<p>If you are a parent of current or past semester abroad student, maybe you have some good hints to share about airline ticket planning/purchase?<br>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/study-abroad/1582192-airline-tkts-hints.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/study-abroad/1582192-airline-tkts-hints.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks for any help 
We need to get our bought soon!</p>
<p>If a one way is okay, that is not a bad way to go – it leaves you flexability on the return. Take a look at Student Universe – we have had good luck with them on international flights, less so on domestic flights.</p>
<p>STA travel, as they have easier change policies than most sites. Fares can be better as well.</p>
<p>Thanks! When looking at STA, it seemed they still charge the airline change fees. And rates were no better… darn.</p>
<p>Be aware that some countries won’t let you in if you don’t have a return ticket back out. DD didn’t believe me and when she was checking in for flight to a semester in Costa Rica had to suddenly book a return flight. DH was able to do it on miles then and there, while I stood off to the side muttering " I won’t say I told you so, I won’t say I told you so, I won’t say I told you so…".</p>
<p>Sorry, D went abroad two years ago, and they had a $50 change fee. For France anyhow. These things do vary based on country and airline. Other D in the Caribbean found better prices elsewhere.</p>
<p>We got our son’s last week. I’ve been watching the prices once son put in the paperwork for his abroad and noticed that the prices were going up. We used STA travel for our older son’s study abroad because of the low cost for change dates, but since we are planning to join this son at the end of his abroad, we didn’t have to worry about that and booked directly through the airline. In fact, I ended up getting a credit card through the airline for an additional $50 credit and 30,000 in miles. </p>
<p>I looked through a few search engines and some sites directly (orbitz, hipmunk [Cheap</a> Flights, Cheap Hotels, and Travel Search | Hipmunk](<a href=“http://www.hipmunk.com/]Cheap”>http://www.hipmunk.com/), Canada Air, etc.) and also through the two main airports closest to us. I consistently found United to offer the lowest cost direct flight so booked through them. There were some flights a bit lower but routed us from the east coast to O’Hare (noooo!) and then onto Dublin. Didn’t seem very smart in January! </p>
<p>I wouldn’t go much past this week to purchase. In fact, our son’s flight that I just booked a week ago is now $60 more.</p>
<p>Try studentuniverse.com
They had slightly lower rates & a pretty decent policy if you need to change ticket dates.</p>
<p>Try Kayak dot com - there is no charge. Agree with return ticket. Immigration/customs will want to see the return flight itinerary. Also check alternate airports. The most economical for me was a departure airport that is not my first choice but since it was cheaper I went with it. </p>
<p>I admit I just read an article that said international airfares often go on sale in January - I would be too nervous to wait but if you buy from United dot com they give a price guaratee - other sites may as well.</p>
<p>Be wary of “outer” airports in Europe as it can often be very, very difficult to obtain easy transportation into metropolitan areas (especially when hauling baggage!).</p>
<p>Thanks all! We ended up booking with United, RT. DS picked a return day 10 days after finals end, to allow buffer for tbd travel. We know there is a good chance we’ll need to pay $300 change fee, but that would allow return from a different airport. </p>
<p>This method is still be cheaper than two one-ways. Not sure it is the best plan, but we were running out of runway for his holiday timeframe travel .</p>
<p>Several years ago we had a dreadful experience with Student Universe. This was for a summer program in France in which d was returning as paid intern for 10 weeks. The program was a six hour drive from Paris and you needed to be at CDG Airport by a certain time for the charter bus. We had booked on Student Universe with plenty of time to allow her to change planes in Manchester but several weeks before we received an email telling us that she was being re-routed on a flight through Heathrow that could not possibly get her to CDG in time. They were really not happy or helpful when we insisted on having her rerouted in order for her to be where she needed to go involving numerous phone calls and forwarding documents on what her commitment was and after much stressful back and forth they finally re-routed her without any change fees but they really seemed surprised an mystified that this reservation was for something specific… not a “let’s go to Paris” kind of trip.</p>
I do not recommend student universe. Two friends and I used it this last semester (Fall 2014) for a study abroad experience in Denmark. We had to change our return flight home and contacted StudentUniverse through a CHAT representative a month before our new return flight date. We were told that there would be a ticket change fee (understandable) and that everything would be processed and we would get our tickets.
