Lax to Hangzhou-China Priceline bid

[routefndr]

Planned trip is from LAX to Hangzhou. 6-16 to 6-24.

Orbitz had the cheapest price at $1185

I bid today (4-22-05) $250.00 ($379.00 total with taxes).

This bid was rejected and PL came back with $1349.00 from John Wayne.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[TravelGuy]

You would have needed the luck of the Irish to get a ticket from LAX to China for a $250 bid. :) Try a consolidator that specialized in Asia/China travel. Or look in the local Chinese community newspaper for travel agency ads and check there, as they often have the best deals.

[edyvr]

Priceline mainly deals with the big American airlines. Most of the US-China flights are operated by United, and they only fly to Shanghai and Beijing. Hence zero chance to get a LAX-Hangzhou flight for cheap on PL.

I'd recommend bidding for a LAX-Shanghai ticket. Try a $300 bid and see what it comes back. Then buy a separate Shanghai-Hangzhou.

Otherwise, go to the oriental travel agents and ask them to price China Eastern and Air China.

[routefndr]

Thanks for the information!

My update is that today I put in a second bid after monitoring the airfare checker for the last couple of weeks. I bid $350 and PL came back with $1036. Better than the $1349 they responded with on my first bid but not close to the cheapest price today on Air China of $824 via Orbitz.

My planned departure date is 6-16 so I still have some time.

Thanks again!

RF

[ShibuyaJon]

UA does codeshare now with Air China so there is some chance you could get this itineray even with the domestic leg.

But I agree that consolidators are the way to go. PL will not save enough to justify losing the FF miles.

ETA: jump at the $824 on Air China if you want to lowest price. Also be sure to give them your UA FF number so you get mileage plus miles.