Anyone ever bid on plane tickets? (priceline)

[ScottyP431]

I bid on a flight, I bid like 100 for ATL to MPLS/St Paul and they came back with a counter offer of like 140. Orbitz/Kayak had found me a direct flight for 240. I had 1 stop and like a 40 mn layover both ways, flight left around 8 both times.

[NicksDad1970]

I did and it went great. The only bad thing about it is you can't bid on a time of day only the day.

That is unless it's changed. I got a R/T non-stop from Memphis to Denver for 150ish

[siccjay]

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I actually like the hotel deal and have used it a lot.

I am just tryin to find some stories (success or horror) from people how have done it for flights. I can't find one person that has done it.

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go to biddingfortravel.com and there is an entire forum of people who have used it.

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The flight section is a ghost town.

[siccjay]

Sweet. I think we are gonna do it. Flights from here to Reno are all over 500 for when we wanna leave. I was thinkin we could get it for 300 or maybe less.

[El Diablo]

sicc,

I've used it for hotels, using info from http://www.betterbidding.com/ to figure out how to do it right and target specific hotels and prices. That worked great.

I haven't done flights, though. I know a few people who have, and they have had mixed reviews. You can get lucky with your flights or get screwed by crappy times and connections.

[Badger]

My girlfriend did it once and it worked out alright. She was a student with a flexible schedule though. If you're willing to sacrifice up to 2 days of time at your destination it could be worth it. You could get stuck with a late flight getting in and an early flight leaving yor destination on the days you choose.

It doesn't work for me as I'm usually flying out Friday morning and home late Sunday night. If I used priceline I could get in late Friday night and leave early Sunday morning, essentially giving me a 2 night 1 day trip where I wanted 3 days 2 nights.

This isn't exactly the case as I remember some 36 or 48 hour guarantee when I looked into it a long time ago. There may have been some other stipulations as to maximum layover time, yadda, yadda. It was all on their site if I remember correctly.

[Klompy]

How exactly does this work? How long before your flight or long long after you put in a bid do they tell you if they accept?

[Badger]

I think it's fairly instant. I just pulled this off their site.
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Quality Experience Guarantee
Just because you're saving a lot of money on your airline tickets doesn't mean you're sacrificing quality. We guarantee that you'll always purchase a quality flight when you Name Your Own Price®. If the flights you purchase do not match our promise below, just call us before your departure date and we'll change or cancel your flight reservations at no charge.

Here's our promise to you:

Your flights will be confirmed for the dates and airports you agree to.
Your flights will have a maximum of one stop each way, unless you agree to two connections each way.
If you have a connection, your layover time will never be longer than three hours for domestic flights.
You will never be put on a red-eye or off-peak flight unless you agree to one.
You will know the total amount of your purchase before completing your transaction.
Your credit card purchase will be secure.
Your personal information will remain confidential according to our privacy policy.

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I bolded info that I thought pertains to this thread.

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Enter the dollar amount you want to offer for your trip and select the "Next" button. The more you offer, the more you increase your chances of getting a ticket. You'll get your answer in 60 seconds or less...

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[Klompy]

badger,

does this mean there's a strategy here of waiting till the last second for a trip that you don't really have to take to see if they have open seats that they'll sell for cheap?

[Burdzthewurd]

I got two tickets on Delta from Boston-Las Vegas roundtrip during Spring Break for $238, but I think that's the bare minimum for last-minute.