Priceline.com Updates Best Days To Fly For Thanksgiving And Christmas Holiday Travelers
Source: Priceline.com
Nov 14, 2007 - 7:16:38 AM
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Thanksgiving travelers will find least-crowded airports on November 19, 23 and 27
NORWALK, Conn.-Nov. 13, 2007--Here's some good news for travelers still needing airline tickets home for the holidays. According to priceline.com(R) (Nasdaq: PCLN), holiday airfares have not escalated dramatically and there are still tickets left for Thanksgiving and Christmas travel.
Perhaps the best news of all is that travelers who come to priceline.com for their airline tickets can take full advantage of priceline.com's recent decision to permanently eliminate booking fees on all published domestic and international airfares. This means that, in most cases, priceline.com customers will pay less for their tickets than they would at other major full-service online travel reservation services, including Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz.
Currently, the average price of a round-trip airline ticket home for Thanksgiving is running between $261 and $382, which means that average prices have remained relatively constant for the past few weeks. When priceline.com first sampled Thanksgiving fares, on September 24, average fares were running between $288 and $378.
Similar results were found for the Christmas period. In September, the average price of a round-trip ticket for the December holiday period ranged between $296 and $475. Now, the Christmas price range is between $338 and $466
For some holiday itineraries, priceline.com said it is still possible to find round-trip fares under $200 for Thanksgiving and under $250 for Christmas. To check out these deals, visit:
PriceBreakers deals: http://www.priceline.com/pricebreakers
Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving, priceline.com customers currently are finding:
-- For the lowest fares, try to travel on November 19, 22, 23 and
27.
-- For average-priced fares, try to travel on November 18, 20,
and 26.
-- Consumers can expect to pay the highest fares if they travel
on November 16, 17, 21, 24 and 25.
-- For the least-crowded airports and airplanes, try to travel on
November 19, 23 and 27.
-- For average crowds, try to travel on November 16, 18, 22, 24
and 26.
-- Consumers can expect the most crowded airports and airplanes
if they travel on November 17, 20, 21 and 25.
Christmas
For Christmas, priceline.com customers currently are finding:
-- For the lowest fares, try to travel on December 24, 26, 27, 28
and 31.
-- For average-priced fares, try to travel on December 19, 20,
23, 29 or January 1, 3, 4 or 6.
-- Consumers can expect to pay the highest fares if they travel
on December 21, 22 and 30 or January 2 and 5.
-- For the least-crowded airports and airplanes, try to travel on
December 19, 24, 26 and 28, or January 3, 4, 5 and 6.
-- For average crowds, try to travel on December 20, 23, 27, 29
and 31.
-- Consumers can expect the most crowded airports and airplanes
if they travel on December 21, 22 and 30, or January 1 and 2.
Customers choosing priceline.com for their airline tickets will enjoy other significant benefits besides no booking fees. In addition to round-trips on the same airline, priceline.com allows customers to "mix-and-match" their flights, choosing one airline and itinerary for the outbound leg of their trip and another for the return, also without a booking fee. Combining airlines can improve itineraries and savings, which is why approximately 20% of priceline.com's retail tickets now sold include two carriers. When these types of tickets are sold through other online travel reservation agencies, or via meta-search site referrals, customers typically pay a booking fee. Priceline.com customers also have the ability to easily package their airline tickets with a discounted hotel and/or rental car from priceline.com's collection of partner hotels and rental car companies around the world.
Priceline.com offers two great ways to save on airline tickets for the holidays. For customers who want a specific airline or itinerary, priceline.com has a Published Price airline ticketing service that is equipped with TripFilter(TM) advanced search technology. Customers pay no booking fee when they choose a Published Price priceline.com domestic or international fare. With priceline.com's Published Price airline ticketing service, customers can:
-- Search easy-to-use grids that compare different airlines,
routes, flight times and prices. The grid can be adjusted to
search by price, trip duration, departure or arrival time.
-- Purchase round-trip, one-way or multi-destination tickets.
-- Choose economy/coach, business class or first class tickets.
-- See sample deals updated daily to more than 60 U.S.
destinations and 70 international destinations.
-- Search for alternative travel dates and/or alternate airports,
which can increase the chances of finding a great deal.
Priceline.com also has a "Price Drop" feature lets customers know when a fare has dropped by at least 15% in the past week as compared to the average of the lowest fares found on priceline.com on each of the last 30 days for that same origin and destination. In addition to browsing price drops on priceline.com's Web site, customers can register to receive e-mails with price drop and other air deals from their favorite city. If a fare is getting close to selling out, priceline.com will post an alert next to the fare.
Customers who can be flexible with their travel plans can save up to 40% over published airfares by using priceline.com's Name Your Own Price(R) airline ticketing service. With priceline.com's Name Your Own Price(R) service, customers choose the dates for their trip and the airports they wish to use.
They also get to choose the price they want to pay. Priceline.com then works to try to find an airline willing to accept their Name Your Own Price(R) offer. Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price(R) service is unique and different from fixed-price travel sites. With priceline.com's Name Your Own Price(R) service, important details about your itinerary are shown only after purchase. Booking fees do apply to tickets purchased through priceline.com's Name Your Own Price(R) service.
About Priceline.com(R) Incorporated
Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN) operates priceline.com, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers, and Booking.com, a leading international online hotel reservation service. In the U.S., priceline.com gives customers more ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises than any other Internet travel service. In addition to getting great published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com's TripFilter(TM) advanced search technology, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com's famous Name Your Own Price(R) service, which can deliver the lowest prices available.
Priceline.com believes that Booking.com is Europe's largest and fastest growing hotel reservation service, with a network of affiliated Web sites. Booking.com operates in over 60 countries in 16 languages and offers its customers access to over 38,000 participating hotels worldwide. Priceline.com also operates the following travel websites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com. Priceline.com also has a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including priceline mortgage and certain international licensees.
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