Home for the holidays

Every fall as Thanksgiving rolls around, students across Boston University’s campus prepare to fly home to indulge their cravings for tryptophan.

Though, for some undergraduates, cheap plane tickets are not so easy to find.

The search is often made easier, however, if undergraduates take advantage of a few student-specific travel websites, which offer inexpensive prices to college-aged individuals hoping to escape Commonwealth Avenue.

Two of the more popular student travel websites are STA Travel, Inc. and StudentUniverse.com.

‘[StudentUniverse] works with several large partners to drive awareness around student travel,’ Atle Skalleberg, marketing vice president at StudentUniverse, said. ‘We are the preferred student travel partner for Orbitz and Cheaptickets, and we also have our products on Kayak, Cheapflights, etc.’

Skalleberg added the company has its own marketing team that manages the website, advertising with schools and on widely used sites such as Google.

‘We also have a large campus ambassador program of students all over the U.S. who help us spread the word about student discounts travel on campus,’ she said. ‘Because a lot of students do not know that they qualify for unique prices and terms.’

The campus ambassador program is a marketing internship. Those who apply and get the internship are in charge of planning events on their campus. According to the StudentUniverse website, interns can also take part in competitive commission-based compensation, and receive extra discounts off StudentUniverse’s already low ticket prices.

According to Patrick Evans, STA’s spokesperson, STA Travel is different than most travel companies in a couple of ways. The first is that it offers discounts exclusively for students and that the rates are negotiated by STA directly with the airlines.

‘Travelocity doesn’t offer the same discounts,’ Evans said.

Exclusive student tickets are far more flexible than standard airline tickets, according to Evans.

‘With most tickets, if you have to change your flight at the last minute, it costs about $250, but with an STA Exclusive ticket, it’s only $50,’ he said. ‘That’s a big savings for students who could need the flexibility of STA Exclusive.’

TRAVELING FOR TURKEY

Thanksgiving travel sales remained high this year despite the economy said representatives from STA and StudentUniverse.

‘Every year, students travel home for Thanksgiving regardless of the economy, so we haven’t seen a significant decline in sales,’ Evans said. ‘Students tend to travel home even if their family has to cover the cost.’

There was no decline in web traffic and sales for StudentUniverse.com, another travel website geared towards students, either.

‘Our sales seem to go up year after year,’ Skalleberg said. ‘Tickets were even cheaper this year and a lot of our customers have to fly. Students especially have a few mandatory trips home, and Thanksgiving is one of them.’

Most Boston University students left town this Thanksgiving, according to BU Housing Director Marc Robillard. There were, however, 181 students who did not take advantage of the holiday travel deals and opted instead to pay $160 to stay in the Commonwealth Hotel over the break, he said.

Among those who remained in town over Thanksgiving was College of Arts and Sciences freshman Luai Zakaria, a Kentucky native whose family now lives in Qatar, which made reasonably priced flight purchases for a busy five-day weekend nearly impossible to find.

CAS freshman Eduardo Rodriguez, a Texas native, did the same.

‘I didn’t go home for Thanksgiving, but I’m going home for Christmas,’ he said.

Rodriguez said the break is longer so it makes buying a ticket worth it.

TRAVEL AGENTS

For Zakaria, flights to see his parents in the Middle East cost over $1,800.

‘For those big international flights, my parents have a travel agent,’ he said. ‘An agent has the best ins and the best knowledge of which airlines will be cheapest and fastest.’

Zakaria added that having trustworthy travel agents allows you to change your flight cheaper and easier if needed, which is often a must in international travel.

‘ CAS freshman Meena Aier, who comes from London, does the same.’ ‘

‘I have a travel agent back home in the U.K., so my mum arranged for my return ticket through him,’ she said. ‘It will be an email ticket.’

‘ ‘I’m going home for Christmas,’ CAS freshman, Giacomo Brusco, a native of Italy, said. ‘It’s not horribly expensive when you book your flights early and try not to travel on busy days. I mean, it’s expensive because it’s Christmas but our agent figures out good deals.” ‘

FROM THE CARRIER

Some students said they feel safer avoiding student travel sites and sites that list prices for a number of different airline carriers. CAS freshman Rachael Shanker said she prefers to go directly to the carrier.’

‘Can they even reserve seats for you on those sites?’ she said. ‘I just use Spirit airlines so I can get my rewards and miles.’

As far as cost-effective traveling goes, Shanker lives in New Jersey, making flights home significantly cheaper than those that live across the country.

For domestic flights, Zakaria said he goes on Expedia.com to find the cheapest flights, but then buys his ticket from the actual airline’s website.

‘It’s cheaper that way because when you buy from another ticket vendor, like Expedia, they make a profit too,’ he said.

GREEN-FRIENDLY TRAVEL

StudentUniverse is also an attractive option for those interesting in doing their part in saving the environment. The web site offers the ECO2llege option. Launched more than two years ago, the ECO2llege option allows students to buy carbon credits to offset their flights.

‘Students might not have deep pockets,’ said Skallberg, ‘But they care about the environment and with us for a few extra bucks they can make a difference.’

CAS freshman Jessica Vogel said she thinks the ECO2llege option sounded ‘awesome.’

‘It would make me want to shop on that site,’ she said.

College of Communication freshman Amy Neben was less enthusiastic.

‘I wouldn’t do that,’ she said. ‘I’d rather save $5.’

A resident of Oregon, Neben said she usually has to pay a lot for her plane tickets home.

‘I offset my ecological footprint by turning off my lights,’ she said.

THE COMPETITION

Still, these sites have to compete with other travel websites such as Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com.

CAS Freshman David Fontana said he is a long-standing Travelocity fan.

‘I’ve just been using it for so long,’ said. ‘They give me a line up of the cheapest prices, and I take one.’

Fontana said he plans on going home to Chicago for Christmas. Being this his first year of college, his parents took care of the flight arrangements for him.’

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Nancy Vegas said she usually searches Google to find the best deals.

‘I usually just check all sites for the best flight, which for me is just the one that will get booked the easiest and get me home the quickest,’ she said. ‘I’m a fan of cheapflights.com or cheaptickets.com.’

‘ CHRISTMAS PLANS

Some students who did not go home for Thanksgiving said they will definitely travel over winter break.

Zakaria isn’t sure if he will make the trip to Qatar, but he said he knows he will go somewhere, possibly Paris to visit his sister.’

‘It’s awful being in Boston all alone,’ he said. ‘Hotel Commonwealth over Thanksgiving was a nice place and all, but there were no friends or family.’

CAS freshman Belva Dibert said she would never miss Christmas. A resident of Maryland, she said she usually takes the train home.

‘I use Amtrak Student Advantage,’ she said. ‘You get discounts on all kinds of train tickets.’

The Student Advantage Card costs about $20, but it provides students with a 15 percent discount on all Amtrak tickets.

‘I made up for the money I spent on the card with my first trip,’ Dibert said.