Well, that didn’t exactly happen as promised. Five international phone calls later over the course of 3 weeks, wracking up to over 2 hours worth of phone time, and we finally have our tickets home.
A phone representatives actually lied to me about contacting me with the new tickets (we’ll send a CONFIRMATION email in 24-48 hours. Didn’t happen. Repeatedly.) and then lied about the hours of the other department—the one who actually handles flight changes and who I couldn’t contact. I looked up this department while on hold and found a 24 hour phone line to them and their actual hours. Every time I talked to a new representative the ticket change fee was higher—starting with around $350 and ending up to $800-750 per ticket—and the other girls and I just grew more desperate.
Each time we called they always settled on a flight. They provided us with a flight number, times, and destinations, but after never receiving confirmation of the booking, we called. Every single time we called, the flight was different than the one that we had been promised. First we had a layover in Chicago, we called back, and were told that we had an over night layover in Houston. We made arrangements to stay with a family member, but then after once again never receiving the confirmation, we called. This time they told us that we were flying into Dulles for an overnight stay. Luckily we also have family in Virginia. However, after not receiving ANOTHER confirmation, we called. We immediately asked to talk to a supervisor. The representative said that he was on an emergency call, and that those could take hours. We promised to call back every hour, on the hour, and finally, after ANOTHER call, we were able to talk to a supervisor and work out the flight changes
It all worked out in the end. (Mostly. I still have to actually get back to America and talk to them again about my outrageous phone BILL)
My POINT is: check reviews before using these kinds of services. I’m sure often everything works out fine and dandy—but when it doesn’t, you should be aware that studentuniverse failed me on multiple occasions when all I needed was a way to get home
When D1 was going to Ireland, I had to have both tickets by some time in July to satisfy the program! It was annoying, especially since the return date is so nebulous at that point and we ended up paying a change fee ( I think $150). Still, those return flights had shot up in price and if we had tried to buy them even in October we would have paid that much more.
When D2 went abroad for a summer program, things got really creative. She was going to Venice - in July - for the Biennale - ack! She decided to go early and visit a friend in Copenhagen. We found her a good flight from DC to Copenhagen via Toronto (on Air Canada) then later she had a cheap one-way to Rome, hung out there for a few days and took a train to Venice, came back on Swiss Air from Venice via Zurich. I was very happy to avoid any changes in Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle or Gatwick. How easy to change in Toronto at the beginning of your trip! Anyway, we figured it all out with Hipmunk which doesn’t charge a fee.
I hadn’t heard of STA but I wouldn’t use it if they can rearrange your route. Airport transportation is pretty easy to find online and Europe usually has better options than the US. All the airport shuttle buses have wifi in Ireland, for example, so D1 was able to contact us via Viber as soon as she got on the bus.
The rest of the story (followup-up from post 10). After DS’s semester in Singapore, he traveled with DD in Taiwan. Then they returned to visit Signapore. He stayed a few extra days (cheap youth hostel) and ended up not having to do a change fee. I still feel that buying RT was worthwhile, even if we had needed to pay $300 (plus fare difference?) to rebook.
I would advise not booking any flights on a discounted site or agency. I bought international tickets through an agency on a major airline last year. When I wanted to change my flight back home, only the agency could make the change, not the airline. The agency was very difficult to deal with and it cost me a lot of international calls. If I had booked the tickets through Expedia or directly with an airline, I could have made the online.
I always prefer to work directly with airline to book fares. Changes are therefore also directly with airline, which makes it a lot easier for me. It has also generally been cheaper for us this way.
Often we will take advantage of search engines (Expedia, Kayak) etc to see all airlines at onec… but then book on the airline site. The cost is usually same.
When my son studied fall semester in Luxembourg a couple years ago, we were advised by the school to be very careful about planning return flights.
Since he needed a Schengen student visa, they reminded us that the school had no say as to when the visa would expire and we wouldn’t know the expiration date until several weeks after arrival - it could be the day after classes end, a week or month. To be safe the school recommended that any end of term travel be planned outside the Schengen area and that no returns be planned to Schengen since once your visa expires you can’t re-enter for several months. (So plan on going to the UK and Ireland instead of Germany or France.)
After 4 months he was ready to come home for Christmas. FWIW, Luxembourg gave him a month after term-end on his visa that he didn’t use. The school said it depends upon the mood of the visa person on the given day - they just don’t want to be fielding calls from the customs lockup.