headtrip

Sidestep does include Southwest with their listings, but I think you still have to go to Southwests site to verify that the fare is still available and to book the flight. I have found Southwest is not really cheaper than other carriers 9 out of 10 times. ATA (via CHI) and Airtrans (via ATL) have fairly good records and may give you more options when making your decision.

This is an America West fare I found. Hope it helps. Depart Flight # From To Arrive Details 10:45am Tue, Dec 28 281 Detroit, MI Airbus A320 Phoenix, AZ On Time:90-100% 1:18pm Tue, Dec 28 Meal: Buy on Board Class: Coach 2:21pm Tue, Dec 28 29 Phoenix, AZ Airbus A320 Los Angeles, CA On Time:90-100% 2:50pm Tue, Dec 28 Meal: None Class: Coach 3:50pm Wed, Jan 05 239 Stops: 1 Los Angeles, CA Airbus A320 Detroit, MI On Time:90-100% 12:52am Thu, Jan 06 Meal: None Class: Coach Stops: PHX Flight arrives the next day. Fare Summary (for 1 Passenger) Fare $344.00 September 11th Security Fee, taxes and fees $33.40 Grand Total View Details USD $377.40

Looking at Sidestep, Travelocity (fare finder), and America West (from DTW), It looks like you will have a tough time going below the $474 you have already found at US Air for the dates you want.. Because it is in that peak travel period during the holidays, there isn't any break in the prices. ATA and Airtrans both have available seats at fares under $300 FNT-LAX, but either leaving earlier than you want and staying there until at least Jan 4, 2005 when the prices fall again. Good luck on your trip and to Michigan too. :)

Congratulations on your find...For the price of an average night in SFO, you are staying in one of the best hotels there.

I would say it is a VERY long shot to get any Las Vegas room on Priceline for December holiday period at all. You can keep on trying, but I would certainly make a regular reservation because Vegas is usually sold out that weekend and the hotels will give little if any rooms to Priceline for a discount. Good luck! ~Steve~

Tried to get 3* in Bend on 11/19, but nothing under $40 for that date. I was only able to bid 3 times here, first adding Redmond, and then going down to 2*. Bids were $34, $36, and $40. Didn't have time to wait the 72 hours, so I ended up staying at a Quality Inn for $59+tax which included a jacuzzi tub. Also Choice Hotels is running a special if you are a "Guest Privledges" member. Stay 2 nights and you get enough points for a 3rd night at most hotels.

Tried to get 2 1/2* east of Portland on 11/18, but nothing under $42 for that date. I was able to bid 4 times, using Gresham and adding Troutdale, then starting with Troutdale and adding Gresham. Bids were $34, $36, $40, and $42. I later bid Portland PDX and was able to get 3* in that zone for only $34 (posted separately). PDX is only a few miles from Gresham, and apparently has better rates there.

After staying here, I wanted to say I did like this hotel and the staff provided good service. You can read my review at the link below. OR Portland Airport Holiday Inn

The Holiday Inn Oakland Airport is listed as a 3* hotel on Priceline, but do not believe it. The registration desk at the front of the hotel had worn carpet, no bellman, and all the trappings of a typical motel. The desk staff were unconcerned with any problems I had. My room on the second floor had no elevator and because there was no bellman I had to carry the luggage upstairs myself. The room itself was adequate with a king size bed and 19 inch TV (with poor reception), but there were no extra features or special ammenities like ironing board or internet outlet that would justify a higher rating than 2 stars. Overall, I was very dissapointed with this stay here.

The Holiday Inn Portland Airport is one of the better representatives for the Holiday Inn chain. The registration process was quick and the employees were very helpful. The room on the sixth floor was modern with no blemishes as is sometimes found with other priceline stays. The room itself had 2 queen beds with a 25 inch TV, and divided sink and bath as do most Holiday Inns and was very satisfactory. The hotel was nearly full due to a conference being held in an adjacent building, and my only criticism would be that the corridors were so narrow between the hotel and conference center, that it was difficult to move through the corridors when there was pedestrian traffic between these 2 buildings. ~Steve~

The Hilton San Francisco met my expectations. The hotel lobby is attractive, and althrough check-in took some time, the registration and bell staff was curteous and helpful. The location is excellent and its best feature close to restaurants, shopping and transportation. There are homeless begging in the area near the hotel, but never a bother to me. My room in tower 3 was small (no different than most other hotel rooms in SF), but very comfortable with king size bed and 19 inch TV. The bath was fully stocked and the shower massage was very nice. The pool and jacuzzi was a definate advantage. A 4 star rating for Hilton and especially the price is completely appropriate.

