Originally Posted by elgringito
Over the past 2 years I have regularly watched fares to Memphis and Nashville, they are usually in the $400 range which is very high on a miles travelled basis. Very rarely do they drop. About two months ago fares to Memphis, served by both CO and NW, dropped to about $250.
My last two trips to Memphis I used miles, the only time I have used miles in the last 5 years for domestic trips. The IAH to TYS market is served non-stop only by CO as far I know and therefore unlikely to drop in my opinion. AirTran may run decent fares for a connecting flight.
I flew to Knoxville last year on an award ticket, and had no trouble getting a seat just a couple of weeks out on NW (via Memphis). It's not a cheap location to fly into, I seem to recall pricing it out at around $400 last year, before the hike the oil prices. I watched it for a while and didn't drop, so that's why I got the award ticket.
If you can get $275 on Priceline, I'd say go for it. The other alternative (since you won't get miles with a Priceline fare on Continental) would be consider flying Southwest to Nashville and driving 2-3 hours. Southwest return flights from HOU-BNA price out to $280 all-in for early August.
Good luck.