How To Get Cheap Flights For Students
Who doesn’t want to get the cheapest deal on an airline ticket? As a student, your budget is tight, but you want to travel the world with the cheapest airfare possible. In this article, we will walk you through steps to book cheap flights for students. If you are not a student, you can still benefit from it as well.
Like others, you may be thinking, "Why do airfares always fluctuate?" And, "How do airlines price flights"?
Well, the flight prices are done "randomly". Often, the fluctuation of the airlines’ flight fees doesn’t depend on the travel distance. Longer flights are not always as expensive as shorter flights. With Artificial Intelligence (AI), Airlines use a “Dynamic pricing model” to price air tickets.
It has nothing to do with costs or travel distance but more to do with customer demand for particular route, the number of people searching for that specific route, the probability of selling tickets in the future, previous bookings and flight capacities. Airlines use the “Airline Revenue Management'' system to price a ticket to maximize their profit as much as possible, without losing too many customers. For example, if you want to travel from Paris to Miami, connecting via New York. There is a possibility that you will be paying more from Paris to New York than Paris to Miami. Why, you may ask? Because the airlines are trying to keep clients in seats from Paris to Miami. They want to discourage you from buying Paris to New York tickets. This is completely done with an algorithm that predicts that Paris to Miami seats will sell at a higher price in the future. Or, the Paris to New York flights are very popular, so the airline will fill their seats, even at a higher rate.
Airlines also separate their customers into business and leisure. For example, airfare from London to Bali will start at a higher price because airlines know that holidaymakers (leisure category) will book in advance. This way, they try to maximize their profit and lower prices, closer to the departure date, until all flight tickets are sold. They want to fill those seats!
On the other hand, a business flight from New York to California will start at a lower airfare. Airlines steeply increase business ticket prices as the seats get filled because the need for the seats increases greatly as the departure date nears. Business travelers are willing to pay 60% more, on average, to secure a seat.
Tips and Tricks of getting a cheap flight for students:
Browse Incognito This is a very well known tip which will help you bag a cheap flight. Browse in incognito mode and delete cookies and caches so that Airlines will not track which flight you are interested in. Airlines tend to shoot up prices if they see demand for a particular route.
This website will help you find cheaper airline tickets. In advance, they will predict a particular route price and notify you about cheaper deals.
Search For Airline Tickets During Unusual Hours
While everyone is sleeping in your country, there’s a high chance that no one is looking for airline tickets. With low demand during particular hours, the chance of you finding a cheap deal increases significantly.
Use Hopper.com
Hopper can predict flight prices up to a year. in advance. Tell Hopper where you want to go and they will find the cheapest deal for you!
Cross Checking Similar Sites
When you look for student tickets, you must search similar airlines’ search engines, to see if you find a cheaper deal. The most popular flight search engines:
Travel to a Nearby airport
While searching for cheap plane tickets, you should check if traveling from the nearest cities costs less. Hop into a bus or a train to travel to the closest city to save some bucks.
Use a credit card
Most credit card companies offer no annual air miles fees. For example, spending 10 dollars will earn you one free air mile. Some cards include cancellation insurance. Others offer cash back. So, check with your credit card company before you book your flight.
Save your money by purchasing long flights with layovers. Generally, flights with multiple layovers are cheaper. However, this may not hold in all cases. Remember not to be greedy if you find a cheap flight with multiple layovers. If you will have to change planes at a layover, have at least a 4-5 hour lagtime for international connecting flights. What if your first flight is delayed by an hour or two?
Check for hidden fees
So, you just found a $250 air ticket! You are all excited and ecstatic. But, before you book your flight, check for any hidden fees. Some budget airline's prices may not include check-in fees, carry-on baggage fees, checked bags fees, food/snacks/drinks charges. Many airlines now charge seat reservation fees. Carefully read the terms and conditions!
Use Travel agents
Apart from searching for cheap flights on search engines, contact local travel agents. You may likely get an affordable deal and save some extra. In some cases, travel agents can provide you a cheap flight by lowering their commission.
