The origins of my situation are complicated, but I find myself on very short notice invited to visit New Zealand. I don’t have to go, but I’d like to. If I do go, I need to depart shortly after Christmas.
The catch is obtaining an airline ticket. The fares quoted on Travelocity/Orbitz/Expedia etc. are $2700 and up - too much. Indications are that flights are reasonably full, but some seats remain.
Is there any way to get a last-minute bargain? I’d like to be able to say to United Airlines (or Air NZ, Qantas, Delta, etc.): “Wouldn’t you prefer taking $1500 from me to flying with an empty seat?”
Does anyone have practical advice on how to do this?
What you have suggested is what priceline.com exists for.
Also,
You have to buy a membership to get the above deal, and at least one Doper had a bad experience based upon my recommendation. You have to be somewhat flexible in terms of departure/return dates and times. If you have a fixed schedule, try priceline.
Priceline now will often tell you what it might cost to get a ticket. So I’d suggest you try them and offer something like $100. Then it might come back and tell you, “Sorry, your offer was rejected. But if you’re willing to raise your offer to $500 (or something like that), then we can get you a ticket.” This happened with me on a trip to Florida last week. Then you can decide whether you’re willing to go that high. It might also pay to wait until the very last minute, since they’ll want a butt in the seat as long as you’re paying enough to cover fuel.
After a fair amount of semirandom surfing, I came up with this link to information about discount airfares. The guy seems to know what he’s talking about.
Unfortunately, he makes it fairly clear that Priceline and the other major online ticket outfits are unlikely to help here. The basic story is that international fares are not deregulated, so the normal sales outlets can’t offer meaningful discounts.
Apparently, there is some hope in the form of ticket consolidators and “bucket shops.” I’m going to see what I can dig up there. But it sounds as if the short lead time may sink this plan.
I dont know how all of these work, but a friend of mine recently got a cheap internet ticket to Colorado all right, but she had to stop at Texas(not on the way) first on the way, adding 8 hours to her flight time. If there is a way to get/find out a “direct flight” to where you want to go before you make your bid, do it.
If you pick a low-travel day you might still be able to get a ticket on short notice. It worked for me - I bought a ticket on Friday for travel tomorrow, and paid no more than I would have paid for it several weeks ago.