Catman ~ I wasn't talking about you! I was referring to some other postings I had seen either here or in USENET of people saying it was a BAD service just because the company had not accepted their bids ... although maybe I shouldn't have addressed that comment specifically at you!

Sorry for the misunderstanding!

On another note ... I flew the first leg of the trip yesterday, everything went fine. Priceline had originally had me leaving at noon and arriving at 5:00 PM, but I wanted to try and get in earlier, so I went to the airport and stood by for an earlier flight. First leg was fine, but the second leg (ATL-PBI) was going to be tough. I was waiting patiently in the boarding area for them to call my name for the second leg (never even asked the desk agents once about my status because I had already checked on it in the CRC and they were busy enough as it was), and they called my nameright after first class boarding, so I hop up quickly to the counter wanting to get my boarding pass and board with the Medallion members so I won't have trouble finding overhead space for my roll-on. The nice young lady hands me by boarding pass and my jaw drops ... FIRST CLASS BABY!

As long as you are willing to put up with Priceline's limitations (no control over times of travel is a BIG limitation to me), Priceline *can* work. I have used it for business and leisure travel, and once for hotel ($85 hotel room for $50, with an additional 1 free night promo deal).

Yes, it's best for short-notice travel when regular prices are a fortune, and you have the flexibility of traveling anytime on a given day. Theoretically, however, you need not use the magic Saturday night stay.

About FF miles: I recommend you send your ticket stubs through the mail, and see what happens. You might get lucky ...

arturo themk yu peepl krezie. yu argie ovr nuthin. et jist a por quito aerolin teckit. arturo es imbareassed bye yur jibberesh.

Beckles, thanks for understanding that I do not attack anything or anyone. Friends, OK?

I hope PriceLine works for you. And if you can post a trip report reflecting your Priceline experiences (maybe we need a new tread talking about purchasing airline tickets and hotel reservations this way.

And arturo: sometimes your jibberage makes a lot of sense! For YOU: HAVE A MEOWY DAY!!

I have submitted two reasonable bids. Both were rejected. Got a better deal than even the submitted price through a travel broker. I don't trust them is all. If you know how to hook up why bother with such a service?

I tried priceline a couple of months ago to get some tickets from SFO to New York.
My offers were rejected.

HOWEVER:
a couple of weeks ago, I bid $350 for a ticket from SFO
to Tokyo. It was accepted and the whole thing cost me:
350
54 tax
---
$404

The flight was on ANA, and Ana gives you a 20,000 Yen (~$180) gift certificate on top of that. (as a promotion of starting service in San Francisco). And I still got FF mileage on United.

The second best deal I could find were AA e-fares for $454, but I could not stay as long as I wanted (only 8 days).

Conclusion:
I am satisfied and will try priceline again.

one (more) caveat of using priceline...

flying out of jfk last night, i chatted with a student trying to get to chicago. her nonstop jfk-ord twa flight was cancelled, and no other airline would honor the priceline-issued ticket. she eventually got on a very late jfk-stl-ord twa flight which was delayed on the tarmac for an hour due to weather in stl (i know because i was on the jfk-stl leg), and missed a reunion -- a problem which may not have happened had she had a published fare.