Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - priceline experiences??

I heard on a domestic flight someone was routed through two points nowhere near where they were going. Spent about 10 hours for what would have been 2 hours. Anyone use for domestic or better still international? Is it a good idea or not? Thank you.

Hi Natalie,

Yes, indirct routings do happen, my worst was PHX-SJC-LAX. Compared to the usual PHX-LAX, going to SJC doubled the miles flown and tripled the travel time.

For the trip I saved about $30 on the flight. However, previously I had booked the same route through Priceline I always got the PHX-LAX route. So if you use Priceline you have to buy your ticket and take your chances.

I guess the big decision you have to make before you bid is whether or not you want to risk inconvienient flights in order to save money. For some people the savings justify the risk of being inconvienenced but for others, who are used to getting the most optimal routings, Priceline is not worth that risk.

Hope that helps, it is all up to you and your priorities.


-S

[This message has been edited by ASUGymn (edited 05-21-2002).]

[This message has been edited by ASUGymn (edited 05-21-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by natalie:
I heard on a domestic flight someone was routed through two points nowhere near where they were going. Spent about 10 hours for what would have been 2 hours. Anyone use for domestic or better still international? Is it a good idea or not? Thank you.</font>

Priceline won't route you with more then one connection unless you agree ot it before you submit your bid. They shouldn't have been all that shocked when they clicked on the box for allowing two connections to get two connections.

If you understand what you are getting into you can save money with Priceline, it's just a question on if the savings is worth it or not.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ASUGymn:
the big decision you have to make before you bid is whether or not you want to risk inconvienient flights in order to save money.</font>

Truly the big decision.

For me personally, if I am taking a Fri-Sun vacation, normally I would leave Thursday night and fly home sunday afternoon/evening.
with priceline, I would have to book a friday departure seeing as I could not count on a Thursday after 6pm departure. The flight priceline could choose for me on friday may leave after 6pm that day and the flight on Sunday may leave at 6am, effectively taking two days off my three day vacation. If you can leave any time, I would use it, but most people can't so i don't.

I do use priceline for car rentals on a regular basis.

I use it for hotels once and awhile.

Bottom line, Priceline is great for car and hotel rentals, not airline tickets.

SW, I've never used them on car rentals, what kind of luck/deals are you getting on them.. I take it you feel its worth it.. what are the risks/downsides to car rentals?

thanx

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Sweet Willie:
Truly the big decision.

For me personally, if I am taking a Fri-Sun vacation, normally I would leave Thursday night and fly home sunday afternoon/evening.
with priceline, I would have to book a friday departure seeing as I could not count on a Thursday after 6pm departure. The flight priceline could choose for me on friday may leave after 6pm that day and the flight on Sunday may leave at 6am, effectively taking two days off my three day vacation. If you can leave any time, I would use it, but most people can't so i don't.

I do use priceline for car rentals on a regular basis.

I use it for hotels once and awhile.

Bottom line, Priceline is great for car and hotel rentals, not airline tickets.</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TrojanHorse:
SW, I've never used them on car rentals, what kind of luck/deals are you getting on them.. I take it you feel its worth it.. what are the risks/downsides to car rentals?

thanx

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I use them for many car rentals. I usually get prices in the $17 or $18 a day range, did DC recently for $17 a day, so for the one day I was there it was considerably less expensive (something like $24 after the fee and tax) then a round trip ride from the airport to the hotel for the two of us. Last weekend I had a car in Dayton for $18 a day, when I got to the counter all they had was a Mustang, so I took it.

They are not always the best rate, so check the usual places for rates forst, and bid under that. It's also great if you want to try for a full size or a convertible but not at the rental counter's rates.

You pay up front, no changes allowed, and don't get miles, but if you can live with that, you can save some money sometimes. Never had a problem at all.

I used it only twice; booking a hotel. I had no problems with priceline, and also not at the hotels when I arrived.
I'll try again soon.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TrojanHorse:
SW, I've never used them on car rentals, what kind of luck/deals are you getting on them.. I take it you feel its worth it.. what are the risks/downsides to car rentals?</font>

Most important downside to know is if you do not make the trip, you lose your $.
Secondly you do not earn points/miles for Priceline rentals, but IMO the majors have reduced the amount earned on car rentals to such paltry levels not to be bothered with considering the cheap pricing I get by shopping around.

If your flight is delayed, Priceline holds your reservation for up to 24 hours. But your tardiness must be due to a flight delay.

