Priceline for flights?

[MovingtotheCove]

Any advice or experiences to share about Priceline for flights? Any issues with tickets when issued? What if flight times/schedules bounce around? Easy to keep updated and in communication? Also any advice how much to bid under "listed"pricing? Thanks for input.

 

[samclem]

I'm not an expert by any means but, I've used Priceline in the past for business travel. Observations:
-- Their prices, just the ones listed without trying to bid, can be very good.
-- At least for international flights, especially to thinly traveled places, their search engine produced some favorable routings (convenient and cheap) that didn't show up in the "regular" searches. So, I often use Priceline to help see options that didn't show up in Travelocity, Expedia, etc.
-- It can be hard to get a good seat. When I booked an overseas flight last year I had to go to the counter (it was KLM or Lufthansa) to get a seat assignment. You can guess what the seat availability was like on the day of the flight.

-- As always be sure to copy down the >real< confirmation number issued by the airline for each leg, in case you need to check/change things enroute.

 

[eridanus]

I usually underbid about 30%. If that fails, I wait and try again (or accept the counteroffer) or my SO underbids at 20%. No problems with tickets, communications, etc.

 

[clifp]

I don't think I'd use Priceline for business travel. I found it to be pretty good for going to point A to B. But it produced some horrible flight (5 hour delays) when trying to do multicity travel.

On the other hand, Priceline has definitely be a money saver when it comes to booking rental cars, when you really don't care between Hertz, Budget, Dollar, Avis.....

 

[urn2bfree]

There is a website I have found that gives advice about how to "do" Priceline called biddingfortravel.com
I have used both Priceline and Hotwire for hotels and been satisfied. A colleague used Hotwire for a NYC trip, got the midtown W Hotel as a supposed 4 star for a good rate, but he claimed it was a horrible dump and got ZERO satisfaction from Hotwire in service recovery.

 

[utrecht]

I've used biddingfortravel.com a lot also but only to get a general idea of what prices people are paying thru Priceline so I know how much to bid. That's all I use it for because the lady who runs the site is a real witch. She will ban you from the site for the slightest thing. Especially for posting anything about bidding for a room without using her affiliate link. Google the website name and you will see plenty of comments from people who have been banned for next to nothing.

 

[pb4uski]

I don't think I'd use Priceline for business travel. I found it to be pretty good for going to point A to B. But it produced some horrible flight (5 hour delays) when trying to do multicity travel.

On the other hand, Priceline has definitely be a money saver when it comes to booking rental cars, when you really don't care between Hertz, Budget, Dollar, Avis.....

I have used Priceline frequently for rental cars and the rates are good. I usually bid low and keep upping my bid until I get a car or decide it is too much and move on.

However the problem is that there is no flexibility so you need to be sure of your dates.

One time we showed up late one night at our arrival airport for our car and I discovered that I had my dates messed up and the car was reserved for the next day (for about a week). They wanted to charge me an outrageous rate for adding one day to the front end of the rental term. Luckily, I knew I had to return to the airport the next day to pick up my daughter so I walked down the hall and found a one day rental at a reasonable rate with another rental car company so I did that and pick up my Priceline car the next day.

 

[anethum]

I've used biddingfortravel.com a lot also but only to get a general idea of what prices people are paying thru Priceline so I know how much to bid. That's all I use it for because the lady who runs the site is a real witch. She will ban you from the site for the slightest thing. Especially for posting anything about bidding for a room without using her affiliate link. Google the website name and you will see plenty of comments from people who have been banned for next to nothing.

www.betterbidding.com seems to be a friendlier site than biddingfortravel.com, plus it also has hotwire info. To the OP, it also has a priceline-airline forum:
Airfare - Priceline and Hotwire Forum

I've used priceline several times for hotel rooms and I've always been quite satisfied, but I've never used it for airfares.