Priceline.com has decided to drop booking fees for all domestic and international flights purchased by July 4th for travel up to 330 days from date of purchase.

Published: 11 Jun 2007

Priceline.com has decided to drop booking fees for all domestic and international flights purchased by July 4th for travel up to 330 days from date of purchase.

The company shared that every flight and itinerary is on sale, except for those purchased through priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price service.

“That means that, for the duration of the Summer Flights Sale, priceline.com customers will pay less for their airline tickets than they would at any other major online travel reservation service, including Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Cheap Tickets.”

Apart from no booking fees, the company also conveyed other benefits. 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.

“Combining airlines can improve itineraries and savings, which is why approximately 20 percent of priceline.com’s retail tickets now sold include two carriers. Even smaller so-called “screen-scrapers” like Kayak and Sidestep only offer this feature with a booking fee attached,” highlighted the company.

“Priceline.com customers also have the ability to easily package a discounted hotel and/or rental car from priceline.com’s collection of thousands of partner hotels and rental car companies around the world. Priceline.com’s unique Name Your Own Price option can save them up to 50 percent on hotels and up to 30 percent on rental cars compared to published prices found on major online travel reservation services.”

“Since this sale is good for last minute and advance purchase tickets, it will appeal to many different types of customers,” said Mark Koehler, priceline.com’s Senior Vice President, Airline Ticketing. “Travelers can use this sale to lower the cost of their upcoming summer vacation. They can purchase tickets for a fall getaway once the crowds thin out. Or, consumers who like planning ahead can buy their Thanksgiving and Christmas airline tickets now and lock in the additional savings.”

Recently, priceline.com launched a new marketing campaign, titled “The Negotiator,” that focuses on priceline.com’s ability to deliver the best deals for its customers.

Using priceline.com’s TripFilter advanced search technology, 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 US destinations and 70 international destinations.

· Search for alternative travel dates and/or alternate airports, which can increase the chances of finding a great deal.

· Check priceline.com’s PriceBreakers option, a free service where specially priced last-minute deals are hand-picked and displayed while they’re still available.

· Use priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price airline tickets option and save up to 40 percent compared to published ticket prices.

Priceline.com also has a “Price Drop” feature lets customers know when a fare has dropped by at least 15 percent 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.