MSY-MIA-MSY using Priceline ...
Apr 21, 1999 | 8:08 am
#1
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Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Programs: DL PM/MM, AA ExPlat, Hyatt Glob, HH Dia, National ECE, Hertz PC
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MSY-MIA-MSY using Priceline ...
In the middle of last week I decided to try and take a trip to Miami to see my brother compete in an offshore powerboat race. I checked all of the airlines, but the lowest fare I could find was about $500 round-trip to any of the airports in South Florida (MIA, FLL, and PBI). I thought for a minute I might be able to use an AA NetSaaver fare, but they weren't offered for that weekend (they had MSY-MIA for the following four weekends, just not that weekend!). So at this point I'm thinking I'm just not going, but then I decide to give Priceline a try ...
I enter a bid for $165 to fly from MSY to MIA or FLL or PBI. About forty minutes later they e-mail me back with an itinerary:
4/17 MSY-ATL DL848 12:15P 2:42P
4/17 ATL-PBI DL152 3:35P 5:15P
4/19 PBI-ATL DL569 2:40P 4:34P
4/19 ATL-MSY DL1488 5:20P 5:52P
Not too bad, even quite reasonable times. With taxes it ended up costing $185. I had expected that if I won a bid that I would end up on DL because I had heard that most Priceline tickets are on TWA, American West, and Delta, and I doubt American West and TWA even publish MSY-MIA/FLL/PBI routes because of their hubs.
After getting my itinerary I call the Medallion line at Delta and get preferred seating and they entered my SkyMiles number into the ticket (my boarding passes all showed my SkyMiles number and my Gold Medallion status, but no ff miles *darn*).
After getting my tickets, I decided to try and get a room using Priceline. I made offers of $70/night for a 3-star and $90/night for a 4-star in Miami downtown, but neither was accepted. My brother told me that he would get a room so I left it to him ...
I reserved a Standard 4x4 with Hertz (Ford Explorer or similar) using Freedom Rates (Rate Code FRDM) at $52.99/day. I used Hertz because I had a $35 customer service credit to use, so my actual rate I paid was only like $35/day.
On the day of my flight I had decided to try get to PBI early by flying stand-by on an earlier flight. I had checked the night before with the Medallion desk to make sure that same day stand-by was allowed, and it was.
At the airport I was told I would have no problem MSY-ATL, but ATL-PBI might be tricky. I wasn't too worried, at worst I would sit in the Crown Room Club, drink some beer, and watch the NFL draft if I didn't clear stand bys.
Got the stand-by MSY-ATL no problem, got a window seat in like the second row of coach.
Got to ATL, visited the CRC and checked my e-mail and Flyertalk, then headed down to the gate (it was packed, the plane was an L-1011). Waited patiently for them to call my name, didn't bother the gate folks or crowd them (like one person I noticed), and right after first class boarding they called a few names, including mine. I dash up to the desk to get my boarding pass so that I can still make the preferred Medallion boarding and find space for my roll-aboard. The desk agent hands me my ticket ... Seat 4A ... First Class (Priceline tickets are non-upgradeable). That was a very pleasant surprise needless to say. Get on the plane ... have a beer before take off. They served a nice looking pasta dish with Chicken, but I had eaten in Atlanta (didn't expect to get a meal on the flight!) so didn't have any. Our flight had to circle for about 20 minutes because of bad weather at PBI, and we landed about 15 minutes late.
Got off the plane, headed down to transportation ... waited about two minutes for a Hertz bus (I had just missed the previous one) and went to the Hertz lot (#1 Gold Service). Was pleasantly surprise to find that the "or equivalent" to a Ford Explorer was an Infiniti QX4 (leather seats, power everything, sunroof), a very nice truck, much more "equivalent" than an Explorer!
My brother hadn't bothered to find a room yet, but that turned out okay in the end, one of his friends got some free rooms at a hotel on South Miami Beach (The Shelborne Beach Resort), that was pretty nice, though we got walked to a hotel next door the first night because they were over-booked.
