Priceline.com (hotel, hotels, vacation, airline)

[AQUEMINI331]

Hey I'm planning a trip out to Las Vegas in April and I'm looking to purchase the plane ticket sometime before the month is out. I've gone to all of the conventional websites like Orbitz, Expedia, etc. and they all are basically posting the same prices and the same flights. There's less than $5 variation from one site to another in terms of the price of the airline tickets. So with that being said, and me looking to save as much money as possible, I decided to try Priceilne.com. Ol' William Shatner hooked me up with a deal that seems to be too good to be true - roundtrip from Chicago to Las Vegas for $52 - most of that coming in the form of taxes and fees, as the base price is $15 and the rest is tax.


Anyway, has anyone used priceline before, particularly for airline tickets (I've seen a lot of info here about hotels, but I'm interested in flights, as my hotel is already taken care of). How was it? I know about some of the stipulations - for example, can't pick your flight, you get whatever they throw at you. That's a big one, but they assure you that you will fly at a reasonable time - sometime between 6 AM and 10 PM (when else would you fly?).


Has anyone had good experiences with this though? Bad experiences? Did the assigned flight turn out to be a disaster or was it well worth it?


_

[Barbaro]

Hi there

I've only used Priceline once. The flight was very cheap but I had 2 stop overs which doesn't seem bad I guess but it took up too much valuable time of our vacation as it was 2 stop overs each way though the wait in between flights was short. We got an afternoon flight out and a red eye back which was way too early for my liking. Can't beat the price though!!

Enjoy your trip

[115db]

Ive used priceline before and they had (dont know that they still do) deals where you can 'name your own price'. You type in a reasonable price, up to 40% less, and if they accept it, youre on your way. The only catch is that THEY pick the time you leave and return, the airline, and you dont know what that is going to be until after you pay. If you try to change it, they charge you $100. But at least there are no 'booking fees'. Id use them again, too.

[Jammie]

Do they only pick the TIME of departure and return? Are you still able to chose the dates for each?

[BlueWillowPlate]

I used them during a family emergency and everything was fine, but my flight needs were simple: Denver to Chicago.
Some people swear by this website:
Bidding for Travel

[loves2read]

I too was going to suggest the bidding for travel site

you have to be pretty knowledgeable when you go Priceline to know if what you get is worth what you pay...

[115db]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Do they only pick the TIME of departure and return? Are you still able to chose the dates for each?

They pick the time, airline and departure, but you pick the dates.

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by Power Surge

They pick the time, airline and departure, but you pick the dates.

Thank you. That's good to know. We've always used expedia, but Priceline may be worth checking in to.

[RoaminRed]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Thank you. That's good to know. We've always used expedia, but Priceline may be worth checking in to.

Be careful! I booked through them once when I needed to be somewhere a certain day. I listed the day before as my departure date, and they booked me to leave at 11:55pm that night...and arrive the next day about 4 hours AFTER my appointment time due to a several-hour layover in another city. Yeah, technically they booked me on the day I needed to leave, but they didn't GET me to my destination in time.

[dynimagelv]

my ol granny used to say...."be careful what you ask for.....you may get it "