How does this work? I was goofing around surfing for tickets to IM japan, trying to get an idea of what it would cost next year by looking at this years prices. Cheapest I could find airfare was $1200. Not bad. I go to priceline punch in $900, it says ok pay here, cool. Since I am not buying tickets yet but just surfing I exit. Then I punch in $600, which is the dream amount that makes this an awesome trip to me instead of having to watch every penny, it says ok pay here. I didn’t follow through becasue it was this years dates not next years i had entered. My question is was that all there is to it? I punch in 1/2 the asking price for a fare and get it? or is there more to this?
No. . .it is not that easy but you can still get a good deal. You enter all your info, including credit card and then they can reject your offer or accept it. A few years ago I know with hotels if you make an offer and they reject it you then can make another offer but you have to change something in the reservation other than the price (i.e quality of hotel, length of stay, etc.). This may have changed.
A good place to look for the best airline rates is sidestep.com it searches all of the airline and travel sites for you.
It isn’t that easy. It is kind of like Ebay. You enter your bid, then priceline goes and asks the airlines if anyone is willing to sell for your price. If there is a taker, great. You just made out. If not, they will shoot you back and tell you to increase your bid. I have bought a few tickets off of them, usually about 75%- 80% of normal retail. Just be careful of the travel window you enter, because they will use the whole thing.
J
Jim,
ehan is pretty much correct about the way priceline works, but the likelihood of them accepting a fare half of retail is slim to none. However, be conscious of the fact that if fares drop significantly in say, 6 months and you have already raised your price on priceline, you could end up paying more. They don’t give refunds for any reason. Good luck