Upside are the prices. I usually get a confirmed car rental rate through any of the majors for the time desired. Then I go to Priceline and see if I can beat it, I usually try for a convertible or luxury rental (another upside for priceline rentals on luxury cars is they come w/unlimited mileage unlike most luxury rentals through the majors).

Some deals I can remember over the past few months: convertible $26 per day in Miami, Premium on Maui $39 per day, Economy in Chicago $13 per day, Luxury in LA $24 per day.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Sweet Willie:

If your flight is delayed, Priceline holds your reservation for up to 24 hours. But your tardiness must be due to a flight delay.
</font>

I took a voluntary overnight bump last Thursday evening, and just called Budget and told them I wouldn't make it until the next day and they had absoultly no problems holding my Priceline rental for me.

A huge downside to Priceline and Hotwire for car rentals (at least with Budget) are exorbitant overtime charges ($99/day) if you return the car late, or the car is taken out of service due to an accident.

Luckily I haven't been stuck with any charges, but Budget sternly warned me about this when I declined the insurance on a Priceline rental.

If your time is cutting it close, it's probably safest to pay for an extra day.

National's overtime charges on Priceline rentals are more reasonable... ~ $50/day.

Another hassle is Budget cannot process your return using their handheld computer. You have to go inside to close your contract. A pain.

Sweet...thanks for the info. Didn't know they did hotels and cars. Thank would be something I would be interested in. I do fly three day weekends, prefering the evening departures. Most is international and I wondered if I could ever consider chancing an LAX to Australia, Caribbean, Asia trip. Don't think so. So how much (percentage of norm) is a good bid to start?

I would think long and hard about doing a three day weekend with Priceline.

Assuming I want Friday, Saturday, and Sunday someplace, I will either fly out late Thursday or first flight on Friday, and return on the red eye on Sunday if possible. In this case, I would try for a Friday flight out and a Sunday flight back.

Priceline can give me the last flight on Friday, actually getting in early Saturday Morning, and they can also give me the first flight out Sunday morning, making my three day weekend a one day stopover (Saturday plus a few early morning hours on Sunday).

You give up way too much flexibility to have a three day weekend if you actually want to spend some time where you are going.

I would check Hotwire to get an idea of the bid price, knock a bit off that and try Priceline should you go with it.

From Cordelli:"I would think long and hard about doing a three day weekend with Priceline."
I highly agree. This is why I have almost never used PL for flights.I use them for hotels (sometimed unreal prices for 4 star hotels) and have not used them for cars. Frankly,I can usually get as good a deal with Avis using the discount codes mentioned in the Hilton forum on FT.

I just got a National rental car on Kauai for July at $20/day intermediate plus tax. That is a bit more than half price so I am happy. Always wondering, though, if I bid too much!! Priceline recommended against less than $23. Ha.

Question, or has anyone been in this situation?

You get to the rental counter with your Priceline or Hotwire reservation and they demand you buy collision insurance. You don't want collision insurance becayuse you will be using a credit card that provides it.

Doesn't this mean that your bid is dishonored?

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Even if you want the collision insurance, it doesn't make sense to win a bid of $20. per day from a company that charges $20. a daty for collision when another company takes regular reservations for $25. a day with $8. a day for collision.

The Priceline Rental Cars FAQ implies that buying insurance from the rental car agency is optional: "Does my priceline rental car come with insurance? Your accepted priceline Rental Car offer does not include any kind of insurance. You *MAY* decide to purchase coverage at the rental counter for an additional charge plus any applicable taxes, fees and surcharges." (Emphasis added) Pricline's site does not have durable hyperlinks so to get this information go to http://www.priceline.com then click "rental cars" than click "help" and the link to the information is under "Top 5 questions"

I also looked online and found that some states (such as Hawaii) forbid mandatory Collision Damage Waivers.( http://www.consumerlaw.com/437d.html ) Also some franchisors (such as Payless) forbid their agents from requiring customers to buy CDWs. ( http://www.paylesscarrental.com/Ins.html ) The Payless site does say that their franchisees can refuse to rent to a customer with no existing auto insurance if they do not take the CDW.

-S

ASUGYMN,

Thanks for that information on Hawaii. I am heading there in July for my Honeymoon and was wondering about the insurance.

As with any priceline/Hotwire make sure you do you homework before you purchase.

