obtaining tickets via priceline.com

[Yogi Bear]

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I'm interesting in trying out priceline.com when i start interviewing to save some money. for those who've used it before, have any comments/suggestions/caveats? i.e. say i wanna fly from one place to another and back. i enter the two airports. in priceline. it will automatically give me a roundtrip price, or is it one-way? would entering $100 for a east to west coast flight be realistic?

 

[TheJurisDoctor]

PLEASE DONT USE PRICELINE!!!! If you want a decent schedule and are concerned about when you arrive and when you leave for a very important interview, do not use priceline because you cannot select your departure/arrival times and they dont let you change things, even if it is an emergency. Their customer service sux. They turned a weekend trip into a one and a half day trip by putting me in a flight right before red-eye status and another one right after red-eye status! Their practices suck!

 

[Mystique]

It depends on when you're planning on flying. If your travel plans aren't for awhile yet, I doubt any airlines would accept your $100 bid. But, try it out and see. You can pick roundtrip. Just be picky upfront (though then you have a significantly smaller success rate w/ your fare), so you don't have any red-eye flights like JurisDoc.

 

[Yogi Bear]

I'm looking at the online prices recently and everything seemed to have jumped up by $100-150 for a round trip east coast to west coast flight. it's ridiculous. it used to be like $198 for RT but now lowest is over $300.

 

[Mystique]

Did you try orbitz.com??

 

[TheJurisDoctor]

Dude, do what you want, but when u get screwed like I did and miss your interview, dont come crying to me asking me to sue anyone!!! 😛

 

[Keith]

i used cheaptickets.com and orbitz.com. orbitz tends to have a little better price. I WOULDN"T USE PRICELINE.COM. as stated earlier, you have no control over what time you fly in and out, you just designate departure day and return day and are stuck with what you get. ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
furthermore, i tried to use them for same day travel. their software allowed me to bid on same day but then they purchased tickets on my behalf for the next day, which were of no use to me. i immediately called customer service and was blown off. i'm currently disputing the charge with my credit card company.

 

[niksem]

I used priceline a few times. You can get a good and bad schedules. The for a ticket is around $145-175, depending of where you are flying If you arrive the day before the interview you might not care a lot about timing. Or if you do care, just go to Orbitz and pay $50-100 more but you will know what u'r getting.

 

[Cdc28p]

Try hotwire.com as well if your schedule is flexible.

 

[carpe diem]

i got a good rental car price at PRICELINE but for airline tickets (esp late reservations) there prices are not that great....I saved about 15% by going direct to an airline

.....also, some airlines promote their internet sites for booking the lowest fares, but I have found it is best to FIND the fares on the internet but then book by telephone.....live customer service reps will often allow you to combine special fares that their websites won't allow

-- carpe

 

[pocwana]

i've used priceline before for trips, like visiting relatives who are willing to pick you up at all hours of the night. i wouldn't use it for interviewing unless you have lots of spare time and can get there the day before and leave the day after. it probably won't save you that much unless you're pretty close to departure time.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to The Lounge (where I believe there is a similar thread)...