Expert: Stephen Tanenbaum - 3/22/2005

Question
Like many people, I consulted priceline.com for a good deal on tickets.  I'd never used the service before, and I'm aware that I'm committed to the price I decide I'm willing to pay.  I plan on getting a ticket to Sydney a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and on other sites like Travelocity, the price comes to around 1800.  On priceline, I put down a preferred price of 1100.  Rather than tell me this is unfeasible, site said it would notify me about an available ticket.  

Just for laughs, I put down 500 dollars for a single, round trip ticket to Australia from Richmond, VA.  Again, I got the same answer: it's possible and that it would let me know about an available ticket.  Again to amuse myself, I put down $100 for the same round trip ticket.  Same answer.

Will priceline actually deliver on this promise?  Do you know of any other fliers who have gotten amazing bargains at this site?  (I'm wary of actually asking priceline itself, seeing as how they would naturally want to push their own wares.)  I thank you for your help.  

Answer
Hi Augusto:

You ask,,,does Priceline Deliver?

A Consumer Search article seems to address that very question:

Expedia.com is equally liked by reviewers. Along with Travelocity, experts say Expedia is best at disclosing how it chooses flights for its searches. In a survey of PC Magazine readers, reporter Cade Metz found that Expedia was the favorite, edging out Travelocity for "overall satisfaction, overall price, and likelihood to recommend" in addition to finding better deals. At the bottom of their survey were Priceline.com, Cheap Tickets and LowestFare.com. All three scored below average for "overall satisfaction and services offered." Like Travelocity, Expedia allows you more flexible search parameters.

Based on this survey it would seems there are few if any
amazing bargains at Priceline though certainly one expects to pay less given no control over airline, routing, number of flights to destination etc.

We have not used Priceline since our strategies find us flying the globe FREE and nothing beats FREE.

I just wrote a lengthy article that covers our best free travel strategies. In fact, one example covers our free
Australia tickets which also included free stop overs in New Zealand and Hawaii.

I created a BLog as the easiest way to share the article. You will find it at:  cheapskatetravel.blogspot.com

Not certain how you can run three tests on Priceline if you must, as you note, be 'committed to pay the price you set.' I was thinking  that if and when they come up with your price they   go ahead and charge the purchase price automatically.... In any case good luck with your bargain hunting efforts. I too enjoy putting companies to appropriate 'tests.' Steve T.