Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price... anyone ever used this?

haffajappa

I keep meaning to try it... but i'm not sure how it works.
I mean, if i put in say, 200 dollars, for a flight for a certain date, and then when the time comes the only flights available are 600 dollars, would i be obligated to take one those flights?

I don't want to be in the situation of being obligated to pay for expensive flights just because thats all thats left and there were none for the cheap price that day, and i've already put my credit card number into the name your own price thing.

I'm weary....

PS - If anyone has a personal jet going to florida for 2 days, let me know.

dreamsincolor

doin'the-evolution wrote:

I keep meaning to try it... but i'm not sure how it works.
I mean, if i put in say, 200 dollars, for a flight for a certain date, and then when the time comes the only flights available are 600 dollars, would i be obligated to take one those flights?

I don't want to be in the situation of being obligated to pay for expensive flights just because thats all thats left and there were none for the cheap price that day, and i've already put my credit card number into the name your own price thing.

I'm weary....

PS - If anyone has a personal jet going to florida for 2 days, let me know.

You put in the maximum you're willing pay. They won't give you a flight if they can't find anything less than what you put in. However, you could get anything - flights that leave really early in the morning, or flights with 4 hours layovers. So it still is a little risky. It works really well for rental cars though.

haffajappa

dreamsincolor wrote:

You put in the maximum you're willing pay. They won't give you a flight if they can't find anything less than what you put in. However, you could get anything - flights that leave really early in the morning, or flights with 4 hours layovers. So it still is a little risky. It works really well for rental cars though.

yah i noticed you can't chose what time of day you leave...

_Crazy_Mary_

I use this service whenever I get a hotel room. I've never done the flight thing, though. It will not charge you for more than you're willing to pay. Another trick I've learned when naming my own price through priceline is to put in a tiny, low, low price and if a message pops up that says "you have hardly any chance of finding a room for that rate" then I go up dollar by dollar until the message doesn't pop up and I usually get it for that price.

haffajappa

_Crazy_Mary_ wrote:

I use this service whenever I get a hotel room. I've never done the flight thing, though. It will not charge you for more than you're willing to pay. Another trick I've learned when naming my own price through priceline is to put in a tiny, low, low price and if a message pops up that says "you have hardly any chance of finding a room for that rate" then I go up dollar by dollar until the message doesn't pop up and I usually get it for that price.

hmmm...
thats a good idea. i've tried it out for hotel rooms before but never really went as far as putting in my cc info...

ho hum... do i do it or not! :eek:

SENROCK

doin'the-evolution wrote:

hmmm...
thats a good idea. i've tried it out for hotel rooms before but never really went as far as putting in my cc info...

ho hum... do i do it or not! :eek:

DO IT!!!

stylo17

SENROCK! wrote:

DO IT!!!

ditto

cropdustress

Florida, here she comes!

haffajappa

cropdustress wrote:

Florida, here she comes!

you, of all people, know what i'll do, the lengths i'll go, and why. HAHA.

i just need to figure out how to get cheap airfare! :eek:

Hinny

doin'the-evolution wrote:

you, of all people, know what i'll do, the lengths i'll go, and why. HAHA.

i just need to figure out how to get cheap airfare! :eek:

The internets is your friend, Stephs.

haffajappa

Hinny wrote:

The internets is your friend, Stephs.

ums, duhs... like, omg. i knows, oks?
(true to reputation, hinny once again points out the obvious )

AmentsChick

I would use it for hotels (NEVER for a flight :eek: ). I've heard really good things about it. Check out http://www.tripadvisor.com to find out the most likely hotels (according to area and rating) you'll get at what price.

haffajappa

AmentsChick wrote:

I would use it for hotels (NEVER for a flight :eek: ). I've heard really good things about it. Check out http://www.tripadvisor.com to find out the most likely hotels (according to area and rating) you'll get at what price.

why not for a flight? is it cos your a chicken like me
hotels seems good, i've almost used it for that before (but in the end never had to)

the priceline multi-destination forms arent working for me, its really pissing me off! (sidenote)

AmentsChick

doin'the-evolution wrote:

why not for a flight? is it cos your a chicken like me
hotels seems good, i've almost used it for that before (but in the end never had to)

the priceline multi-destination forms arent working for me, its really pissing me off! (sidenote)

I wouldn't do a flight because I wouldn't want to risk 2 stops or a 6 hour layover....or worse...a red-eye!

Dylan Stone

dreamsincolor wrote:

You put in the maximum you're willing pay. They won't give you a flight if they can't find anything less than what you put in. However, you could get anything - flights that leave really early in the morning, or flights with 4 hours layovers. So it still is a little risky. It works really well for rental cars though.

You have used the name your own for a rental car?

I am going to be renting a car for three weeks (a week after buying a brand new car...what a bonehead move, huh? ...ANYWAY...) and I would like to try the name your own. I always do it for hotels. You've done well with rental cars?

LONGRD

I just used it for a hotel. $65 per night. best deal I found!!! better than expedia.

Hinny

doin'the-evolution wrote:

ums, duhs... like, omg. i knows, oks?
(true to reputation, hinny once again points out the obvious )

Heh, I was just looking for an opportunity to make a post- Henry Rollins just taught me and Mick to refer to the internets and the googles as such. Stephs.

vedder_soup

Hinny wrote:

Heh, I was just looking for an opportunity to make a post- Henry Rollins just taught me and Mick to refer to the internets and the googles as such. Stephs.

good work hinns...
sometimes getting cheap flights, you just have to be lucky!
like i was with my flights!

