Priceline Airline Tickets

[djmcwilliams106]

Has anyone every purchased airline tickets from priceline? I am considering booking my tickets for this November, however, I've never done this before and not sure how it works.

[BrendaB1]

I've used for everything else but flights. Too big of timeline for flights for me to use for getting to a cruise & back.

[jencredible]

Travelocity, but not priceline. I've only used Priceline for Hotels and such...

[cherylandtk]

The trouble with using a bidding site for flights is that you cannot pick your times, and that requires that you go at least a day early and stay a day late, just to ensure you still have enough time to get on and off the ship. Add in hotels and the cost savings erodes. And as Brenda noted, the best bid prices are closer to the cruise, after final payment and after the lower cost but non-refundable airfares are spoken for. You have no refundable back-up transportation at that point.

 

p.s. even the big name bid and non-bid online travel agencies are still travel agencies, so we are not supposed to use their names according to board rules.

[jmrothermel]

I'll have to agree - that while Ive used Priceline myself - it wasnt to travel to a cruise. It was just on a vacation that it really didnt matter what time we got there.

 

There's no option on Priceline to pick times - and say you go for it they could give you a flight that gets in at 10pm, long after your ship pulls away.....

[firefly333]

I bid on some and luckily they turned me down. turns out my bid would have been $20 more than I could have bought them direct from AA. I dont find good prices on airline tickets when you consider they tack on a fee.

[JaneBP]

Don't risk it especially with the likelihood of the airlines canceling more flights across the board this fall. They have been threatening.

 

If you do, you MUST take out trip insurance, for starters.

[ManyMore]

I have booked air with them but it wasn't for a cruise as I always go down a day before but not a day after. If you decide to do it... check around and find your best flight prices for those same days. Then way underbid the flight price. Sometimes it will come up and tell you that your likelyhood of you getting it slim blah blah.... just ignore it and keep your price. Between flights, hotels and cars I have only once had my price rejected. I get hotels for $35 a night.... I rented a SUV and a luxury car different times and paid $25 a day. I got a flight $150 less then what my friend paid for the same flight sitting next to me lol I always want to really make it worth my while to use them lol

[6rugrats]

Has anyone every purchased airline tickets from priceline? I am considering booking my tickets for this November, however, I've never done this before and not sure how it works.

 

Are you asking about just purchasing tickets from Priceline, where you pick your own flights, airlines etc, or about bidding for airline tickets? These are two different things, and you can do both on Priceline.

 

A straight purchase is no different then buying a ticket from any other webpage. If you want to name your own price, I highly suggest you go to biddingfortravel.com and read very carefully about how this process works.

[mygale]

Has anyone every purchased airline tickets from priceline? I am considering booking my tickets for this November, however, I've never done this before and not sure how it works.

I am going on the Liberty this month and used priceline, I will be flying from Detroit, I named my own price and ended up with 2 round trip tickets for my wife and I for $296.00 total. Since you will not know your flight times stops etc. I looked for the day before and day after our cruise, they both leave around 6 am with one stop each way, plus we did the same with hotels and ended up with the same hotel on both ends of the trip in Miami for $96.00 total.

[dclark]

I have done bidding and nonbidding travel on PL. I did regular non bid air on PL for my last trip because:

1) I had different airlines going and coming

2) Sometimes, the rates on other sites will suddenly "jump" when you actually want to book. Travelocity does this alot. The last thing I wanted was to book one flight, then find out the other flight jumped $50!

3) PL doesn't charge a booking fee, so it is the same price as if you booked from the airline.

4) I got the same mileage credit that i would've gotten had I booked straight through the airline.

So, regular booking from PL can be good. Note that with other sites, they might charge you a small booking fee- hey, why bother with them?

[Globaliser]

Some more experiences on this thread.

[eandj]

Years ago, Priceline was a nice way to purchase air. Nowadays with all the discount sites out there, that let you choose the flights you want, I wouldn't think of using it for air travel. The inconvenience of extra stops or early morning or late night flights doesn't warrant a very small savings.

 

Hotels and car rentals on PL are a total different story.

[NCMtnBoys]

Naming your own price on Priceline for airfare STILL CAN be a great deal. In July I needed to go visit my brother in North Dakota. The city in which he lives (Minot) is served by just ONE airline (NWA)...can you say MONOPOLY?? Well I wasn't sure whether naming my price on Priceline would work since there is no competition, but decided to try anyway since, at the time, booking by conventional methods (discount sites and even the airline website) was around $650 round trip from Charlotte. After numerous attempts several times, changing preferences and parameters, my price was finally accepted at $419 plus taxes and fees. Flight times were fine (hey, there are just three flights a day by one airline, so not much choice). So YES, if you can fly the day before embarkation and the day after disembarkation, then naming your own price is still a viable option.

[Globaliser]

Flight times were fine (hey, there are just three flights a day by one airline, so not much choice).

But this demonstrates exactly what the downside is. For a trip where any of three flights in a day would be fine, then Priceline bidding may be for you.

 

But those three flights arrive at 1020, 1548 and 2354.

 

If you bid on Priceline, you could be on any of those flights. If you don't care, and any of those arrival times would be fine, then the $200 saving may be worth it.

 

But there are many trips where you'd gladly pay the extra money to know which flight you're actually booked on.

[djmcwilliams106]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. Sorry it took me a while to respond, being new to site, I couldn't find the thread and just found out how to find it. Thankfully one of the airlines had a sale from NY to MIA turned out to be $158 rt pp.