Leave the SUV in the driveway. For vacationers this summer, it may be cheaper to fly than drive to many of the most popular getaway destinations in the U.S. Today, priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) released its “Frugal 15” – a list of the 15 best airline ticket deals for those who book their summer 2007 travel now.
News on the gasoline front certainly isn’t promising. According to the federal Energy Information Administration, the average price of a gallon of gas for the week of May 14, 2007, was $3.10. That’s already above last year’s peak and represents the highest per-gallon price in the last three years. In cities like San Francisco, the price has topped $3.50 a gallon.
Anyone planning to make the 1,706 mile round trip from Washington, DC, to Orlando in a 20-mpg Ford Explorer can expect to spend 26 hours behind the wheel and $267 in gasoline at the $3.10-a-gallon national average. By air, the trip would take a little over 2 hours each way and cost $123.
“Domestic airline capacity continues to be tight, which means there will be competition among consumers for available summer tickets,” said Mark Koehler, priceline.com’s Senior Vice President, Airline Ticketing. “This likely will be another ‘you snooze, you lose’ summer in terms of getting the best prices. However, we are seeing that there are great deals and savings currently available for some of the summer’s most popular routes and destinations. Priceline has created a ‘Frugal 15’ list highlighting some of those deals. And, for consumers who can’t act now, there’s always priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® airline ticketing service.”
Recently, priceline.com launched a new marketing campaign, titled “The Negotiator,” that focuses on the online travel service’s ability to obtain the best deals for its customers. Priceline.com’s airline ticketing service accomplishes that goal in several ways:
- Customers can see sample deals which are updated daily to more than 60 U.S. destinations and 70 international destinations by visiting http://www.priceline.com/flights/ and clicking on the “Browse Top Deals” box.
- Priceline.com’s “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.
- Priceline.com’s TripFilter™ advanced search technology enables customers to sort itineraries and look for deals by price, trip duration, departure and arrival times.
- Customers can provide alternative travel dates, increasing the chances of finding a great deal.
- If a fare is getting close to selling out, priceline.com will post an alert next to the fare.
- Customers can check priceline.com’s PriceBreakers service. PriceBreakers is a free service where specially priced last-minute deals are hand-picked and displayed while they’re still available.
- Customers can use priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® airline tickets option and save up to 40% compared to published ticket prices.
Priceline.com customers who want to extend their travel savings can take advantage of priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® hotel service, where they can save up to 50% compared to the published prices found on other major online hotel reservation services and priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® rental car service, where they can save up to 30% compared to the published prices found on other major online travel services.
The Priceline Frugal 15 List | |||||
Quoted prices are round-trip coach and include all taxes and fees(a) | |||||
| Origin | Destination | Price(a) | Departs | Returns | |
| Boston | Philadelphia | $ | 103.85 | June 15 | June 17 |
| Baltimore | Chicago | $ | 103.90 | July 10 | July 18 |
| Phoenix | Denver | $ | 113.80 | June 21 | June 25 |
| San Francisco | Los Angeles | $ | 113.80 | June 28 | July 1 |
| Denver | Las Vegas | $ | 123.40 | June 15 | June 20 |
| Washington | Orlando | $ | 123.80 | June 19 | June 26 |
| Washington | Chicago | $ | 123.80 | August 30 | September 3 |
| Phoenix | San Diego | $ | 143.89 | June 22 | June 24 |
| Chicago | Denver | $ | 145.89 | August 21 | August 29 |
| Boston | Washington | $ | 153.80 | July 5 | July 10 |
| Washington | Atlanta | $ | 173.80 | July 25 | July 31 |
| Phoenix | Chicago | $ | 175.81 | June 19 | July 3 |
| Chicago | Boston | $ | 178.80 | June 20 | June 23 |
| Chicago | Dallas | $ | 199.80 | July 4 | July 8 |
| Dallas | Washington | $ | 223.90 | July 4 | July 9 |
(a) Airfares shown are for round-trip travel and are inclusive of all taxes and fees. Fares shown are actual deals that were found and purchased by priceline.com customers between May 9, 2007 and May 15, 2007, for their summer travel. Airfares and availability are subject to change frequently and without notice, and there is no guarantee that any fare will be available. Prices for travel on other dates may be different.
About Priceline.com® Incorporated
Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN) operates priceline.com, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers, and Priceline Europe, a leading European 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 all the best published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com’s TripFilter™ advanced search technology, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com’s famous Name-Your-Own-Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices available.
Priceline Europe operates one of Europe’s fastest growing hotel reservation services through its Booking.com network of hotel reservation services, Activehotels.com and priceline.co.uk. Priceline Europe operates in 54 countries in 15 languages and offers its customers in Europe and the U.S. access to approximately 34,000 participating European hotels.
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.
For more information about priceline.com:
To book flights http://www.priceline.com/flights/
To book hotels http://www.priceline.com/hotels/
To book rental cars http://www.priceline.com/rentalcars/
To book a vacation package http://www.priceline.com/vacationpackages/
To book a cruise http://www.pricelinecruiseoutlet.com
To see our PriceBreakers deals: http://www.priceline.com/pricebreakers
For check our travel guides: http://travela.priceline.com/travelguides/
To watch our TV ads: http://www.priceline.com/promo/shatner_pcln_negotiator.asp
Other priceline.com affiliated sites include:
General travel information and trip planning http://www.mytravelguide.com
Travel reservations http://www.lowestfare.com
Rental cars http://www.RentalCars.com
European hotels http://www.booking.com
