paid $226. That to me is pretty dang awesome.

 

[Violet L]

Wow, those are huge savings. I'm considering trying priceline for a trip in the spring.

 

[Green Tea]

I got my flight for $600 or so, and to book it conventionally it was $1000 +/-