GOOGLE FLIGHTS VIA PRICELINE IS CHEAPER by 15% THAN BOOKING DIRECT

I am planning a trip for late summer to Iceland and Norway and recently found out something that sounded to good to be true. When searching on Google Flights, I was able to book via the Priceline link for cheaper than booking direct with the airline or other 3rd parties. Everything but Priceline went up when I clicked on them. I received confirmation and e-ticket numbers and even have assigned seats. Here are the details.

Here is an example flying from Reykjavik to Oslo on Icelandair. You put details into Google Flights, and it spits out these price options. These are all for Economy Light options which includes carry on luggage and assigned seats, but not a checked bag.

They appear to all be about the same, but when you start clicking on them, trhe prices go up.

You can click on Orbitz, and the price instantly goes up from $193, to $222. (I tried a few others as well, and they all went up in price as well.)

When booking direct with Icelandair, the price goes up to $227.

This sounded too good to be true with Google / Priceline. I decided to go ahead and book for our party of 4 via Priceline and just see what happens. It all went through and within 15 minutes I received a Priceline confirmation as well as my Icelandair confirmation. I was then able to go into Icelandair.com and pick out my seats, see my e-ticket number, and could even add a checked bag for a fee if I wanted to.

For our party of 4, this saved us about $140!