Hey, I found a good deal on Student Universe for $422.60. Problem is, I’m not in college yet, and they don’t let high schoolers buy tickets. When I actually go to Europe, I won’t be a high schooler, and I will be enrolled in college, but I don’t know where. I find this just a bit, well, unfair. I thought about emailing them, but I highly doubt that I’d receive a favorable response.
Has anyone else had this problem? People have said they’ve gotten tickets for between $300 – $400 and I’ve had no luck finding anything that cheap. I guess maybe fares have gotten more expensive during the past few years or something, I don’t know. I’m just very, very disappointed. I can probably scrounge up more money, but it won’t be easy and I’ll have less to spend during the actual trip.
I don’t know if anyone will have any helpful suggestions, but I needed to rant a bit in any case.
Try STA; you only have to be a student above the age of 12, not necessarily a student in college. sta.com. For your dates, $648 was the cheapest I found, with tax, on British Airways. YOu can probably do better but I really don’t know. All my flights are out of NY and those are the cheapest you can typically find to Europe. Personally, I probably wouldn’t pay more htan $500, maybe $600 for a flight to Europe.
Or, all you need for SU is a university e-mail address. A lot of times, universities will give them out to accepted students who put a deposit early. If you’re applying early decision or if you hear back from your schools relatively early and know where you’re going to go, that could work. Call the admissions office and explain your problem. They’d probably be helpful. I know at my school, NYU, they don’t tell you you can set up your e-mail until orientation in July but I could have back in April or May, after I accepted their offer of admissions.
Good luck!
Oh and whichbudget.com is the absolute BEST cross-referencing site about budget air travel within Europe.
I have never found Student Universe to be all that helpful. They quote low prices and then they kill you with the taxes.
thanks for informing of this. i had failed to notice that taxes aren’t included in the price that i found and could cost up to $200. it actually gave me some relief, because i was really mad about not getting such a good price — especially since i thought my friend would be able to and i wouldn’t be (which would also possibly complicate the whole trip).
hey dude, here’s a cheap trick. find a cheap flight to london, and then go to ryanair.com to find the places you want to go that’s flying out of london. but one thing though, you have to do it asap, because prices go up real fast. anyway. that’s how i saved when i was travelling in europe this year. hope it helps. =”)
finding a “cheap” flight (i’m convinced they don’t exist) and getting to London is my problem. i’m not too worried about traveling within Europe right now, because that isn’t exactly possible when i don’t know how i’m going to even get there. but thanks for suggesting ryanair. i’ll look into it once i get this stupid mess figured out.
Cheap flights DO exist. They just take a lot more persistence to find in May than in say, January. Understand that. And also, understand that you’re flying from Atlanta, not from NY or Chicago or even LA. Budget travel is all about flexibility. Have you looked into maybe flying a cheap US carrier to NY or something? Or refining your dates so you’re flying mid-week? Have you looked on not only sites like travelocity or expedia or STA or Student Universe but also on airlines’ sites? A lot of times they’re actually cheaper. Really.
I think you’re expecting to pay too little, given your dates and starting point. Its the beginning of peak season. Sucks but it is.
British Airways has a direct flight for the exact dates you specified, btw, for $611 w/tax. And its not a student flight. Its available at britishairways.com
BTW, I know you can’t sign in to SU and see the total price with tax but I can. And that fare, which requires connecting in Chicago on the outbound leg, is $583. Which is cheaper than the one on their website but not by a ton.
I found a couple of flights for less than $300 USD. Both eventually went from NYC to Stuttgart, Germany. One went NYC, Cincinatti, Atlanta, Stuttgart. My current one, (the one I bought) goes NYC, Zurich, Stuttgart. $292 USD including taxes.
Go Travelcuts. I’m pretty sure you can get an ISIC card as a high-schooler, or if you’ve registered for courses then you can just show them a copy of your course registration (eventually) and they’ll hook you up.