Posh digs for a low bid on Priceline.com

HERE is a look at some of the notable travel issues of the last few weeks, starting with a Priceline success story.

A real bargain: Although many travelers are reluctant to use the services of this opaque search engine for booking airfares -- you make a bid and may then learn that you’ve committed to take a flight that leaves at 6 a.m. or makes several stops on the way to your destination -- others are scoring coups in using Priceline for hotel reservations. That’s because you’re entitled to limit your bid to hotels of a certain quality before you commit to accepting a booking.

Recently, using Priceline for a stay in Boston, I specified that I would accept a four-star hotel only, and then bid an ultra-low $139 for the room per night, despite Priceline’s warning that the median price of luxury hotels in Boston was $259 a room). My bid was accepted and I stayed at the upscale Wyndham Boston.

A new challenge for fliers: We had been chatting over coffee in a cafe no more than 40 yards from our plane’s departure gate. At 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time, we casually strolled to the gate, only to find that the plane had already closed its doors, pulled away and was taxiing down the runway.

We had checked in and were holding valid boarding passes. So how did we miss our flight?

Some airlines -- bent on achieving an on-time performance record by departing ahead of schedule -- are forcing passengers to appear in the boarding area as early as 20 minutes before the flight’s scheduled departure time.

I have placed four phone calls to the public-relations departments of major carriers in a fruitless attempt to determine whether these jump-the-gun departures are sanctioned by airline policies. Each time, I encountered a runaround worthy of a CIA news conference.

But perhaps it behooves all airline passengers to pass up the temptations of airport cafes or newsstands in favor of rushing to the gate.

For the Big Easy: Price-conscious tour operator ELeisureLink.com, (888) 801-8808, www.eleisurelink.com, is assisting in the recovery of New Orleans with a $499 package, including airfare from Los Angeles and four nights at the 400-room W New Orleans.

The hotel, a few blocks from the French Quarter, is in an area of the city hardly touched by Hurricane Katrina, and it is accessible to the renowned restaurants of New Orleans -- Galatoire’s, Antoine’s, Paul Prudhomme’s K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen -- that have now reopened and are as good as ever.

Make the crossing: Looking for an inexpensive way to cross the Atlantic? The Queen Mary 2 of the Cunard Line is permitting some cruise brokers to charge only $599 per person for one-way, six-night crossings between New York and Southampton, England, in May. Call White Travel Service, (800) 547-4790, www.whitetravel.com.