With Its "Pick Two, Get One" Plan, GetGoing.com Has Taken "Blind Bidding" to New Heights--And Obtained Unprecedented Airfare Savings (They Claim) for You

Let's assume you crave a beach vacation in a hot tropical area--but you don't care exactly where that will be.  Or you want to fly to California, but don't care whether your destination is Los Angeles or San Francisco.  Or--and here's a weird one--you crave a cultural vacation but don't care whether it's in New York or New Orleans.

Based on your ardent desire for a type of vacation regardless of where it is to be found, a new website called getgoing.com claims it will save you a great deal of money on airfare--provided, that is, that you let them choose exactly where you will be going.  A weirder--but possibly more effective--method of saving on airfares has rarely before been offered.

Getgoing's premise is based on the claim that airlines are willing to radically lower the price for people who don't have a specific destination in mind.  These are "discretionary" travelers who are looking mainly for a cheap airfare.  They are a world apart from the business traveler who simply has to fly to a specific place on a specific date, and must have a ticket to that destination regardless of its price.

So GetGoing.com asks you to name the kind of vacation in which you're interested.  Once they learn that, they then offer you several flights (on the date you've chosen to fly) to several different cities or islands.  You agree you will go to either of two.  And they then advise you of the place they've chosen for your trip, out of the two trips you've specified.  (I think I've described the plan).

It's like flipping a coin.  Provided you accept the place they have chosen (and "they" are Getgoing.com), you get a remarkable airfare.  It's called "Pick Two, Get One".  You pick two destinations from a list of many more, and they choose one of them for your flight. You "bid blind", and thus enjoy big savings, because you then permit GetGoing.com to make the choice of one of those two desired goals.

I can't vouch for San Francisco-based GetGoing.com.  I have no idea of how well financed they are, or of their record in fulfilling their promise of savings.  I caution you to "caveat emptor."  But I'm intrigued about this unusual new method of connecting airlines to discretionary travelers, to whom the airlines are apparently willing to give big discounts.