Priceline for Asia Trip

[SelectSys]

I am curious to know people's experience with using Priceline for Southeast Asian travel. I have a good deal of date flexibility and would like to try and snag a ticket for 30%+ under the posted price for travel on my dates.

 

Any idea as to what airlines have contracts with Priceline? Also, how do the tickets compare to consolidator fares? What little I read on the Priceline site suggested that once you buy you basically have no flexibility although they offer insurance for $29. Finally, with Priceline how far out in time does it typically make sense to lock in a ticket.

 

Thanks in advance for any input.

[CruiserBruce]

Gee, wouldn't anyone like to get 30% off, the dates, times, seats and every other thing we want, just by playing a pricing game online with a discount vender. Then I woke up from my dream.

 

Realistically, Priceline or any other discounter doesn't have some secret path that no one else has. You will likely give something, or many things, up for that 30% (if you can get that) discount. Choice of airlines- that is the first thing to go. Seats? Probably assigned at the gate, which means they could be in the baggage compartment. Non-stops? Unlikely. Even reasonably direct routing? Hopefully, but don't hold your breath.

 

Summary? Want 30% off? What are you willing to give up? There is no free lunch. However, your flexibilty makes getting lower rates more possible thru just about any route for booking.

 

Sorry for the rant, but so many people are looking for that secret path to low fares, without losing anything, or possibly gaining some neat benefit. Just doesn't happen very often. If there was some great way EVERYONE would book that way, get the benefit and it wouldn't be a secret. And the airlines would be out of the booking business, or have to match it.

[imsulin]

For a flight like that, I'd consider going through a consolidator. What you'll get is the base fare, and the taxes/fees will be added on. You'd have to call a consolidator directly. I've found that booking through sites like Priceline, Expedia, Kayak...etc. I end up with basically the same rate I could have gotten by booking directly through the airline. The only reason I'd recommend a consolidator would be for more "exotic" destinations...like Asia.

[SelectSys]

Gee, wouldn't anyone like to get 30% off, the dates, times, seats and every other thing we want, just by playing a pricing game online with a discount vender. Then I woke up from my dream.

 

Realistically, Priceline or any other discounter doesn't have some secret path that no one else has. You will likely give something, or many things, up for that 30% (if you can get that) discount. Choice of airlines- that is the first thing to go. Seats? Probably assigned at the gate, which means they could be in the baggage compartment. Non-stops? Unlikely. Even reasonably direct routing? Hopefully, but don't hold your breath.

 

Summary? Want 30% off? What are you willing to give up? There is no free lunch. However, your flexibilty makes getting lower rates more possible thru just about any route for booking.

 

Sorry for the rant, but so many people are looking for that secret path to low fares, without losing anything, or possibly gaining some neat benefit. Just doesn't happen very often. If there was some great way EVERYONE would book that way, get the benefit and it wouldn't be a secret. And the airlines would be out of the booking business, or have to match it.

 

Do you have any direct experience with Priceline for long haul airfare? I have seen up to 50% off for hotels, however I have no experience with airline travel. Their claim, not mine, is that 40% off is possible on airfare. I was being more conservative at trying to gauge others experience in getting 30% off.

 

In terms of giving up something, I plan on giving up FF miles that would come from using a OW carrier. I would expect that the seats would be poor. I would expect to travel mid-week. I would expect a long connection time. I am expecting that travel would be on one of the Korean, Chinese, or Taiwanese carriers. I expect to give up these and other items but would like to know more from someone with direct experience or reasonable knowledge of how the company operates.

 

Again, thanks in advance to anyone that can provide direct information about Priceline for airfare. Does anyone even know if Priceline actually forwards the bid to the airlines or are they simply acting as a consolidator?

 

BTW - My bidding strategy would be to start very low and move up until something hits. I would probably stop at about 15% under what I can get via a site like Orbitz. At this point i would revert back to a OW carrier to get the miles and better seat selection.

 

I also think the fact that Priceline does not disclose the carrier, routing, or timing makes discounts possible for airlines wanting to dump excess seats without hurting their overall business/brand as much.

[greatam]

I can only give you anecdotal evidence of why I would NEVER use Priceline bidding for an airline ticket again:

 

Needed to get an employee from Arizona back to our Missouri office (MCI). Thought I got a GREAT deal UNTIL I saw the routing. It took poor Tim 2.5 days to get from PHX. Routed through the East Coast with an overnight in Washington, DC. IIRC, it had 5 legs on the trip. He could have gotten on Greyhound and made it a day sooner.

 

You know all the "tricks". Pick a routing into Bangkok or another relatively cheap hub, with separate tickets booked on the Asian LCC's to get to other places in Asia (as long as you aren't dragging a lot of luggage). Check out some of the Middle East carriers-flying through Doha or Bahrain SOMETIMES saves money (but probably not from Southern Cal). China Southern and China Eastern have been running some pretty good prices into BKK from LAX.

 

Good luck!!!

[greatam]

Just a couple more thoughts-Chinatown in Alhambra and Little Saigon in Garden Grove have a LOT of TA's selling consolidator tickets for those destinations. Might be worth a check.

 

I used two or three of them on Garden Grove Blvd to purchase intra Vietnam and Vietnam/Cambodia tickets. Saved about 25% off the Vietnam Airlines website. NOT as cheap as buying them in Vietnam, BUT I have a confirmed seat BEFORE I arrive Vietnam. I have once in a while taken the chance to buy Vietnam Airlines tickets IN VIETNAM-twice there were no seats available so I spent another night in Saigon once and took the bus to Phnom Penh the other time.

 

Just a suggestion since you are close.

[SelectSys]

I can only give you anecdotal evidence of why I would NEVER use Priceline bidding for an airline ticket again:

 

Needed to get an employee from Arizona back to our Missouri office (MCI). Thought I got a GREAT deal UNTIL I saw the routing. It took poor Tim 2.5 days to get from PHX. Routed through the East Coast with an overnight in Washington, DC. IIRC, it had 5 legs on the trip. He could have gotten on Greyhound and made it a day sooner.

 

The claim on the site is that the tickets have no more than one stop.

 

You know all the "tricks". Pick a routing into Bangkok or another relatively cheap hub, with separate tickets booked on the Asian LCC's to get to other places in Asia (as long as you aren't dragging a lot of luggage). Check out some of the Middle East carriers-flying through Doha or Bahrain SOMETIMES saves money (but probably not from Southern Cal). China Southern and China Eastern have been running some pretty good prices into BKK from LAX.

 

Good luck!!!

 

Not sure how many tricks I know, but my thought was pretty much as you suggest by flying into either KUL or BKK as an access point for LCC's. KUL seems to be a good jumping off point as this is Air Asia's home base.

 

Any suggestions for decent inter-Asian LCC's or those to specifically avoid?

 

Just a couple more thoughts-Chinatown in Alhambra and Little Saigon in Garden Grove have a LOT of TA's selling consolidator tickets for those destinations. Might be worth a check.

 

Good idea, I am up in OC all the time on business. I can ask some of my colleagues and friends who they use when going "home."

 

Again, anybody else with direct Priceline experience?