SpaceSquirrel

Thanks for the input Romelle! I ended up going with a ~$200 SMF->DTW. While Southwest declining to publish fares to ITA and the like irritates, it's more than made up for by their not charging any fees for checked bags or to change a flight.

Greetings, I tend to overwhelm myself with flexibility in searching for airfares. I'm in the Sacramento / SF Bay areas hoping to get back to Michigan early next week. It might be nice to be in the MidWest on Election Day, but not an absolute necessity. I think Sacramento (SMF) -> Traverse City (TVC) would be ideal, but TVC is a rather expensive airport, so I'm willing to go via GRR (closes), DTW, ORD, or others and rent a car or take a bus up to Northern Michigan. So far, the best deals I've seen are: $100.60 (including taxes) Oakland (OAK) to Chicago (ORD) - Tue, Nov 6 Alaska Airlines 351 Dep: 2:20PM Arr: 4:17PM 1h 57m Boeing 737 Coach (T) Layover in SEA 1h 48m Alaska Airlines 26 Dep: 6:05PM Arr: 11:50PM 3h 45m Boeing 737 Coach (T) $204.60 Sacramento (SMF) to Detroit (DTW) - Mon, Nov 5 US Airways 592 Dep: 9:59AM Arr: 12:45PM 1h 46m Airbus A319 Coach (G) Layover in PHX 45m US Airways 230 Dep: 1:30PM Arr: 7:18PM 3h 48m Airbus A319 Coach (G) I used the better bidding PRICELINE link to try $60 then $62 with non-jets allowed ($62 = ~$113 with taxes) SMF to GRR and got a "suggestion" of raising offer price to $289 or $246 for SMF to ORD. One question I have is whether Priceline is significantly better for Round Trip vs One Way tickets. I prefer one way because I'm not sure when or from where I might want to return to California. If it's only going to be like 10-20% higher though, I could put in some dates I "might" use later on. Haven't checked rental car rates or bus ticket prices in much detail as yet. With all my flexibility, # of re-bids shouldn't be an issue. My issue is deciding how to value my "time in transit" and the relative benefits or drawbacks of various airports and relative [in]convenience of rental cars and/or buses (with or without transfers). Thanks for the great site! SpaceSquirrel aka Bill.

My favorite for checking airfares is: http://matrix.itasoftware.com Also very good is http://www.kayak.com

Thanks for the input Gallus! I had to cancel today's trip, but will probably be trying again sometime in the next few weeks.

I can get a room at the Petaluma Americas Best Value Inn & Suites (used to be Dollar Inn) at 5135 Montero Way for about $55 through Expedia, so think I'm going to use $50 as my max bid. When I was there before it wasn't a great hotel, but wasn't too terrible (maybe a 2 or 2.5 by Priceline's standards? ... I really don't know from hotel * ratings). It's in the perfect location for me, so am willing to forgo some comforts. It is under new management somewhat recently, and think it's gotten better reviews since the switch than it did before. The Quality Inn next door was much nicer when I was there, but it's booking for $95+tax, so I'm likely to opt for the cheaper one to see how the new management is doing.

Greetings! I've gotta go to the dentist in Petaluma this afternoon and anticipate not wanting to drive home afterwards (is almost 2 hour drive for me), so I'm trying to formulate a bidding strategy on PRICELINE. Wanted to post for feedback since I haven't tried to do this in a while. This is for 1 person, 1 night, tonight 3/20 - 3/21 (I know options may be somewhat limited since it's same-day). There are 4 zones in the area. Zone 1 = Fairfield = 3* and below Zone 2 = Napa = 4* and beow Zone 3 = Santa Rosa - Rohnert Park - Petaluma = 3.5* and below Zone 4 = Sonoma = 4* and below I want Zone 3, so Zones 2 and 4 are useless to me. I'm not sure yet if I care what star level I get or how much I'm willing to pay (plan to check on rates at the 2 places closest to my destination soon). See below for pricing info. It seems I should be able to bid: 1. Zone 3 @ 4 star 2. Zone 3 @ 3.5 star 3. Zone 1+3 @ 4 star 4. Zone 1+3 @ 3.5 star 5. Zone 3 @ 3 star 6. Zone 3 @ 2 star 7. Zone 3 @ 1 star Am I understanding the bidding process correctly? I know I may have to close the browser to re-try under certain circumstances (I have 2 different computers with 3 different browsers each if needed ;). Any advice on what price to start at? The non-opaque section of Priceline is starting around $60. Hotwire (which I might actually prefer based on prior experience) has a 2 star for $32, 3.5* for $58 or 4* for $65 (haven't tried to match those to actual hotels others have seen yet). The local Motel 6 is $46 + tax but it has some pretty horrible reviews at TripAdvisor. Thanks!

Sorry, forgot to post this one right away since I didn't actually stay there. 2* Boston (Airport Logan BOS-Saugus) - Red Roof Inn Boston Saugus $79 ... 6/19-20/2007 Taxes, etc were $14.54 for a total of $93.54 I think internet was the only amenity listed on Hotwire, but am not 100% certain. Hotwire let me cancel because it was farther from the Airport than I expected and with my late flight didn't have a good way to get there. It was a same day booking, and I called to try to cancel within about an hour after I discovered it was not walking distance, did not have a shuttle, and many of the buses wouldn't be running once I arrived.