On Sunday we went to Jimmy Johnson's 3-ring Bar and Grill at the Eden Roc Hotel to watch the race (next door to the Hilton Fountainbleu, where I may try and stay if I come to the race next year since the start/finish line of the race is right off the hotel). My brother won his class race on Sunday, and the details of Sunday night would not be appropriate here
On Monday I drove back to PBI, dropped of the car, the outside agent was able to accept my customer service credit (I had used one at Avis in San Diego, and I had to go inside to use it). Waited one minute for the Hertz bus which immediately left with me as the only passenger (very fast bus service at both ends of the rental).
The Delta check in counter was a mess, so I ask where the CRC is and head down. The CRC was not too crowded and while waiting I hear the agent telling the guy ahead of me "they called you" and the flight was delayed, so I call my voice mail and sure enough there's a message telling me the flight has been delayed 1 hour 20 minutes and I would miss my connection, but they already re-booked me on a later ATL-MSY flight. Checked in, checked my e-mail and Flyertalk, did some homework, got on the flight.
In Atlanta I headed down to the CRC to send some e-mail and I asked the desk agent there for a meal voucher since I had been delayed and she gave me a $10 voucher after checking my ticket (and confirming my story I suppose).
The next flight was uneventful, and I went to Park and Fly and got my car and went home. BTW, Park and Fly is pissing me off lately too ... In the past two years their rates have gone from $6.25 to $7.00 per day, and the coupons our travel agent has given us for them have gone from one free day to $5.00 off to $4.00 off ... between the two of those factors, prices have gone from $12.50 for three days to $17.00 for three days!
Checked the Delta website when I got home, and despite all the flight changes and the upgrade, still no miles ... oh well ... at least I got one FC upgrade!
[This message has been edited by Beckles (edited 04-21-99).]
I enter a bid for $165 to fly from MSY to MIA or FLL or PBI. About forty minutes later they e-mail me back with an itinerary:
4/17 MSY-ATL DL848 12:15P 2:42P
4/17 ATL-PBI DL152 3:35P 5:15P
4/19 PBI-ATL DL569 2:40P 4:34P
4/19 ATL-MSY DL1488 5:20P 5:52P
Not too bad, even quite reasonable times. With taxes it ended up costing $185. I had expected that if I won a bid that I would end up on DL because I had heard that most Priceline tickets are on TWA, American West, and Delta, and I doubt American West and TWA even publish MSY-MIA/FLL/PBI routes because of their hubs.
After getting my itinerary I call the Medallion line at Delta and get preferred seating and they entered my SkyMiles number into the ticket (my boarding passes all showed my SkyMiles number and my Gold Medallion status, but no ff miles *darn*).
After getting my tickets, I decided to try and get a room using Priceline. I made offers of $70/night for a 3-star and $90/night for a 4-star in Miami downtown, but neither was accepted. My brother told me that he would get a room so I left it to him ...
I reserved a Standard 4x4 with Hertz (Ford Explorer or similar) using Freedom Rates (Rate Code FRDM) at $52.99/day. I used Hertz because I had a $35 customer service credit to use, so my actual rate I paid was only like $35/day.
On the day of my flight I had decided to try get to PBI early by flying stand-by on an earlier flight. I had checked the night before with the Medallion desk to make sure that same day stand-by was allowed, and it was.
At the airport I was told I would have no problem MSY-ATL, but ATL-PBI might be tricky. I wasn't too worried, at worst I would sit in the Crown Room Club, drink some beer, and watch the NFL draft if I didn't clear stand bys.
Got the stand-by MSY-ATL no problem, got a window seat in like the second row of coach.
