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Priceline - Air Travel

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William of Chicago, IL (9/5/05)
I recently purchased airline tickets with Priceline's "name your own price" option. I saw the stipulation that stated I'd depart between 6am and 10pm. However, because I'd just checked with the other booking sites (expedia, travelocity, et al) I felt pretty sure there weren't any real problematic itineraries out there. Boy, was I wrong!

Priceline produced a route taking me in the opposite direction of my destination with a two hour layover, having me arrive as late as possible at my destination and leaving it as early as possible. The objective of the system seems to be to provide as little time as possible at your destination.

There is no reason in the world that Priceline can't show you this itinerary before the purchase. Other than they probably wouldn't sell very many tickets.

Damage: The itinerary is a worse-case scenario and one I would never have dreamed was even possible, much less agreed to.

Alli of Elmhurst IL writes (6/5/03):
My father, an elderly gentleman, needed a flight from Chicago to London. He accessed Priceline and offered a price. When his flight to London was scheduled via Toronto I personally called the Priceline customer service number explaining that the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control had restricted travel to Canada due to SARS. I requested that either his flight route be changed and he would increase his price offer or his money be refunded.

I have never met with more horrendous customer service. I called three times and each time the customer service representative hung up on me. I called the representative on media relations, Brian Ek, who first informed me that Priceline can do nothing and the State Department had lifted any and all travel restrictions to Canada. That statement by Mr. Ek is inaccurate. As of June 5, 2003 the State Department via the Center for Disease Control has reinstated its travel alert to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Additionally that reinstatement is the most current advisory on travel to Canada.

I even offered to pay more money for a different route. That statement met with nothing but rudeness on part of Priceline. I believe, from a legal standpoint, the no-refund-until-death policy may be suspect. How does priceline stay in business with such rude customer relations and rude executives in charge?

My father is out $350.00 and is going to rebook a flight elsewhere. The business ramifications of this incident can not be measured as of yet.

David of Hapa CA (10/31/03):
Using the prescribed Priceline approach to purchase a ticket from Oakland, CA to Seattle WA, I was sold a ticket routing me through Salt Lake City, UT with a 2hr 45 minute layover. Salt Lake City is actually further from Seattle than is Oakland. This itinerary was so absurd I literally could not believe that it wasn't a mistake. I immediately contacted the airlline the ticket was booked on and cancelled, my credit card company and filed a notice of dispute, and Priceline to request cancellation of the transaction.

George of Reno (5/25/03):
We booked a flight to Beijing China for June 3rd. This was done on March 5. When the news about SARS hit we called and they said wait till closer as things may change. We called today May 25, and the response was no refund and a very nasty "have a nice flight". This was despite JAL (the airline) informing us that we could cancel with no penalties as Beijing is still on the WHO list. JAL said that Priceline should refund the ticket. Out booked flights have been cancelled both directions from Tokyo and we are being told we would have to spend at least one night each way in Tokyo and thst the flights still might not leave!

Shannon of Los Angeles (4/30/03):
Let me start off by saying that I was a HUGE advocate of Priceline until recently. I have used their services over a dozen times so I am very familiar with the process and restrictions and have never experienced any problems. I submitted a bid for two tickets to London and it was accepted. The price was reasonable and the times were fine. Unfortunately, Priceline does not offer multiple leg flights so I purchased connecting tickets from a British airline to complete my journey to Barcelona. So far so good.

Almost two months later - after all the tickets and hotels had been booked for our trip - Priceline sends me an email stating my schedule has been changed. The new flight was three and a half hours later which meant we would miss our connecting flight in London. (I allowed over 3 hours to collect our luggage and go through passport control before our next flight - we wouldn't even have to go through customs) Thinking this would not be a serious problem, I contacted Priceline and they told me there was nothing they could do and that changes to the itenerary were within their contractual obligations. They told me to contact US Airways and, of course, there was nothing they could do.

I contacted Priceline again and was told that because the schedule change was so minimal they would not cancel the tickets nor would they make arrangements to put us on an earlier flight. Now I have to forfeit our tickets to Barcelona (these are also non-changeable) and repurchase for a later time. I'm all for the concept of Priceline - I think it is more than fair to purchase tickets with restrictions in return for a discounted price. However, it is not fair to then change the terms of those tickets and require the passenger to bear the cost. If I wanted changeable tickets I would have bought them from somewhere else.

Nowhere on the terms and conditions page does it say "We are entitled to change your itenerary for any reason without compensation or effort to put you on an different flight." Priceline likes to emphasize that after you purchase tickets you have the same rights as other passengers. Not so. If US Airways changed a patron's itenerary, I gurantee they would make an effort to get the passenger on a plane that would allow them to reach their connections or compensate them for their loss. I did quite a bit of travelling during the past year and plan to do more next year - thanks Priceline for encouraging me to use your competitors! I look forward to the day that the BBB revokes your membership.

