How to Bid on Airfare on Priceline
Priceline provides the opportunity to fly for your own chosen price, but the airlines get to choose everything else after that. Once you've chosen your date of travel and departure and arrival airports, everything else is up to chance: the time, the airline and even the airport, to some extent. Although the bidding process lacks certainty and forces passengers to miss out on airline frequent flyer program miles, if you pay significantly less for your ticket, it will probably be worth the stress.
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Instructions
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Enter your flight details in the boxes provided on Priceline's homepage and click "Search."
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Review the prices presented to you and click the "Name Your Own Price" icon to suggest a lower price.
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Choose airports that you're willing to fly to and from in the list provided. Selecting several airports gives you a better chance of having your bid accepted by an airline.
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Fill out the "Name Your Own Price" amount. This is the maximum price you're willing to pay, including taxes and fees, for the ticket. Generally, bidding between 10% and 40% less than the lowest ticket price you've found has the possibility of winning you the ticket. The price you should bid depends on how far in advance you're booking and how popular the route is.
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Enter your personal details in the boxes below and click "Next".
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Fully read the Priceline terms and conditions on the next page before initialing them. Priceline tickets purchased through the bidding system are non-refundable and non-transferable. You're required to take the flight that Priceline assigns - which could depart anytime from 6 am to 10 pm on the scheduled day - when your bid is accepted, even though you won't be able to see that specific flight until the ticket is booked. If you fail to show up for your first flight, the rest of the ticket will be canceled and has no residual value.
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Enter your billing and credit card information and click "Buy My Tickets Now" to confirm your bid. You will be notified within 60 seconds if an airline has accepted your price. If your bid is accepted, Priceline will issue you paper tickets; if it's rejected, you must wait 24 hours before submitting another bid for the same flight. You can, however, change airports or dates and submit another bid immediately.
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