Got to ATL, visited the CRC and checked my e-mail and Flyertalk, then headed down to the gate (it was packed, the plane was an L-1011). Waited patiently for them to call my name, didn't bother the gate folks or crowd them (like one person I noticed), and right after first class boarding they called a few names, including mine. I dash up to the desk to get my boarding pass so that I can still make the preferred Medallion boarding and find space for my roll-aboard. The desk agent hands me my ticket ... Seat 4A ... First Class (Priceline tickets are non-upgradeable). That was a very pleasant surprise needless to say. Get on the plane ... have a beer before take off. They served a nice looking pasta dish with Chicken, but I had eaten in Atlanta (didn't expect to get a meal on the flight!) so didn't have any. Our flight had to circle for about 20 minutes because of bad weather at PBI, and we landed about 15 minutes late.
Got off the plane, headed down to transportation ... waited about two minutes for a Hertz bus (I had just missed the previous one) and went to the Hertz lot (#1 Gold Service). Was pleasantly surprise to find that the "or equivalent" to a Ford Explorer was an Infiniti QX4 (leather seats, power everything, sunroof), a very nice truck, much more "equivalent" than an Explorer!
My brother hadn't bothered to find a room yet, but that turned out okay in the end, one of his friends got some free rooms at a hotel on South Miami Beach (The Shelborne Beach Resort), that was pretty nice, though we got walked to a hotel next door the first night because they were over-booked.
On Sunday we went to Jimmy Johnson's 3-ring Bar and Grill at the Eden Roc Hotel to watch the race (next door to the Hilton Fountainbleu, where I may try and stay if I come to the race next year since the start/finish line of the race is right off the hotel). My brother won his class race on Sunday, and the details of Sunday night would not be appropriate here
On Monday I drove back to PBI, dropped of the car, the outside agent was able to accept my customer service credit (I had used one at Avis in San Diego, and I had to go inside to use it). Waited one minute for the Hertz bus which immediately left with me as the only passenger (very fast bus service at both ends of the rental).
The Delta check in counter was a mess, so I ask where the CRC is and head down. The CRC was not too crowded and while waiting I hear the agent telling the guy ahead of me "they called you" and the flight was delayed, so I call my voice mail and sure enough there's a message telling me the flight has been delayed 1 hour 20 minutes and I would miss my connection, but they already re-booked me on a later ATL-MSY flight. Checked in, checked my e-mail and Flyertalk, did some homework, got on the flight.
In Atlanta I headed down to the CRC to send some e-mail and I asked the desk agent there for a meal voucher since I had been delayed and she gave me a $10 voucher after checking my ticket (and confirming my story I suppose).
The next flight was uneventful, and I went to Park and Fly and got my car and went home. BTW, Park and Fly is pissing me off lately too ... In the past two years their rates have gone from $6.25 to $7.00 per day, and the coupons our travel agent has given us for them have gone from one free day to $5.00 off to $4.00 off ... between the two of those factors, prices have gone from $12.50 for three days to $17.00 for three days!
Checked the Delta website when I got home, and despite all the flight changes and the upgrade, still no miles ... oh well ... at least I got one FC upgrade!
[This message has been edited by Beckles (edited 04-21-99).]
Apr 21, 1999 | 8:26 am
#3
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Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
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Rudi ~ That was actually the first time I have asked too, but it worked out well! I was hungry, and I was going to get something to eat, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask ... also, being in the CRC and not having to wait in line made it easier to ask, at least if they said no I wouldn't have wasted too much time.
Apr 21, 1999 | 9:31 am
#4
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Pasadena, CA. USA
Posts: 1,438
Cool report, thanks Beckles. This almost makes me want to fly Delta, despite the last time I flew it (Delta Express from Boston to Orlando, what makes that an "Express"?) they put me in the very last row of a tightly packed flight!
Apr 21, 1999 | 9:38 am
#5
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Original Member and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Programs: DL PM/MM, AA ExPlat, Hyatt Glob, HH Dia, National ECE, Hertz PC
Posts: 16,619
kyklin ~ I wouldn't run out and do that unless you're a Gold Medallion! My original seats were pretty much back of plane/middle seats, and the only reason I got decent seats was my Gold Medallion status!
Even with Gold Medallion status I end up in the last row occassionally!
Even with Gold Medallion status I end up in the last row occassionally!