I just scored on Priceline!!! :D

[Miramonti]

I've been trying to see a buddy in Germany for a long time but timing would never work out. We were going to go to the canary islands and this and that but usually I couldn't pull the trigger. Well, I decided to give it a shot to visit him next week (and go to a few places in Europe together), and Priceline came up huge!!!

My travel dates I tried are 9/3-9/11, with a couple days flexibility, flying from Ord (Chicago) to Fra (Frankfurt).

(Note this is only 4 days notice!)

Before I went to priceline, the best prices I got on the net were:

Travelocity: $1593
Orbitz: $1045
Hotwire: $785
Yahootravel: $612 (yes they use travelocity but often have different 'best fares', and this was hard to find too, I had to select an obscure travel period link)
Expedia: $580/$650 ($580 for a ghost flight tho - they don't reveal the itinerary or airlines until you buy it! yeah right!

Priceline: $450 ($380+taxes) - on Delta and only one stop in Atlanta! Yeeeeeeeeeess!!!

I originally bid $300 (before taxes) and they countered with $399, so I came back with $380 and they took it. I was told to be careful with the counter because if its too low, they will raise their offer. Well, since I had already saved a bunch from other prices on the net, I didn't want to risk it so I was conservative. If I didn't need the ticket for next week, I might have bid $350 instead.

Also, I went through biddingfortravel.com that I saw RossMAN mention here, and a member there gave me priceline tips and literally guided me through the bidding process, step by step, to attempt to get the best deal. And by the way, people post the deals they get there, so Rossman's right, its definitely a Hotdeals place for travel!

 

[Zim Hosein]

jjsole, you scored sweet

Thanks for posting some tips as I plan on visiting a friend in Italy in the near future and your post should save me quite a bit of cash

 

[amnesiac]

Originally posted by: jjsole
I just scored on Priceline!!!

I didn't know they were offering such services now. Interesting.

 

[luv2chill]

awesome price man!!! I'm jealous... where else are you going in Deutschland? Other countries as well?

l2c

 

[RossMAN]

Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: luv2chill
awesome price man!!! I'm jealous... where else are you going in Deutschland? Other countries as well? l2c

Depending on what he comes up with on his end, we're going to try and get to some beach areas like a greek island or something or maybe some other beachy place like the canary islands. I'm not giving him much time for arrangements tho but he's got some good travel contacts. It was my job to get my butt out there, and now the pressures on him.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

RossMAN I used them and gave you credit and you didn't read it!

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

Thanks for the linky RossMAN; got it bookmarked.

 

[StattlichPassat]

Dang, nice. :Q

 

[RU482]

kick ass

 

[chiwawa626]

My dad just bought tickets for the family to go to India this Winter break....He bought his for departing Dec 4th costed him 900 something, bought myne and my brothers for departing dec 18 costed 1800 something ....i dunno but for that price family vs pleasure? I wish

 

[Murpheeee]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

That site is excellent.
I got a hotel room at the Marriott for $32 per night (regularly $120)

This is after I swore I'd never use Priceline again after they screwed up a flight for me....but hey, can't argue with that price

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: Murpheeee

Originally posted by: RossMAN Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

That site is excellent. I got a hotel room at the Marriott for $32 per night (regularly $120) This is after I swore I'd never use Priceline again after they screwed up a flight for me....but hey, can't argue with that price

$32 for the Marriott? :Q Nice deal!

It took me about a 1/2 hour to read thru the faq's and posts to see what they are doing on this site but its definitely worth it. I'm going to consider using them and priceline more often for spontaneous trips that I wouldn't consider otherwise.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

yeah, but you "scored" with Delta... that's no better than the village bicycle


j/k - nice job

nik

 

[mastertech01]

Thats a darn fair price for sure. When I was in the Military it cost me about that much round trip at the best military cut rates... about the same price and this was on two occasions, 1977 and 1989. Not bad to match prices from way back then.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

<STRONG>RossMAN</STRONG> I used them and gave you credit and you didn't read it!

LOL Sorry you're right I didn't read your post.

Would you mind doing me a small favor? I've never used PriceLine nor BiddingForTravel, would you explain to me how they both work in laymen's terms?

Thanks!

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: RossMAN Here's a secret to scoring at PriceLine, BiddingForTravel.com

RossMAN I used them and gave you credit and you didn't read it!

LOL Sorry you're right I didn't read your post. Would you mind doing me a small favor? I've never used PriceLine nor BiddingForTravel, would you explain to me how they both work in laymen's terms? Thanks!

Sure. Keep in mind I've used these sites just once so I can't be held liable for misinformation (the lawyers made me say that).

A couple links:

Biddingfortravel Airline Ticket FAQ
My biddingfortravel post


Priceline (air): Give them your credit card and then input your itinerary options, including multiple airports (jfk, laquardia, newark), travel dates including a range of dates if applicable, "only 1 stop?", "non-jet aircraft?" etc.

Once you input your itinerary, they will either reject or accept or give a counteroffer - which you want to happen. A counter offer shows you're in the ballpark, and you if you don't lowball them too much on the next bid, you'll probably get it accepted and will have bought the ticket for your new bid. If you're not close you're going to have to rebid, using as many 'new bids/free bids' to solicite a counteroffer.

Biddingfortravel.com: The kicker to priceline is that once you begin a bidding process for a trip, you can't rebid for the same trip for 7 days. Therefore if you don't get what you're looking for, you're sol for another week. This introduces Biddingfortravel, to help you get the most out of your bids, and to give you tricks to use to help you rebid when needed, without it being considered a new trip. (you can always up your bid for the same trip, but these other tips will give you more rebid opportunities that will often become very valuable.)

For example, when I posted on biddingfortravel for bid assistance, he told me to select CGX to FRA(nkfurt). CGX is Meiggs field in Chicago which doesn't even have any commercial flights! But by doing so, I was able to change my destination later so that it was considered a "new bid" or "free re-bid". Another trick was to not select the non-jet aircraft option, so that I could modify that later if I needed another free bid (even when there is no possible non-jet aircraft flight to frankfurt. )

Also, use their link to priceline and you will automatically get a $10 discount if you buy something - sometimes its $25. If your bid process completely fails, you can then go to priceline site directly I believe, and start over...not 100% sure tho.

Everyone lists their successful bids for flights and hotels, so it can also be a very good benchmark to guide you when determining how high to make your first bid.