I notice that Hotwire makes no mention of this in their Q&A section. My guess is that it is a liability issue that they want a "responsible" adult in every room. Since I know for a fact that you can book almost all hotels directly to reserve 2 rooms without stating how many adults, I think you could fudge this, althrough the best way is to tell Hotwire what you want to do at the link below and see what they say. Since you would obviously be responsible and checking up on your kids, I don't know what the problem would be. hotwire.com/customer-care/contact.jsp

Your Offer Price: $34.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $34.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $11.43 Total Charges: $45.43 Originally, I tried to get a 2 star room in either Gresham or Troutdale, bidding 28, 30, 32 and 34, but none of those bids were accepted, and I ran out of tries. The PDX airport zone is not that much farther away, but I was hoping to get something other than the Holiday Inn since I've had mostly mediocre experiences with my stays there. I bid 2 1/2 stars and my opening bid was $34, but I got upgraded to 3 stars and stuck in the Holiday Inn - again.

You tought me well. I may try to make some last minute bids for Astoria, Seaside, or other smaller cities depending on the weather. I will be up in Oregon for a week during Thanksgiving.

Your Offer Price: $34.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $68.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $16.20 Total Charges: $84.20

I had not seen this discussed before, but I was curious to see what other users thought. Of course the admins can put their 2 cents in also.

Tripadvisor has some good reviews of the hotel. I didn't stay there, but was walking around the lobby during my vacation and it is very impressive. Don't worry about the humidity since you are going in winter, but I think the way the service is described (pushy regarding tips or otherwise indifferent) is the same for many of the hotels of this type throughout Mexico. Anyway, $95 a night is an excellent price and I am sure you will enjoy your stay. I recall that my friends who I was visiting there were paying $225 a night.

OK, here are my exhaustive search results for the cheapest way to get 4 people to John Wayne Airport (SNA) assuming about a 30 mile commute and an 8 day trip: The Sleep and Fly Option: La Quinta Inn has the lowest price at $89+tax including a weeks parking. I was seriously considering this except for one flaw, which is the Airport Shuttle doesn't start until 7am, and our flight leaves at 7:30am. This makes absolutely no sense to me, but there it is.... Runner up was Holiday Inn which appears to have Park and Fly options at most of its Airport locations. Room and 2 weeks parking was $109+tax, and their shuttle runs from 5am on demand. If we did have a longer commute, then this really would have been a competitive option. (sorry BEAV but Embassy Suites said no deal here) Taxi/Supershuttle Rates: Taxi was quoted at $65 each way or $130 round trip....(4 cramped passengers max) and Supershuttle was quoted at $71 each way or $142 round trip. (7 passengers max) Airport Parking: Terminal Parking Rates $24 a day or $192+tax for 8 days. Remote Parking $12 a day or $96+tax for 8 days. (thanks cheezhead) One-Way Airport Drop-off Rental Car: National Car Rental had the best one-way rental rate of $41.08 or $82.16 without any promtional code for a 2 day rental. (Compact 4 dr car) Budget Car Rental had the best promotional code rate of $69.20 for 2 days rental with the code I found below for a Compact (Ford Focus), not very roomy, but for a 40 minute trip, it shouldn't be too bad. I always pack a bungee cord in case there is an issue with truck space. While I was checking for discounts, I discovered Walmart Car Rentals offers special rates for car rentals. Using the Budget discount code, I was able to get a rate of $33.50 going and $35.20 (SNA surcharge)returning for a grand total of $69.20. Granted, the several hours needed to research this all out was pro bono...but you could say this is my equivilent to solving a crossword puzzle...keeping my bargain minded internet skills sharp!

After calling the hotels offering the Park and Fly packages (Crowne Plaza, La Quinta, Holiday Inn), all of them informed me that I could only park there without being towed if I paid the official Park and Fly rate which then goes into a special list. So trying for a discount AAA or Hotwire rate is out of the picture. National Car Rental has the lowest rate for a Compact car at $41.08 per day and I'm thinking that is the best way to go for now....I can always cancel my reservation if a better deal comes along, so please keep posting if you have some good information!

