I just bid and won a flight on PRICELINE.
A great price but the departure time isn't great. The flight is with US Air (Buffalo - Minnesota ) evening flight. I did some investigation and there are at least 3 US flights earlier that day. I don't travel very often, would it be worth my while to show up at the airport early and ask if I can go on standby? The priceline rules seemed very strict... no changes etc.
any advice would be great
thanking you in advance!

UPDATE!!THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS
I HAD GREAT LUCK ON MY FLIGHTS
SHOWED UP AT 6:30 AM INSTEAD OF 6:30pm
WAS ABLE TO FLY NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
THEY EVEN TOOK MY MILES CARD AND i GOT POINTS
(A LITTLE BIT OF HOMEWORK, i KNEW THIS PARTICULAR FLIGHT WAS EMPTY. i WAS ABLE TO SPEND THE ENTIRE DAY IN MINNY.
ON THE WAY BACK IT GETS BETTER!
I AM ACTUALLY FROM TORONTO, BUT GOT THE PRICELINE DEAL OUT OF BUFFALO. I ACTUALLY HAD THE NERVE TO ASK TO FLY BACK TO TORONTO
AGAIN NO QUESTIONS ASKED! I WAS HOME IN NO TIME. AGAIN, ALOT OF LUCK HERE AS THE AIRPORTS WERE REALLY BUSY LAST SUNDAY, AND I THINK THEY JUST WANTED TO MAKE AT LEAST ONE CUSTOMER ONTIME AND HAPPY!

AGAIN, THANKS FOR THE MANY SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS. i THINK MY ADVICE IS : JUST BE NICE AND TRY!

[This message has been edited by ElmoJune (edited 08-15-2000).]

I have never used Priceline, so I don't know if you can change. I would take a chance and go to the airport. It never hurts to ask. If they are in a good mood, and if there is a lot of seats available on an earlier flight, you may have a chance. Bring a few extra bucks for a beer, or two, while you wait for your original flight, though.

/Pete

I'm no expert on US but I would bet on your ability to climb aboard an empty earlier flight. In other threads some posters have noted that gate agents do not always look for the obscure priceline rules if they are trying to fill a plane and make room on the next just in case.

You can register on the ITN website http://www.itn.net/cgi/get?itn/pl/amex_personal/index

(register as an expert in your profile)
and you can see the availability of individual fare bases on individual flights). You can also view seatmaps. Knowing loading will tell you your likelihood of getting on an earlier flight and which one.

Course you could call the res desk for a synopsis of the info. But that takes the fun out huh. Good luck!

Be careful!... specially purchased tickets might not have the same-day-of-travel standby rule. I was flying and my cheapo company(a $200 billion company!) bought tickets with a specially negotiated deal. Those cheapos bought a ticket so low that I was not permitted to fly any flight except the exact one ticketed(no same-day standby), and this on on a full-fare carier with many daily flights. Usually even the lowest bargain fares at least allow same-day travel, but special fares can have unusual restrictions.

You can try to standby earlier, sometimes the gate agent might not notice that the ticket says Priceline on it and let you through.

Also it does not hurt to call the reservation desk and ask but it might not help either. Once in awhile this bulletin board has a thread about someone who was told by the reservation desk that something was OK but the gate agent wouldn't let him through.

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


[This message has been edited by AllanJ (edited 08-13-2000).]

Call US the day before travel and ask how does Standby availabilty looks for the earlier flights. Get to the airport at least 2 hours early before people began to check in so the elites won't jump ahead of u and get higher priority on the standby list. You should be in good condition if u follow this. If one ticket person doesn't put u on the list, then try another or wait till they change shifts. If u happen to notice a numb new agent then u will be in good shape.

Don't think Priceline tkt will let you change your flight simply because it is Priceline. My friend bought a tkt from Priceline (AA), interestingly, AA won't check him in. Their reason? "You bought your tkt from Priceline, we can't check you in here."

Luckily, he didn't need to check any luggages in, but never the less, he had a nightmare of pre flight check in experience.

Funny as it seems, in an article about Priceline in Smart Money's issue (A couple of months ago), they had a similar story with some guy who can't check in because of the Priceline.
This happened a few months back, don't know if anything changed or not.

Don't want to scary you there, just keep that in mind and be mentally prepared.

Do not call re any changes. Useless and they may make notes in your record or screw it up. You are fortunate to be able to fly sooner. Most airlines WILL NOT OFFICIALLY allow earlier or later standby travel, but you may get lucky by getting to the airport earlier than your "official" flight and finding a nice counter or gate agent. But do not count on it.

In 34 years of air travel, no carrier has ever denied me the privilege of standing by for an earlier flight. I simply stride up to the podium, smile, wish the agent a very good day, and make my request. If I'm flying AA, I show my Platinum card with the million-mile oval. If there's space, I depart early.

I flew on AA with a Priceline ticket. I asked to standby on an earlier flight that day. They issued me a boarding pass but I could not get the connecting flight's boarding pass until I arrived at the DFW hub.

Beware that Priceline has not overcharged you. They overcharged me for the taxes by $7. They insisted that they were right and I was wrong even though I could break down the amount of each tax, but they could not. The credit card company agreed with me and gave me a $7 refund.

I would not have pursued this $7 matter if I were not shocked by the amount of taxes (was it $45 on a ticket of about $225 or so?). I heard that there are other companies where the price you bid is the price you pay (if the bid is accepted). Priceline should follow these leaders.

Changing a Priceline ticket is EXTREMELY difficult. You are totally at the mercy of the gate agent, and in my experience, they have little sympathy for us Priceline Travelers.

IMHO, your best shot is to see if flights around yours are pretty booked up. If they are, you might 'volunteer' to help out by getting on a different (earlier) flight.

Good Luck! :-)

Eastwest has your most accurate answer.

Yes, whatever you do, don't give the telephone agent a chance to bring up your reservation. They very well may document your record saying no same day standby. I have found in general (regardless of ticket rules) the airport agents will let you stand by for same day flights. However, I have not booked PriceLine for airline tickets. So as others have suggested, try your luck at the airport!

A couple more P/L air stories:

__My roommate was ticketed on P/L for a TWA JFK-BOS-JFK ticket. He was all done whatever he was doing in BOS one afternoon, and was scheduled to fly TW at 5AM the next morning. He went out to BOS, and tried to stand-by on the last flight of the night BOS-JFK. He told them he had nowhere to go in BOS. The TW agent told him that he could not travel a day earlier, and if he had nowhere to go, he could sleep on the floor of the airport.

__Another friend booked BOS-MIA-BOS on P/L via US. In CLT, she tried to change her return date. They had all the paperwork done, and actually swiped her credit card for the $75 fee. Then they said "oh its Priceline<" and would not change it. They said you had to go through P/L who of course will not make changes. They will only make changes if you have medical letter. If you have a medical related letter, they might make some kinds of changes. Still your change is on the same day so perhaps you won't have as much difficulty.

One morestory:
A friend booked P/L for $100 on DL PHL-ATL. She wanted to change her return date. She got into ATL, and figured since it was the south they would be very laid back, and just say "oh honey, whatever you want." Instead, they said at ATL they would change it for $75. Of course, this was even going beyond the P/L rules. She left the res alone.

Then she checked in at ATL on a later than scheduled return date. She had a friend with her, who was a bit more experienced at playing the game. He told the agent you know...we want to change this. They asked (the agent) if the pax had first contacted P/L. He said "no, we had an emergency, and this is the first time we have addressed the issue." They just checked her in, no change fee, and she was off back to PHL.

Again, don't count on this happening to you (but it could). It's like gambling...like playing a game.