Anybody ever used Hotwire or Priceline for airline tickets?

My parents use priceline all of the time...

They've gotten Southwest and American Airlines tickets using that...usually very early in the morning...

 

I recently purchased tickets to Tampa, Florida using Hotwire. It save me about $70 or $80 per ticket from what I was being quoted elsewhere.

I do have one stop each way. I stop in Dallas on the way to Tampa and St. Louis on the way back. They booked me on American Airlines and the hours are decent. So far I'm happy with it.

One warning though: you can't make any changes or get a refund. If you can't make that flight you are screwed.

os

 

I have used both several times - flights and hotels.

I liked Priceline better, but Hotwire is pretty good and they actually did refund some airfare tickets for me. I had a court date that popped up and they refunded. Very Rare circumstances.

The last time I flew I used Priceline and they got me the same flight I wanted to Las Vegas with no stops, the return had a layover in Phoenix - but saving 150$ on two tickets made the layover tolerable.

You fly the big name carriers - you just fill up their empty seats on flight times most people don't like.

Get ready to fly early or late.

 

<shameless plug>
Use Hotwire. Two friends of mine from college founded it.
</shameless plug>

Seriously I've never used either though I have heard the same about the flight times. Bon voyage.

 

The cool thing about the early/late time is usually the plane's totally empty, so you could have a whole row to yourself to lay out in...

 

www.biddingfortravel.com

 

I used Priceline back in '99 for a trip to New York. In addition to the early/late flight times, the only thing I have to warn you about is that they didnt help me at all when I missed my flight trying to come back to Houston. The flight was like around 630 in the morning and I overslept. They tried to give us standby tickets but the problem was that I was 17 at the time and was traveling with my 8 year old cousin and we had a stopover in St. Louis. The thing was, if we got stuck in St. Louis for the night, we did not know any family members there to take care of us for the night. So, we didnt take the chance and just bought a one way ticket for the following day. I was pretty ashamed about it because it cost my uncle about $200 per ticket for a one way while we only paid $150 roundtrip.

Oh by the way, we flew through TWA. You will get some great deals with Priceline but I have used Expedia the past 2 trip I have went through and paid just about the same price if not cheaper.

 

Tons of great advice on bidding and good deals here.

I use this site frequently - good link Dream.