Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Bidding for Travel no longer doing airfares?

I can't find any posts earlier than summer 2007 on bidding for travel for airfare to Europe - has the board died out in this area? I haven't looked in a while, as I haven't traveled to Europe in a while :(

Betterbidding seems only to be for hotels. Is there any website picking up this area?

It seems that as of a few years ago, hardly anyone ever has a good experience getting a cheap fare anymore. I would not expect much, if anything. I've read articles giving reasons why Priceline bidding on airfares is essentially dead - it's more or less an issue of increased demand.

Here's one tip from what I've noticed, though.

Try creating a vacation package for your dates, and the cities you want to fly to/from. In the results, you will get either scheduled flights, or you will get Priceline partner flights with opaque information. If opaque flights are listed, that means there are probably some available for bidding. This will not necessarily indicate that these opaque flights are a good deal.

Thanks, WillTravel... good information!

You got me curious so I scanned the airline bidding area of biddingfortravel. The last reported win: LGA-STL 1/2/08-1/8/08 $210

That posting was December 17, 2007. So, it is still active. Sort of.

I agree with some of the earlier posters here that there don't seem to be a lot of bargains though. My son has bid MSP to several places in Europe. He gets good prices for last minute situations, and tends to gets USAir.

With Sheryl gone, that area of the board could use some more volunteer coverage. Wins still get reported, and some people get helped but others drift away when their questions don't get answered.

Any volunteers here? You could turn them out for FlyerTalk?

Romelle

And I looked again today on biddingfortravel for airline bidding. Missed a posting from 1/1/08:

MCO (Orlando) to LAX (Los Angeles) $160 1/18-1/21/2008 on Delta

I can't go back in history to see what rate the bidder could have gotten, but it does look like a pretty decent price.

I know almost everybody here is looking for miles on their particular airlines, but we also tend to advise friends and family whose budget may be more important than which airline. Priceline may be worth a shot for them.

You are right about the dearth of international postings though.

Romelle