Thanks for your reccomendation, I will look if the Embassy Suites down here has that policy also, but I notice most places make no mention of free guest airport parking in their online descriptions. And BTW, since I didn't mention it in the previous post, I had also considered arranging for a Taxi which would work out to approximately $70 each way, but it would be cramped most likely and Los Angeles is not home to the cleanest or the nicest cab drivers either.... Super Shuttle works out to $30 per person or $120 each way for a group of 4.

Hi all, I just booked a very inexpensive flight from Orange County, CA (SNA) to Portland, OR (PDX) for $153 each on Alaska Airlines for Thanksgiving Week for 4 of us, but since it's a bit farther than LAX where I normally fly out of, I would have to end up parking there, which apparently is $24 a day. I was looking at ways of saving money vs paying $175 for 7 days at the airport lot and one option I saw only was a Sleep and Fly special at Crown Plaza for $125 (2 weeks parking included) or La Quinta Inn for $89 (1 week parking included). I was wondering if anyone here has taken advantage of this type of deal before and is it available in many cities? Another option I considered is just renting a car for 1 day leaving and then again on returning and just dropping it off at the local rental store, althrough this will entail a bit of shuttling to get the car and then returning it again after getting home. With National, a per day rent on a compact or economy car is $40, big enough to get everyone to the airport, so $80 inc/tax to drive myself to the airport and back with 2 15 minutes shuttle trips on either end. I would appreciate to hear what everyone else thinks? Too much hassle and just spend the money? Or do what it takes to save a buck since it's my pocketbook that pays? Thanks in advance for your consideration.

It was just hard for me to imagine when I won the bid that the Hilton and Holiday Inn could both be 3*s. Putting them side by side, There is a complete difference in the quality of service provided by the staff that isn't reflected by "does it have a restaurant?" I feel motivated to write a pro-Hilton piece too, but I'd be going off-topic here....I'll save it for when I post my other stay.

I had a really nice trip to San Francisco this month, but a friend of mine I was going to visit my last day in Union City was off to Alaska, so I ended up bidding one night on the Oakland side before taking Amtrak from Jack London Square back to LA. I was hoping to get something downtown or close to the station, so I bid the following first, not rebiding other zones since I wasn't worried if it was a lower rated hotel: Oakland Downtown for 8/10/2004 3* $35 failed +2.5* $37 failed +2.0* $40 failed +1.0* $35 failed. Because I was in a little bit of a hurry, I decided to start again with Oakland Airport expecting the Hilton and see how it went. 3* OAK airport $40 failed +OAK Downtown $45 accepted 1 night was $45 + 10.94 tax = $55.94 Received the Holiday Inn Oakland Airport (shown on the betterbidding list as 2.5). Althought the price was right, and the night spent there was fine, I can say quite confidently that this property is not a 3 star hotel. The following is the feedback I provided to priceline: The Holiday Inn Oakland Airport is not a 3 star hotel. The registration desk at the front of the hotel had worn carpet, no bellman, and all the trappings of a typical motel with a coffee shop added on. My room on the second floor had no elevator and because there was no bellman I had to carry the luggage upstairs myself. The room itself was adequate with a king size bed and 19 inch TV (with poor reception), but there were no extra features or special ammenities like ironing board or internet outlet. Overall, I was very disappointed when expecting the services provided by a 3* hotel. ~Stephen~

Since I just did multiple bids on priceline recently, IMHO I think it is simply triggered by typing too slow...that the screen reads your data as you type it and if you are typing too slow, it will just read the 6 or 7 of your bid and the message pops up. Once you change the bid price again, it dissapears.

Having just finished a trip to San Francisco with my 8 and 10 yo, I can offer this observation to staying there and the hotels response when requesting 2 beds at check-in. When I had a one night stay only, the hotels would only offer king beds, which were big enough for the 3 of us, but just barely. I also inquired about an additional bed, but in both cases I was told it would be $30 extra per night (I assume it would be a twin fold up, which I know isn't too comfortable). For the boutique hotel which I bid a multiple night stay, they saw that I had kids and did assign me two doubles which was fine. It's too bad priceline doesn't give an option for 2 beds instead of one, and the hotels could just take this into account when accepting bids. ~Stephen~