In the span of one year, 20-year-old college student Jamie Woods will stamp her passport with visits to Hawaii, England and Spain — and spend more money than she ever has before on travel.
Woods, a Family Science major at University of Maryland College Park, leaves for her vacation in England with friends on December 29. “I spent a long time figuring out what would be cheapest, looking up airlines in Europe, maybe trying to fly to one place and then another,” she said. “Whatever would have been the cheapest way to get there.”
That way happened to be StudentUniverse, a Massachusetts-based online student travel agency. “The ticket was like, hundreds of dollars cheaper,” Woods said. “They gave us a direct flight, really cheap, no stops.”
Woods’ story is similar to many college students who are facing difficulties paying for increased airline fees, either to travel home for the holidays, for a semester abroad, or winter vacation. Luckily, agencies like StudentUniverse are in place to help relieve the pinch.
“On average, when our tickets are cheaper, we’re cheaper by about 15 percent,” said Atle Skalleberg, Vice President of Marketing for StudentUniverse. “But it’s not just a matter of price. It’s also a matter of convenience and finding what’s right for you.”
One of the best things about purchasing through StudentUniverse is their tickets don’t come with a lot of the restrictions that regular air fares have. “You can’t buy from Expedia or Travelocity and stay abroad for up to a year. And it’s not only the duration of your stay, but how you can change it. You might not be able to change or cancel a ticket through those agencies. With a lot of our tickets, you can,” Skalleberg said.
Another student resource is STA Travel, the largest student travel organization in the world. “In order to offer these student discounts, we negotiate with preferred airline partners when they have seats they aren’t able to fill. We’re able to get those seats at a more discounted rate,” said Patrick Evans, the Marketing Communications Coordinator for STA Travel in North America. “In general, we have lower prices than what you would be able to find anywhere else.”
Even if you are used to traveling, Evans recommends talking with an expert rather than trying to find that golden deal by yourself.
“When you get into times when there’s not a lot of availability, like around the holidays, agents will usually be able to find a better deal than what you can find on your own,” Evans said. “We have people who know the ins and outs of the packages and they know how to get the best deals.”
As far as Woods is concerned, the less expensive, the better. “One of my friends who lives in England says she can hook us up with some cheap flights directly to Spain,” she said. “I’m not going to have a lot of spending money to be traveling around England, so that will be good.”
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