Question about Priceline/Tickets

[jeff309]

First off any information I get is greatly appreciated. I *hope* I'm in the right place for these questions.

Me + 5 friends are trying to plan our own vacation to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands this summer. In order to get the price tickets for all of us, we are VERY flexible.

We can leave anytime, any airline, any connections, betwen August 1st and September 1st (right now we are looking at the 16th-23th if that helps). We are located in Ohio, but we are willing to carpool to IL/MI/PA/NY to find the BEST flight deal. It seems as though NYC offers the lowest prices anyway.

Should we start working on buying our tickets now via priceline? Or perhaps sometime later like in July? As of now, the cheapest I can find a ticket is about ~$350 RT (leaving out of NYC), which is not bad but we were hoping somewhere around ~$250 each.

Ideas on how much to bid? When to bid? We are trying to be extremely flexible in order to get a great deal. Maybe if tickets are purchased all together (6 of them) we can get them even cheaper?

How well do you think I can do?

Once, again, thanks for any help!

[thereuare]

Is the above price the best you see when using the "flexible date" option at Travelocity"]Travelocity?

[jeff309]

Actually, Travelocity"]Travelocity][url="http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=18566&sourceid=40346950&categoryid=Travelocity"]Travelocity's prices were higher. The best price I have found so far is with priceline for a total of $359

Going:

Newark, NJ (EWR) → Charlotte, US Virgin Islands (STT)

1 Stop Connects in San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)

Departing

[thereuare]

What are the taxes/govt. fees on the above itinerary? (since these would need to be duducted from your maximum bid amount)

[rober133]

I took a quick run through this one going strictly on published fares, using that as a base indicator of what may get for a lower cost on Priceline, et al. Of course, this may not hold any water as to what you will actually get, but it's the best way to objectively measure your chances I can think of. I checked CLE, CVG, ORD, DTW, PIT, PHL, EWR and JFK/LGA (JFK/LGA will generally be the same, as they are co-terminals for most airlines).

This doesn't take in account for any intra-line travel, as you found on your $359 fare using CO/AA. Just make sure if you do that, you leave a fairly nice layover - the remaining AA flights on your second leg may be full, and you could be sightseeing Puerto Rico for a night on your trip. AA won't start bumping for you as they might if you were on them for the first leg.

It seems flying out of ORD (O'Hare) may to get you the best fare - for your travel period, Aug, the fares are about the same for any travel date up to 8/24 as long as you don't leave on Saturday. I guess it depends which side of Ohio you live on, but even from Cleveland, ORD is 350 miles where NYC is 480 miles. Make sure you figure the car travel into it.. it's may not be worth traveling an additional 150 miles (and getting to the other side of the NY metro area where the airports are) to save $15.

From ORD:

Fare Code Airline Bucket Fare Avail in Bucket

VRA0NRX UA V 368.00 V4

QD2Z AA Q 378.00 Q7

TENR NK T 378.00 T4

From JFK/LGA:

Fare Code Airline Bucket Fare Avail in Bucket

V07SOLN AA V 393.00 V7

U7SOSNR CO U 393.00 U7

TEA7NR NK T 403.00 T4

From EWR:

Fare Code Airline Bucket Fare Avail in Bucket

S7SOSNR CO S 393.00 S6

U7SOSNR CO U 393.00 U7

Q14DH1 AA Q 393.00 Q7

From PHL:

Fare Code Airline Bucket Fare Avail in Bucket

V07SOLN AA V 373.00 V7

I then went through Jun, July, Aug and Sept - and I don't see any price drop between them - so waiting for a fare drop is less likely. Looking at AA's fares, they are already wide open in the Q bucket from ORD & EWR, and I don't see them opening up the O bucket on this route. (PM me if you want more explanation on fare buckets - this also may have an impact on what you can get for a party of 6).

$250 may be asking a little much, but keep watching the fares and best of luck!!!

[jeff309]

Well 4 of us live in OH, the 5th person lives in NYC, and the 6th person can fly for free (any airport) with Delta. So with flights out of the NYC area being the cheapest, it works out since us 5 can leave on the same flight (hopefully). And driving there gas would be split 4 ways. But that is just 1 of many options, leaving out of ORD for a little more can work too.

I'm glad you mentioned layovers as I completely forgot about that. Do you think we (or even just 1 or 2 of us) could get stuck for a night in PR as you mentioned? Would be get a guaranteed seat the next day? What about coming back home when we connect to Continental, are layovers still possible then?

And yeah, I have no idea what 'Q and O buckets' are. If you can also fill me in that would be great.

thereuare, the price includes all taxes and fees, so I don't know how much, perhaps around $70? (just a guess)

Thanks for all the help!

[thereuare]

thereuare, the price includes all taxes and fees, so I don't know how much, perhaps around $70? (just a guess)

You can't guess at this figure if you want to bid. Check the details page of Priceline or find the itinerary else where and see the breakdown.

[rober133]

looking at 8/16, and the $359 fare on priceline, I would suggest taking the 9am Continental out of EWR instead of the 10:45am. This way, you have 4 American SJU-STT flights after the 2:50p flight that priceline puts you on, increasing the chances of getting there that night if the EWR-SJU flight is badly delayed. Guessing whether there will be five seats available on those 4 flights in Aug is impossible at this point.

I have no idea on how priceline handles missed connections between non-codesharing/agreement airlines - you'll want to call their customer service and ask for the policy before purchasing the tickets. I couldn't find a definitive policy anywhere on their website or in their fare rules when trying to purchase it.

All is the same for the return flight, just check what CO has coming back. And maybe not purchase the last available set of flights out that night.

[jeff309]

I'm looking for tickets for myself and some friends leaving out of IL/OH/PA/NY and arriving in St. Thomas. Whatever is cheapest.. we can leave at 4am and have 3 stops, like i said whatever is cheapest. we are VERY flexible.

Is it safe to say that prices will drop as mid august approaches? unfortunently ~$400 is too much. right now its actually a total of $427 ($60.50 taxes/fees) leaving out of NYC

we are all hoping for a total of ~$300 per ticket. is that unreasonable? when should i bid?

thanks for any help guys.

[thereuare]

Is it safe to say that prices will drop as mid august approaches?

Why would this be the case?

If your plans are firm i would begin bidding now, but you can see the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ about "when to bid" (it's written for hotel rooms but the same applies to airfare)

When you're ready let us know and we'll suggest a strategy to follow.

[jeff309]

I was also curious as to why in march/april this same tickets were $100 less than they are now.... during spring break time. They seem to increase every week.

Anyway, what do you think is a reasonable price to bid?.. just so I have an idea.

Furthermore, I will discuss everything with whom im traveling with and stop back here when we are ready to bid. thx!

[thereuare]

By using re-bidding you can have more than one shot at this, so let us know when you (and your friends) are ready to move forward and we will suggest a strategy to follow, going up to a bid of $240 (since i'm assuming with the $60 in fees you reference above) it will take you to your $300 maximum.