KT

Here are the insurance terms with a successful PL bid for a car in Hawaii with National:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Optional Items Available to Purchase at the Counter
Optional Items such as coverages (collision, liability, and personal effects & accident), gasoline, upgrades from your reserved car type, additional drivers, or additional equipment are NOT included. Depending upon availability, you may elect to purchase these items at the rental counter. Charges for these items plus the applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges are over and above your priceline charges. National Car Rental will inquire about your insurance coverage for the rental car. Therefore, please check your automobile insurance policy, credit card coverage, and homeowner/renter insurance policy to understand your coverage before you get to the rental counter.
</font>

If you have an existing auto policy, then chances are that your liability coverage from your existing policy will cover you on the rental car, so just make sure you have a valid insurance id card with you.

If you don't have any existing auto coverage, then it's probably a good idea to purchase liability coverage anyway. (Except for rentals in New York State, where liability insurance is provided by the rental car companies.)

For CDW, the credit card's secondary coverage for Visa, MC and Amex will apply, at least according to Priceline, so you probably won't need to purchase LDW, etc.

Thanks to everyone who posted about the car rental information. I had never even considered doing a car rental on P/L. I think on my next personal trip, I will try it.

One last question, Are the rates for the convertables or Full Size significantly different than the Econ or compact?

It depends on where you are renting and what the going rate is. For example, in Memphis in the winter a convertible is very inexpensive. In Southern California in the summer where it goes for two or three times the cost of other cars, you won't be hoping to get one on Priceline for $15.00 a day.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LIH Prem:
If you don't have any existing auto coverage, then it's probably a good idea to purchase liability coverage anyway. ... For CDW, the credit card's secondary coverage for Visa, MC and Amex will apply, at least according to Priceline, so you probably won't need to purchase LDW, etc.</font>

As I understand, if you don't have any automobile insurance (for those of us who don't own cars, for example), your credit card insurance becomes primary. It's a wonderful feature of the credit card-provided automobile insurance coverage.

In Europe, however, I do opt for the CDW, because the rules for reimbursement from your credit card in the case of damage are so complex that it is often not worth the time. And CDW tends to be more realistically priced in Europe than in the US ($3/ day for my trip next week vs. $22/ day for Hertz in Boston).

Using an Avis AWD# (see Avis forum) I often great rates,points,airport locations,no waiting in lines,etc. IMHO,I can't see using priceline to save a couple dollars a day.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by fastflyer:
As I understand, if you don't have any automobile insurance (for those of us who don't own cars, for example), your credit card insurance becomes primary. It's a wonderful feature of the credit card-provided automobile insurance coverage.

In Europe, however, I do opt for the CDW, because the rules for reimbursement from your credit card in the case of damage are so complex that it is often not worth the time. And CDW tends to be more realistically priced in Europe than in the US ($3/ day for my trip next week vs. $22/ day for Hertz in Boston).</font>

In essence, it may be "primary" because it's the only coverage, but it isn't primary insurance (except for Diners Club), and in any event, the CC insurance does not include liability coverage. If you have your own automobile insurance policy, you might have liability coverage when you drive the rental car. If you don't have an auto policy, then you should make sure you have liability coverage when you rent the car, even if you have to pay for it, and make sure to get enough liability coverage to protect your assets.

-David

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jabez:
Using an Avis AWD# (see Avis forum) I often great rates,points,airport locations,no waiting in lines,etc. IMHO,I can't see using priceline to save a couple dollars a day.</font>

Could not agree more, I will only use priceline when the savings is more than $20 per day(sometimes it is well over that $20 savings).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by das:
A huge downside to Priceline and Hotwire for car rentals (at least with Budget) are exorbitant overtime charges ($99/day) if you return the car late, or the car is taken out of service due to an accident.
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Overtime charges are exobitant, that's true, but in case of an accident at least Avis treats Priceline-renters like everybody else.

A friend of mine had an accident with his Avis-car he got through Priceline, and paid something in the mid-fourties for the loss of use of the car during repair. I thought that this was an absolutely fair amount.

Greetings - Dirk

I often use Priceline for rental cars. Just got a full size car in Orlando for less than any available rate for a compact car.
If I can't find a reasonable rate for a Hotel room I often use Priceline. For example I stayed at a DC Marriott, across the street from my conference, for 1/3 the price.
I always evaluate each situation and weigh the benefits of where I'm going and the price value vs. points. It changes from city to city.