AmentsChick

LongRd. wrote:

I just used it for a hotel. $65 per night. best deal I found!!! better than expedia.

What hotel did you end up with?

londonwpr

GTFLYGIRL wrote:

You have used the name your own for a rental car?

I am going to be renting a car for three weeks (a week after buying a brand new car...what a bonehead move, huh? ...ANYWAY...) and I would like to try the name your own. I always do it for hotels. You've done well with rental cars?

Priceline rocks! I use it all the time for renting cars. You won't find a better deal anywhere. The way I do it, is by checking out the rates on hotwire.com and taking another 30% off of those rates to bid. I've recently booked a midsize car in San Francisco for $14/day.

Hotels are heavily discounted as well. I just booked a hotel last week for $60/night. Normal price at that hotel is $129/night.

biddingfortravel.com is a good resource for bidding on priceline. Good luck!

Zanne

I've used Priceline A LOT. Hotels and rental cars are a no-brainer.. Flights require that you have an extra day at the beginning and end in case they do something nutty, like have to reach your destination an hour after the show starts, or worse, have to miss the show to catch your red-eye flight out. Don't get me wrong, I love red-eyes.. Xanax is your friend.. but not when it cuts into the purpose for my flight to begin with. I have never once (knock on wood) got a flight that was anything but non-stop. A friend of mine, however, did.

Peace

patrickredeyes

Zanne wrote:

I've used Priceline A LOT. Hotels and rental cars are a no-brainer.. Flights require that you have an extra day at the beginning and end in case they do something nutty, like have to reach your destination an hour after the show starts, or worse, have to miss the show to catch your red-eye flight out. Don't get me wrong, I love red-eyes.. Xanax is your friend.. but not when it cuts into the purpose for my flight to begin with. I have never once (knock on wood) got a flight that was anything but non-stop. A friend of mine, however, did.

Peace

Are you all set for this weekend Sue?

decides2dream

doin'the-evolution wrote:

you, of all people, know what i'll do, the lengths i'll go, and why. HAHA.

i just need to figure out how to get cheap airfare! :eek:

try cheapair.com

they have excellent prices for flights.
i've used priceline quite a few times for hotels. with a bit of research beforehand, you can properly narrow down the area you want to be in, and get a good idea what hotels are in the area, and thus what you may be offered. however, for airfare, i like to know when i am flying, so i would never use priceline. however, if you have a completely open schedule, don't care about the time it may take, layovers, etc, go for it. me, i'll stick with cheapair. i've searched many sites, and never do better than with them.

AmentsChick

decides2dream wrote:

try cheapair.com

they have excellent prices for flights.
i've used priceline quite a few times for hotels. with a bit of research beforehand, you can properly narrow down the area you want to be in, and get a good idea what hotels are in the area, and thus what you may be offered. however, for airfare, i like to know when i am flying, so i would never use priceline. however, if you have a completely open schedule, don't care about the time it may take, layovers, etc, go for it. me, i'll stick with cheapair. i've searched many sites, and never do better than with them.

I use http://www.cheapoair.com. It's some of the lowest prices I've found!

Also, another good one is http://www.kayak.com which searches ALLLLLLL the major travel sites as well as airlines for the best deals.

haffajappa

well i've found that different times i've found cheaper flights thru different sites. when i went to europe last month i used expedia, but last year for lollapalooza i used priceline (both were really good deals)

i've just never tried the 'name your own flight' thing and i'm a bit weary, like you've all said of getting weird flight times.

thanks for the input everyone, btw.

Zanne

patrickredeyes wrote:

Are you all set for this weekend Sue?

Oh hell yeah!

decides2dream

AmentsChick wrote:

I use http://www.cheapoair.com. It's some of the lowest prices I've found!

Also, another good one is http://www.kayak.com which searches ALLLLLLL the major travel sites as well as airlines for the best deals.

kayak is good...never heard of cheapoair, have to look into it. just saying from my own personal experience, i have always gotten the best dels, and the best flights that suited my travel arrangements and desires for non-stop, better connections, etc, thru cheapair. there are soooo many sites nowadays, bound to find a good deal somewhere!

Zanne

AmentsChick wrote:

I use http://www.cheapoair.com. It's some of the lowest prices I've found!

Also, another good one is http://www.kayak.com which searches ALLLLLLL the major travel sites as well as airlines for the best deals.

I've used kayak too.. Every single time I've purchased cheaper flights through Priceline. If the price you find at another site is a good deal for you, I say go for it, because Priceline has no room for adjustment should your plans change in the slightest.

haffajappa

i just went to cheapair.com...
"We're sorry.
We are experiencing technical difficulties right now."

noooOooOooOOooOOooooo! im so curious - and the site is down! :eek:

Zanne

doin'the-evolution wrote:

i just went to cheapair.com...
"We're sorry.
We are experiencing technical difficulties right now."

noooOooOooOOooOOooooo! im so curious - and the site is down! :eek:

she said cheapOair. notice the "o"

AmentsChick

For my June PJ adventure I used Priceline on both legs of my trip. Since my itinerary isn't "typical" I found it best to book the first leg via a package on Priceline. Then I'm flying one-way home from Philly. I did literally WEEKS of research to find the absolute best price. Even after searching http://www.cheapair.com http://www.cheapOair.com http://www.kayak.com http://www.expedia.com http://www.hotwire.com and a multitude of others (including booking directly with the airlines) Priceline was STILL the cheapest even after taxes/fees, cheaper in fact than I found on Frontier Air's website.

I'm a priceline convert.

P.S. As you can tell I'm pretty obsessive (and a big fan of) booking travel!! If I could make a career out of it I would.