Peter of Brooklyn (4/21/03):
I purchased tickets online at priceline.com. After buying the tickets I wanted to change the name of the person travelling because she couldn't make it. This customer service representative called Alicia starts laughing at me by telling me she can not change the name of the travelling party and that it is company policy. I have deeply regreted using their service and for the customer representative to laugh at me has made me deeply troubled. I am going to lose no more than $173.45 but I really feel cheated.

Chrissy of Rogers AR (1/23/03):
In Novenber of 2002 I was checking out the prices of a vacation for my family and I to go to Orlando, FL and I checked at Priceline.com. I never had any idea that a vacation that was never taken would cost us $2,700. They now have all my money and we got nothing. After I click that little button they accepted the bid but they could not change it. So it took them until after the scheduled flight to decide to debit my American Express so we could not even use the vacation if we wanted to.

Jennifer of Paden City WV (10/26/02):
I am unemployed, but am trying to attend a job training seminar in CA. I went to Priceline to save money but it has ended costing me twice as much! I bought a ticket that required an extra day away from home -when I tried to correct this I made an even bigger mistake by pressing the wrong place on my computer. Instead of keeping my original tickets, I purchased new tickets that did not allow me to attend the second day of job training. I didn't know I had done this until I recieved an e-mail that "congratulated" me on my new purchase. I called Priceline immediatly but have recieved no help. I have had to buy another set of tickets that were actually cheaper then those at Priceline.

My family, which has had no income since July 15, will have to cut back even more with this mistake. When planning this trip I even figured in the amoount I would need to get from the airport to my hotel so I could leave as much money as possible for food for my four children!

David of San Antonio writes (4/20/01):
Approximately one month ago, I went to Priceline to try and get airline tickets to Reno, Nevada. I am going there to bowl in a tournament in June. I offered what I thought to be a ridiculous price for airline tickets and it was accepted. I continued to scroll thru screen after screen, not paying much attention to what I was seeing on my monitor.

Before I knew it, I was committed to purchasing three tickets, $900 plus. When I realized what I had done I immediately tried to cancel. Priceline said that I couldn't and so did United Airlines. I realize that I made a "boner" of a mistake, but why punish me by taking money out of my wallet? That punishes other members of my family as well and they did nothing to be punished for. Forbid me from ever using priceline in the future or from ever flying United Airlines. To make matters worse, they have changed my flight schedule so that now I can't even make it in time to bowl, so I am paying $900 for something I can't even use. At this point, if they would just give me a flight schedule which would allow me to keep my committment I would be happy. I can't believe that in this great country of ours we can't correct this mistake.

My finances have been strapped and some of my other bills have had to wait. There are ten other bowlers who are in limbo because they do not know if I will be able to get there in time. My wife is upset about the loss of money without anything to show for it.

Samreen of Gaithersburg, MD, writes (3/5/01):
I bid for two tickets and my information was 'lost' for three bids. I have the email from priceline customer service saying that they were experiencing technical problems and that they apologize but they can offer me my first bid and I accepted. In the meantime I wanted to confirm that my credit card would not be charged with the three original bids and for this purpose I was engaged in several emails with priceline customer service.

Finally they came back and said that they could not find my acceptance and asked me to bid again, this time changing a criteria of travel. I had to compromise on the dates and bid again. I believe that Priceline just kept hiking up the price till my bid was satisfactory and kept "losing" my information. Now they will not give me the dates I want to travel, or the accepted offer that they had offered (I have their email confirming their acceptance).

Allen of Mashpee, MA (2/13/01):
I purchased tickets specifying departure and arrival times. Priceline.com found a carrier but the return flight was later (next day) than my specification. I was given no chance to cancel or change before I was changed over $1,000.00 for the flight.

Dave of McComb, MS (1/16/01):
I was shopping for airline tickets and went to Priceline.com. I thought they would find the best available price and notify me. Of course, I gave them my credit card information. I wanted round trip tickets from New Orleans to Nashville, departing December 27 and returning on December 29. I submitted a bid for $125 and they emailed me and responded that there was virtually no chance of finding the tickets for that price.

I put in $150.00. I never heard back from them. I later received my December credit card statement and saw the charge. By that time, and not having heard from them, I had purchased 2 round trip, non-stop tickets for a flight for $112.00 from the airline, Southwest. I then got on Priceline and discovered that they had purchased tickets for me. get this, it was a red eye flight out of Baton Rouge, with a layover . . . for $150.00 per ticket. SOME DEAL! Well, I tried everywhere on Priceline .com to contact them. They have no contact info. They say thier policy is no refunds. I had to send my complaint and cancellation request to the tech. problems email address they have.

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