cchsu98

Hello Thereuare, Well, I tried what you suggested. I searched for SFO>HNL, SJC>HNL, and OAK>HNL. Each time I made sure the departing airport I ultimately submitted was SFO. I bid $325, $350, and $375, respectively. Each bid was rejected. I have not done the MRY option yet b/c I wanted to save one try to think of a good price to bid. After my $325, 350 and 375 bids were rejected, each time Priceline made a counter offer for a flight for $573. Q1. Is PL showing me this b/c its the lowest fare PL can get me on SFO>HNL? Q2. Given the fact that my 325-375 bids were rejected and countered with $573, do you have any suggestions on what to make my last bid? Also, although I realize that $458 + 20 is the lowest valid fare I can get from HawaiianAir.com, it does not look like this fare is available to Priceline. When I first enter my bid, PL checks it, sees that it is too low, and then tells me that the lowest published fare is $603, Hawaiian Airlines. PL says "You can expect to save up to 40% off this price ($603)." So, I think I should base my bid on $603. For example, the $573 fare is exactly 5% off the $603 fare. (Those prices include taxes.) That's why I think it might be more useful to make a bid based on the fare that PL states is the lowest, not necessarily the fare that is the lowest out on the Internet, b/c I will have a more realistic chance of getting a fare based on $603. Q3. What do you think- should I be basing my bids on the lowest published fare that Priceline finds? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this subject. And I will be sure to post the results of this process for others to learn from. Thanks! Chee Chee

Hello Thereuare, Thanks for the strategy. I will try it. =) Btw, it seems that you tailored my strategy based on the number of airports that had flights going to my destination. In this case, since there were 3 airports, you divided up my bid increments into 3 bids that would cover the range of min and max range of prices I was willing to pay. And you also found another originating airport (MRY) that had SFO as an alternate airport AND also flew to my destination (HNL). Is this analysis correct? Thanks again, Chee Chee

Hello Thereuare, Yes, my maximum bid amount is $375. My target is for $375 + tax to equal around $415. (Of course, the lower we can get it, the better.) My dream price would be to pay $337 + tax = $376 for the flight to Hawaii. (This was the transparent booking price on Orbitz for ATA about 3 weeks ago.) Ok, I'm ready to bid. How do we do this? -Chee Chee ps - If you don't think $375 is a realistic price to get a 1 or 0 connection flight, please do let me know.

Hello Thereuare, I got your last post. I realize that bidding strategies aren't based on percentage savings. That was just a helpful way for me to give structure to my thinking. I understand that I need to determine my maximum bid. Before I do this, I want to clarify: might I end up getting the $458-regularly-priced HA flight since it is still available? If so, my max bid would be $375 + tax (hoping for a total cost of around $410). Is there a way I can figure out the worst case scenario flight that I would get? This is what I did, but perhaps you know of a better way? I looked at the other flights on Lowestfare.com to see what these worst cases might be. (It looks like they would be itineraries with 2 connections, taking up to 15 hrs to go from SFO to HNL.) If I ended up with an itinerary that took 15 hrs, I actually would not want it. I think the max flight time I could stand is the 9 hrs that some of the itineraries offer. If the I end up with a 9 hr flight time, my max bid would be $337 + tax (= approx $376). One more thing: I'm realizing from you posts that it seems like re-bidding will play an important role in this strategy. Is this true? Is this part of your strategy? (I didn't realize that one could re-bid since I have not made the bid yet). Thanks for your help, Chee Chee

Hello thereuare, One quick clarification: from your previous reply, it sounds like I should base my bid on the HawaiianAir.com $458 price, not on the Hawaiian Air flight thru Travelocity"]Travelocity for $514 price. Is this correct? And btw, Priceline DOES partner with Hawaiian Air- I read it on the "List of Partner Airlines". (Does this mean the HA $458 price is available to Priceline?) Thanks, Chee Chee

Hello Thereuare, Thanks for your reply and taking the time to address each of my (many) points. I appreciate it! So, I checked on HawaiianAir.com. Yes, the $458 + 20 fare is still there. (And yes, I only want to book a flight for 1 adult, FYI.) In my 2nd post, I said I'd like to save at least 10% b/c I didn't know if it was reasonable to expect more. However, if possible, I would like to save as much as we think is realistic. So, when you make your bidding recommendations, could you keep this in mind? (In other words, if I can save more than 10%, I don't want to settle for 10%! =p) Here is a schedule of discounted fares: 10% off $458 = $412 20% off = $366 30% off = $321 40% off = $275 Which fare do you think I should start with? Of course, I'd like to start with the 40% off, but this may not be realistic. Please advise. Also, if possible, I'd like to make a bid that would allow me to get a counter offer, so I can figure out if the offered flight is the non-stop Hawaiian Air flight or not. If possible, could we work this into the strategy?

Thereuare, thank you for your quick reply. First, in regarding to "forcing" Priceline to give me an itinerary, perhaps "force" is not the right word. I was hoping that I could specify my parameters in such a way that the itinerary that matched my parameters would also be the itinerary that Priceline would choose to give me. I will re-read your original response to this point, but in light of this new thought of trying to "lead" Priceline to give me the itinerary I want (not "force"), do you think this could work? Have you seen this done before? Second, thanks for the tip that Hawaiian Air might not parcipate with PL. I had not thought of that possibility. Third, regarding your affiliation with Hawaiian Air, I would not mind using your links if I book through them. I do have 1 question though: if I book through you, can I still use my Hawaiian Air Miles membership to get the discount associated with it? Fourth, when you suggest adjusting my maximum bid of $440, are you asking if I want to raise my max bid to $450, for example, to try to get the nonstop HA flight (assuming they participate with PL)? Behind that question is this question: is one not able to save very much using Priceline anymore? What are the discounts you often see when people use PL? Is 5% or 10% more realistic, not 20% or 30%? (Or maybe 5-10% is more realistic for me given that I'm trying to book a flight less than 7 days before it happens?) I would appreciate any thoughts you could share on the realistic discount I could get- they will help me make my expectations more realistic. If I could not save at least 10%, then I would probably not use Priceline and would book directly (b/c as you say, having the knowledge and certainty of when I will be flying IS worth something) . Do you think I might be able to get a 10% discount? And thanks for your patience with all my questions. I studied econ in college, and I guess those analytical optimizing skills are taking over! =p Any thoughts (and booking strategy) you can share would be appreciated, Chee Chee

Hello thereuarel or Whomever Is Kind Enough to Help Me, I'd like some help on bidding a flight from SFO to HNL. Travel Dates: Wed 7/5/06 - Mon 7/10/06 Check Websites: Airtran - does not fly to HNL AA - $695 (fare only) ATA - $630 Continental - $1460 NWA - $978 SWA - no space available US Air - $735 JetBlue - does not fly to HNL Frontier - does not fly to HNL Orbitz - Hawaiian Air. $521 + $40 (tax) = $561 (SFO>HNL) Expedia - $494, but there are 2 connections: SFO to LAX to KOA to HNL. Although it is the cheapest, I don