Managing Group Airfare for Student Trips

Arranging group airfare for student trips can be complex, but worth the effort

Organizing a student trip involving air flights will give you some additional flexibility in planning your group trip. In order to qualify as a ‘group’ you need to have 10-12 passengers willing to fly on the exact same flights.

The major benefit of a student travel group air bookings is that you are guaranteeing all participants will be paying the same fare, and getting the same flights. It also makes your destination logistics much easier to plan! Groups pay a deposit of $50-$100.00 per seat held, at the time of booking. Once a deposit is paid, groups are generally allowed 10% reduction in size, without penalty by the airline. Additionally, groups are not required to submit names and the balance until 35-45 days before departure. If you have your group participants book individual tickets, there are no guarantees on pricing and availability. Individual tickets need instant purchase and immediate, full payments, and are usually very restrictive.

As the airlines continue to add and increase their ancillary fees, it is important to work with your travel agent, or the airline, to determine what is actually included in your ticket price. Common questions include:

• How much are the fuel surcharges, and do they guarantee them?

• Do they charge baggage fees? In most cases, additional fees are dependent on the date of ticketing, and not when the group was originally booked.

Even if you book your group 11 months in advance, the airline does not consider your ticket ‘purchased’ until tickets are issued at 35-45 days before departure. As such, you are responsible to pay any fees in effect when the tickets are issued. It is important for every group leader to prepare their group for the possibility of fees changing before tickets are issued.

It has become more important than ever to make sure your group participants have student travel insurance to cover them in emergency situations. Almost all travel policies cover medical emergencies and offer some level of trip delay and baggage protection. However, there are a wide range of policies on the market. Policies range from simple flight protection, to large, comprehensive group policies, designed to cover every participant and aspect of your trip. We all hope our trip will be perfect, but travel insurance gives that extra layer of protection in case something does go wrong.

Written by Eric Howard, Manager Group Sales @ www.StudentUniverse.com