priceline

[marvella]

some freinds and i are planning a trip to southern utah in the spring. we want to fly into vegas, then rent a car, visit the south and north rim of the grand canyon, tour zion and bryce canyon, see the hoover dam, stuff like that. plan on taking about a week.

while searching for deals on tickets, i looked around at priceline. their ad says you can name your price.

has anyone ever done this? how well does it work?

right now, tickets are around $350 each, if i leave from an airport within 200 miles, a little more if i leave from knoxville. so, can i like bid 5 tickets for $159 each or whatever and hope they say ok? how long do i wait? will they let me know before the last minute? and if i find another better deal sooner, what happens to the priceline bid? do i have to take it? i'd hate to miss a good deal because i was waiting on priceline to okay the 159.

i know it's a lot of questions. priceline also wants everyones names as they appear on their drivers license, before i even bid. i'm not sure i know everyone's exact legal name, what if i tell the wrong one, then try to fix it later? my legal name has two different spellings so it depends on which id i use, how i spell it. (long, unrelated story.)

thanks for all answers and patience.

[fitwind]

I have never done it but I have heard that you get the red eye flights. Some people have told me they put on flights that the have trouble filling up. The reason I never did it was because once you bid and make the arrangements your stuck with whatever they give you. If you don,t care about when and how many plane switchs you have and have an open agenda I imagine it could be fun or a nightmare.

[Boss Cooker]

Search Cheap Tickets and Expedia. My wife travels and we are able to save a few bucks by using them. Price Line will place you in a position of being on stand by or an odd hour flight that just plain sucks.
Don't forget to search the air lines, Delta, American, Jet Blue ect. They can offer some great deals.
One last thing. Plan ahead. You can save a lot of bucks by booking two or three weeks in advance.
Enjoy your trip!!

[luptin]

I also have never used Priceline for plane tickets, but I can answer your question about when they notify you. If you bid $159 they will let you know right away if your bid is accepted or not.

I have used them for hotels over 40 times and have never had a problem. You can pick the star level that you are comfortable with. There are two sites that I know of where people post winning bids for priceline:

http://p070.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding

http://www.betterbidding.com/

They also have FAQs that we help you understand how Priceline works. Enjoy your trip!

[NCGirl]

I have used priceline at least a dozen times for hotels and a couple of times for air travel. Used it once for rental car and it was a rip-off in that particular case. You give your credit card at the time of bidding and there is no changing the ticket, they accept your bit, you buy.

Check out www.biddingfortravel.com

I say yes for hotels and maybe for airlines only if the deal is good enough.

[arabian knight]

I am keeping my Pirceline GASOLINE CARD. Be a collectors item some day~! Only lasted a very short period of time. BUT I still have it.