Change extension
While you search for cheap flights or discount flights, change the extension of the web address. For example, if the website has www.abcd.au then change it to www.abcd.nl . Please note that this process may not always work.
Skiplagging
Often, travelers use skiplagging to get cheap flights. For example, a flight covers A→ B→ C destination. You want to travel from A → B, but the cost of traveling from A → B is higher than A → C. So, what do you do? You book a flight from A-C but get off the airplane when the plane reaches B.
Skiplagging is perfectly legal. We recommend that you only do this if you have only carry-on bags because your checked luggage won't be unloaded at B. Remember to book your flights one at a time because if an airline catches you, they may cancel your roundtrip flight. Airlines hate it because it:
Deprives travelers of needed seats
Causes flight delays when a passenger doesn’t show up
Could cause problems and confusion with baggage
Hidden city ticketing, another term for skiplagging, is a violation of most airlines’ carriage contracts. This means they can punish you if they catch you in the act: forcing you to pay the full price of the ticket (A→ B), confiscating your frequent flyer miles, or stopping you from boarding the plane in the first place. So, do it at your own risk and research as much as possible. Learn more about it on Skiplagged.com
Fuel Dump
Learn more on how to use fuel dumping to buy a cheap ticket. Read this article to know more.
Getting Bumped
If you are more flexible in your flight schedule, you can save money and earn some quick cash. Getting bumped can get you sweet student flight deals. If you want to get bumped, simply mention that you are willing to get bumped. All airlines will not only book you for the next flight but also provide discounts, food vouchers, hotel vouchers (if necessary) and free air miles.
To maximize your opportunity to get bumped, book your flights on busy days! Note that could end up costing you more if you don't get bumped.
Visit the company’s website:
Lastly, visit the airline’s website to see if you can find a cheaper deal. They aren't paying commissions on these ticket sales.
Other websites or apps to find student discount flights:
Watch Sam Chu’s Video: (Though this video addresses business class travelers, you can too benefit from it.)
This is another airfare flight meta-search engine Matrix.itasoftware.com. Watch this video to find out how to use it.
Know your rights when traveling:
Have you ever been a victim of flight cancellation, delays, or overbooking? Well, AirHelp can help you to get compensation. You don’t have to pay them anything upfront. They will take care of all legal matters, and if you receive any remuneration, they will take 25% of it. Learn more about AirHelp here.
Did you earn enough air miles or want to earn free air miles while traveling?
Use The Points Guy or extrapackofpeanuts.com
Other Methods to get cheap flights for students:
Most airlines have student discount flight tickets. To avail yourself of this, you need to contact the airline’s customer service department directly. The requirements may be as follows:
You need to be a registered student or teacher at an accredited college, community college, or university.
Some airlines have age requirements. So, check their “Important eligibility and Fare rules.”
You need to have a .edu email address. In case you don’t have any, you can purchase an air ticket through StudentUniverse.
Students and faculty members in Graduate programs are still eligible.
Unfortunately, high school students and teachers may not be eligible for most student discounted flight tickets. However, if you are traveling in a small group, you can contact the airlines for a discount or visit StudentUniverse.
Some airlines also provide discounts for people in:
The Armed Forces
Armed Forces Concessions
Armed Forces Personnel- Recipients of Highest Bravery Award Concession
General Reserve Engineering Force Concession
Paramilitary Forces concession
War Disabled Officers concession
War Widows Concession
Discount offered to Gallantry Award Winners.
Civilians - Recipients of Gallantry Awards
Other Concessions
LTC Concession
Senior Citizen Concession
Student Concession
Discounts are offered on humanitarian grounds.
Blind Person Concession
Cancer Patients Concession
Locomotor Disability Concession
Invalid passengers - Stretcher cases
Sports-Related discounts
Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for discounts when buying your airline ticket! You never know what you may receive by asking. Worst case scenario would be no student discounts at all. We hope that this article will help you buy cheap airline tickets in the future. Have a wonderful flight!
Canada Hey, we are a content team of Skipissues. We blog about anything or everything that students can benefit from.
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