I haven't really thought in terms of maximum budget, just trying to stay at a place that isn't absolutely terrible as cheaply as possible. If I could be fairly confident of a 24 hour shuttle and a place as good as or better than the motel 6 (I know, it's hard to judge what hotel is "better" than another) I wouldn't mind paying around $150. Don't think I want to get up near $200 though. I'll probably be visiting with a friend who lives in Park Forest. If I'm staying 2 nights at O'Hare we'll probably meet downtown, but I could try to stay Thursday night near Hammond. Not sure what I would do with my luggage while hanging out downtown on Friday though. Any ideas on what that 2-star in Northbrook is? I'm seeing it for $61 per night now. Thanks, and sorry for coming to you with such nebulous plans. --SpaceSquirrel

Thanks for the great forum! I'm scheduled to arrive at Chicago's Union Station (via Amtrak) at 10:38pm on Thursday, July 19th, flying out of O'Hare at 5am on Saturday, July 21st. I wasn't really planning to rent a car, so am looking for a hotel is either within walking distance of the CTA trains, or has a 24 hour shuttle. I've read some really nasty reviews on TripAdvisor, so was hoping to at least get a vague "ID idea" before trying Hotwire. Right now the only ones I'm seeing with shuttles are: 2* Northbrook for $59 w/ Rest, Laundry, Fitness, Business 1* ORD North for $81 w/ Fitness, Business, Breakfast, Pool, Laundry 2.5* ORD North for $84 w/ Fitness, Breakfast, Business 3* ORD North for $99 w/ Fitness, Business, Breakfast, pool, internet. I'm not that into amenities, so am looking mainly at the Northbrook. I have a reservation for $108 ($54/night) refundable until 6pm Thursday at: Motel 6 - O'Hare / Schiller Park 9408 W Lawrence Ave Schiller Park, IL 60176 Google Maps says that's about 1.5 miles from the Rosemont blue line stop, so if nothing better comes along I should be able get by via walking to the train. If convenient, I'd like to use Hotwire as they have been very good to me the last 2 times I tried using them (giving refunds both times despite not _really_ needing to, even in my opinion). One source told me a cab to the airport would be ~$15+ even from fairly nearby, so for priceline to be worthwhile, I'd probably want to find something in the area of $50/night. Thanks. --SpaceSquirrel

So, I'm thinking shuttle service from the airport would be very nice ... be able to get some sleep without having to get a rental car first. Also, I suspect the Hyatt and possibly the Hilton charge for internet access, so I really wouldn't mind getting one of the others, so I continued with: 6.19.07-6.21.07 (2 nights), 3 stars: $33 Logan $36 Logan + SB restart $39 Logan + Med $42 Logan + SB + Med (still have some 3* rebids left). 6.19-07-6.21.07 (2 nights) $29 Logan, 2.5* $32 Logan, 2* $35 Logan, 1* Despite the fact that I can still drop from 2 nights to 1 and try again after 24 hours, I'm beginning to agree with you about the lowballing. Not sure if I want to leave it to try for a same day booking (any info on which hotels allow / do not allow that via Priceline?). Thanks!

For now I'm thinking I want to stay at the airport since it may be so late when I arrive. Not sure exactly what I'm willing to spend. I haven't seen much near the Airport for under $70 (Hotwire is listing a 2 star for $79), but there are some Motel 6s and the like in the Boston area for $50-60. For the Hilton or Hyatt I could certainly go to 60, and maybe $70-$75. Well, I spent more time reading these boards than I should have, so kind of worked out my own strategy. I'm actually willing to stay 1 or 2 nights, so thinking that gives me a few more "free" rebids, I'm going up in small increments. I'm using SavingsBarn Logan = Revere - Logan Airport BB = Brighton - Brookline (no 3 or 4 star) Med = Medford - Somerville (no 3 or 4 star) SB = South Boston (no 3 or 4 star) Starting with 2 nights, 4 stars Bid1: $40 - Logan Bid2: $42 - Logan + Med restart Bid3: $46 - Logan + SB Bid4a: $50 - Logan + SB + BB restart Bid4b: $53 - Logan + BB - rejected as dupelicate (oops, needed to do this before Bid4a) Bid5: $52 - Logan + BB + Med restart Bid6: $55 - Logan + Med + SB counter of +$15 offered I think I have 1 free rebid (Logan + BB + Med + SB) for 2 nights, 4 stars, does that sound right? Am going to work on some other things while trying to decide whether to use that now, change to 1 night, or drop down to 3 stars, and how much to bid. Any feedback in the meantime? Thanks!

Hi everyone, this is my first post, and I'm not very experienced at Priceline either. I'm flying to BOS (Logan) on Tuesday 6.19.07 ... currently scheduled to arrive at 23:00 (11pm), but am going to try to get an earlier flight. I'm not sure yet if I'll want to stay 2 nights or just 1. I may be renting car (I actually hope to buy a used car/van soon after arriving). Not sure if trying to stay near the airport is my best plan or not. Haven't had time to see if the 'T' and/or busses keep running after midnight. Price is my main motivator. I don't care much about star levels or amenities (except internet access). Any help with a bidding strategy is appreciated (for car rental as well as the hotel, actually). Thanks! (and sorry if this is too much info for 1 post). --SpaceSquirrel