Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - priceline flight policies: making changes/missing flight?

I booked a flight a roundtrip flight between San Diego and Portland for a wedding in July. I was hoping to move my flight a day up and book a hotel so I could sightsee a little in Oregon (or at least drink a lot of beer) and one day really isn't enough to do much. The charge to make any changes to my flight is $150 and the flight itself was $220 so I was just thinking about missing my flight and buying a new one for one leg of the trip because it would still be cheaper.

Unfortunately, they said that they would charge me $150 even if I missed my flight, regardless of the reason. Unless there is medical documentation for an illness, I would be charged $150 on top of my ticket price if I missed my my flight. I don't have health insurance (or a job) right now and I get ear infections all the time so I'm extremely worried about not being able to miss the flight as I've missed other weddings due to not being able to fly.

Does anyone have any advice for any way I could either change the flight or cancel it altogether? That seems ridiculous to get double charged for a flight you miss but maybe I need to be a more astute traveler and definitely read fine print in the future. Thanks in advance!

You are getting caught up in the rules and conditions of the ticket you purchased.

One of the reasons you got it cheap was due to the rules and restrictions in place.

Otherwise, everyone would book the cheap tickets.... and that does nothing for the airlines.

Sounds like you have had this health problem in the past... so probably should have taken that into account when you booked.

Unfortunately, I doubt that will be much you can do. The only leeway I could see would be if you had a health problem while in Portland... and able to get a Doctor's note. Then, you might get an airline to make an exception.

What airline are you flying on? Did you get the ticket through Priceline's bid function? or Priceline normal booking site?

Are you saying you were told that if you are a no-show, you will be charged $150? How will the airline access your credit card info?

Yes, if I am a no-show, I will get charged $150 on top of my ticket, according to the Priceline CSR. Priceline already has my credit card information so I assume they would just add a 150 charge.

I booked it through the normal booking site and both flights are American Airlines. The only reason I didn't book through AA directly was because I wanted the price drop protection which is really dumb and insignificant now that the $150 charge is almost the price of my entire ticket. The price was pretty much the same everywhere :/ In the future, I guess I should book directly from the airlines.