Special fare 'buckets' for students

[leemin]

A question for the resident fare experts:

I had a debate with a friend recently about special airfare pricing for students.

She had looked up and then spoken to people from I think both STA and studentflights.com.au; being of the opinion that they received and could then pass on preferential pricing from airlines for students.

I said this was just a marketing ploy, particularly given StudentFlights is a trading name of Flight Centre. I based this on a couple of things;
1) Why would an airline care who was in its seats? (apart from FFer's of course )
2) Even if they did, why on earth would they preference Uni students? Generalizing here, but not likely to be your most delightful customers..
3) They appear to list select airlines. Qatar is a particular favorite for European destinations. Emirates is a no show, even though in my experience, the price difference is negligible.

Basically, who's right? Do airlines hold certain buckets (not sure if I've got the term right here..) for particular retailers; i.e. student travel agencies?

 

[futaris]

Yes. There are special student fares for university students. Mainly aimed at the foreign students, but of course any student is eligible.

Back in my Uni days circa turn of the century, I used to travel on QANTAS student fares (mainly from STA, until Student Flights came along) which were around 70-80% of the normal sale fares available. They generally earnt full frequent flyer points, too.

IIRC you needed to have an ISIC card to be eligible.

 

[Travel Guru]

It's not that they hold special fare buckets/classes, but some do infact have student fares, and while they often book into the same fare class as other fares, they're slightly cheaper.

Malaysia Airlines is one who does alot of Student fares.

There isn't the margin in it for it to simply be a marketing ploy (although from experience cynicism when it comes to Flight Centre is often well placed :mrgreen.

Not all airlines offer them, and generally you need to purchase them from a student based TA, but in the came of MH, any TA can usually issue those.

TG

 

[leemin]

Alright, so she wins. I stand corrected.

However, I will keep my cynicism of Flight Centre intact

Thanks!

 

[drmikki]

I don't know if it still happens in Australia, but the student fares on certain airlines used to include an increased luggage allowance.

Having spent an hour yesterday bored and re-reading the Iberia inflight magazine, I can tell you that Iberia has certain student deals that include 30kg of luggage or a 2nd bag. Not sure about any other airlines though - it's been a few years since I was a student.