whataboutbob

Quick update--I attempted to bid last night on Priceline but had no luck up to the $300 mark. Surfed over to Hotwire who had a Limited Rate fare of $334 but the flight back was a red-eye. So, I did some checking and found a pretty good deal via American Airlines flying out of BNA, which is only about an hour farther away from us than SDF. Using the 5% off promo code from my Entertainment Book, I booked both flights with awesome flight times (less than 7 hours of travel time each way) for $335.60 per ticket including taxes & fees. Not bad considering a similar itinerary out of SDF would cost about $198 more than that per ticket. That's a savings of nearly $400. Yay! Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Now let's hope the plane doesn't get grounded. :)

Thanks, thereuare. I checked the hotel's website out and it looks pretty nice. We're considering extending our stay in DC for a couple days. If so, then I'll use the links you provided to book our next hotel room provided we go through HOTWIRE. PRICELINE's out since we're a family of 4 and they only guarantee double occupancy.

Thanks, thereuare. I think I'd stumbled across that on Priceline's website before but assumed it was for the retail airfare purchases. If it covers the NYOP airfares, then that would be great. I think I'm going to chance it and bid later this evening or tomorrow. I'll certainly update this thread once I've booked the airfare--either via Priceline or an airline at retail price. And I'll certainly use the PRICELINE link you provided. Thanks again!

Booked on 2/20/08 (before I found this board). Will do so for future stays. Hopefully this info will help someone else. I'm pretty pleased with the results. Check-in date: 5/25/08 Check-out date: 5/27/08 2 Adults/2 Children $86 per night x 2 nights = $172.00 Tax recovery charge and fees = 27.46 Total = $199.46 This Hotel features the following amenities: Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access

First, the itinerary: SDF to SFO, departing 7/29/08 and returning 8/3/08. Cheapest retail price I can find is $346 (ticket) + $41 (taxes & fees), which includes a red-eye flight back. My dates are firm but the actual times are extremely flexible, so that aspect of the bidding doesn't bother me. Also, there are NO direct flights from SDF to SFO, therefore I'd be stuck with a layover no matter how I book my flight. For both these reasons, bidding through Priceline appears to be a viable option. My maximum bid, including taxes and fees, would be $300. Otherwise, I'll book directly through an airline and choose my departure times. I've bid on hotels before but this would be a first for airfare. Oh, and I've read through the Priceline Airfare Re-Bidding thread, which was quite helpful. All that said, I'm hesitating on actually bidding because I need 2 seats together. So here are my questions for those with more experience: Question 1: If I purchase tickets through Priceline's Name Your Own Price system, can I choose my seats via the airline since I highly doubt Priceline provides this option? Question 2: If choosing actual seats is a possibility, can that be done at any point after the purchase or only once I've checked in online within the 24-hour window? Any and all advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! P.S. Sorry to be so long-winded on my first post. Trying to find reasonably priced airfare is driving me crazy. :)