priceline.co.uk

Yes, you've seen the adverts, the people sitting on each other's laps on the plane, the guy wrestling with the cleaner for the mop, the family trying to get into the wreck of the car instead of the stunning motor they have hired...

Well, I'm afraid I have fallen for the advertising gimmics yet again. I have just been to the priceline website, complete with credit card to buy my plane ticket home for Easter! Doh!

The site is one of the easiest on the net to find and to follow. It's dead simple- www.priceline.co.uk, couldn't be easier to remember. (The fact that I forgot it and had to resort to phoning my mum is neither here nor there!).

Anyway, when you get to the site, the first screen you arrive at tells you exactly what the site is about- you name the price you are willing to pay for the product you want and they will try to buy it for you. One of their main selling points however, is that they only go to the top airlines, so although it may be an economy class ticket, you will not travel with a budget airline.

At this first screen, you simply click on the service you want- hotels, car hire, or in my case flights. Then you are taken to the following screen where, in the case of flights, you type in the departure city and the arrival city and the dates you wish to travel and the number of people travelling.

This is where I identified my first problem. I was hoping to travel from Nantes, France, to London return. This was not allowed, as you have to purchase a return from a British Airport. (You cannot purchase a one way ticket). Not deterred by that little problem, I decided to book my ticket back after Easter and the return for the date when my lectures finish here. It was perfectly easy to change the dates, and then you move on to the next screen.

Here, you are asked which airports near the cities you have specified you are willing to fly from, and how many connections you are prepared to make. The more flexible you are the better, and you are obliged to agree to make at least one connection, although they will search for direct flights first. You also have to initial a box to say that you agree to their terms and conditions.

The next screen asks for your credit card details, your e-mail address and your phone number. Then you can review the details of your application. Having confirmed these details, you then confirm them and the application will be processed. You can check whether your application has been successful within an hour, and if not, not money is removed from your card and you can try again.

In order to be able to make another application without having to go through the process of typing in all your details again, you are asked to give an answer to one of numerous questions which only you will know the answer to. For example, what was the name of the first car you drove, where did you go on your first date etc. I would advise caution in answering these, as your credit card details are on file, so be absolutely sure that you give an answer only you will know.

When all this is done, you will recieve a customer reference number. This should be written down in order to follow your request. However, it will also be e-mailed to you immediately, so don't panick if you forget to write it down. You will also recieve an e-mail saying that you have a 'personal profile', so you can make another request without fill ing in details. The other e-mail you will recieve is a direct link to the site, to review your request. This, they say, should be done in an hour, but may be ready in 15 minutes. I went back in 15 minutes, and was told that my request was unsuccessful.

I have now increased it and I also had to change the date. This was very simple, and I'm waiting on the result....

Watch this space!