Priceline.com?

[NathanB]

Has anyone ever used the Priceline.com "set your own price" (or whatever its called) feature?  I am trying to get a cheap flight to NYC and thought I might give it a try...

Suggestions?

[kbp]

i've used it once.  make your offer obscenely low.  they'll say "we can't find anyone willing to give you that price... but how about this?"

of course, you can't pick your times, so that kinda sucks

[momofthree]

I have.  You can get a cheaper flight but you never know when you are going to fly.

I've also used them for hotels and rental cars which saves me hundreds of dollars a year.  

[gailrules]

Don't they lock you into whatever flight they give you before you see what time it leaves?

I think I was going to try that one time, but I didn't want to commit to any times before I saw them.

But I could be wrong.

[burghblast]

Priceline is the bomb for hotels and car rentals.  Here are some of my recent coups:

Three star hotel in the heart of downtown Chicago, a couple blocks from the Water Tower: $50/night
Three star hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, across from Mellon arena: $50/night
Three star hotel in downtown Austin with full in-room kitchen: $50/night

Notice a trend?  Bid $50.

It's much riskier for airline tickets because you don't know if you'll get a flight that leaves at 7:00AM or 10:00PM.  The window is much too wide to make it a viable form of transportation, in my opinion.  I get my airline tickets through Hotwire and all other accomodations on Priceline.

[Oneof2]

I used them for a flight to Philly once and got a great cheap flight. The timing thing can suck but if you are flexible then it wont really matter.

[maka nani]

I too love them for cars and hotels...

$100 per night Hawaii Prince Hotel..19th floor
$50 per night Radisson Prince Kuhio...think 7th floor..which was ok
$40 Embassy Suites LAX for one night...REALLY nice hotel for one night!

Try betterbidding.com for strategies etc!

[NathanB]

Hmm....  thanks for the info.  I think i'm going to go with the $350 from studentuniverse.com so that I can set the times.  I sort of need to be scheduled on this particular trip.