Travel Tips
If you are an overseas student who is frequently flying back to your home country during the school holidays, the expensive student travel airfares must have causing you a huge financial burden. Fortunately, there are many ways for students to grab a budget-friendly student travel airfare. One of the common ways is to do your own research by checking through the variety of online air ticket agencies. Some of the things you may wish to take into consideration are the type of fare you purchase, who is selling the ticket, as well as your destination place.
One of the more popular websites that provide such services is Student Universe, an online travel site for college students and faculty. For instance, students or teachers who make their reservation with an ".edu" e-mail address, are eligible to receive travel discounts upon verification. However, there are limited choices of arrival or departure dates that you can choose from, but the savings are able to compensate for that.
In the case where you are traveling with your friend, you might want to check online travel agencies for companion fares. They often offer promotional prices for two or more persons traveling together. In order to enjoy the special rates, it is often a requirement that both you and your companion must always be on the same flight. If one person changes flight plans, that could mean higher fares for each traveler -- even the passenger who adheres to the original itinerary. For more information, you may wish to visit Zuji.com for attractive companion rates that will help to reduce your airfare expenses.
In addition, there are some sites, such as Hotwire, which will allow bidding on the airfares. However, the catch here is that you will not be able to know the airline or flight timings until you make the purchase. There are also others who re-sell the tickets they have bought in bulk from the airline. Thus, they are able to sell these tickets at a lower price than the market rate since bulk purchases are often less expensive.
If you avoid peak hours of travel, such as early morning and late afternoon, it is likely that the fares will be much cheaper. In other words, you should try to depart during the afternoon timing or in the evening. In addition, airfares will also be less expensive if your departure dates fall on the weekdays, such as Wednesday or Thursday.
Furthermore, you can choose a less-crowded, less-expensive airport to fly into or out of. Such kind of airport may be farther from the center of town, but the low airfare and savings on the flight can compensate the extra cost of getting a taxi. Some of these airports include, Burbank and Orange County in Southern California; Manchester, New Hampshire in the Boston area.
Last but not least, it is recommended that you avoid paper-ticket fees. Pick an electronic ticket over a paper ticket if you have a choice between the two. Unlike a paper ticket, e-tickets carry no extra processing and shipping fees. An electronic ticket will save you the hassle of carrying another important document and is definitely a great option for cheaper airfares.
As you can see, there are many ways to getting a bargain student travel airfare, only if you are willing to spend some time and effort looking for them. So, what are you waiting for? Simply visit those websites mentioned earlier and start your research for affordable student travel right away!
