The cost of flying has been rising sharply lately due to the increasing prices of oil coupled with still strong demand for flights. For students that enjoy traveling and exploring the world the cost of getting there has become the largest chunk of the cost. You can quite easily slum it a bit to save money when it comes to accommodations and eating, but if you’re visiting a far flung place across an ocean then there’s no getting around paying for the cost of that plane ticket. So what options do you have to save some money on flights?

STA Travel

The big travel agency known for servicing students is STA Travel. STA Travel is a good option to use if you’re going somewhere far flung such as Asia or Eastern Europe. STA can help you to get the best prices on flights along with organizing things such as travel insurance, necessary travel documents and of course providing travel guides. Other resources STA offers are web access to your travel plans, checklists, vaccination recommendations and information (see, did you even think of that) and a consultant to help make recommendations on your itinerary. Though it is not assured STA can get you a bargain price flight, sometimes it won’t be a whole lot cheaper than you can find on the web yourself, the extra services they offer can really help put your mind at ease if you’re a novice to traveling or going somewhere foreign. Furthermore, STA can put together a package that includes flights and accommodations that will usually be competitive or better than what you can scramble together on your own using the web.

For first time travelers it’s better to visit an STA office in person or call them, you can use the office locater on their website or find an appropriate phone number: http://www.statravel.com

Student Universe

Another good site to find cheaper travel is StudentUniverse.com. StudentUniverse.com has a flight search feature that shows discounted flight prices, you have to be a college student or faculty member to get the prices the site offers and they do actually check with your college to see that you are attending there. I found a $398 flight from Cincinnati to New York City that cost $539 on every other regular travel site so it’s absolutely worth checking prices on this site.

General Flight Discount Advice

The days of student rate flight tickets offered directly by airlines are over, you can go with StudentUniverse.com who works out deals with airlines, but for the most part student deals aren’t as good as they used to be. The airline market is a tough one, as you’ll notice by the bare bones service offered nowadays (no meals or blankets on a plane is the norm now), airlines are in no mood to give discounts to anyone.

Instead of searching for secret deals offered only to students it can also workto use the power of flexibility you have as a student and choose to fly when it is cheaper. Here we’ll list some general rules and advice to help you find those cheaper flights

• The cheapest days of the week to fly are usually Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday. When using an online travel site they usually offer some ability for you to indicate your dates are flexible so the site can suggest cheaper times. One example of a site that will do this for you is www.farecast.com.
• Use services such as Hotwire.com, Priceline.com or SkyAuction.com where you can try to “name your own price” on a ticket if you are willing to give up control on who you fly with and be flexible on times.
• Using sites such as Expedia.com, Orbitz.com or Travelocity.com are good indicators on what the range in amount on your airfare will be, but don’t buy from those sites because they often add in a “service charge” of $5 - $25. It’s best to use these sites to find the best deal, then go direct to the airlines website to avoid any type of extra fees these other online travel sites might tack on.
• There are certain holidays during the year that are great for cheap flights, so long as you’re willing to sacrifice a bit and travel on the day of a big holiday:
  • Thanksgiving day
  • Tuesday after Thanksgiving
  • Christmas Day
  • Saturday after Christmas
  • New Years Day.
• Use rewards credit cards that give you airline miles for money spent. This isn’t the greatest solution in the world since A) you have to spend a lot of money before getting a free flight and B) as a student it’s harder to get these types of cards in the first place. And remember, it’s always best to just have one or two credit cards so don’t run out and get a mileage rewards card if you already have a couple of credit cards going.

Conclusion

Student deals on airfares aren’t as good as they used to be, but a little searching and flexibility can still yield prices lower than what you might pay than a less savvy person might. Just visit the right sites to find the deals and choose the right dates and you can pay several hundred dollars in flight travel costs!