The majority of students I know are always crying broke. But in spite of the money you may owe creditors, it’s a tradition for college students to travel while they are still in school.

Know this, student travel doesn’t have to cost much if you know how to find the right cheap travel deals. Here are some ideas you can use to find cheap student priced plane tickets.

Purchase international student identity cards to save money on travel.

Don’t confuse this with your university issued I.D., although you can save money with that card also. Make sure you ask any airline what extra discount yours will get you.

When you buy an ISIC, Student Advantage, or ISE card you open yourself up to a lot of extra discounts. The cards aren’t free, but they don’t cost much (the ISIC card costs $22, Student Advantage $20, and ISE $25), they can easily return your purchase price in the amount of money you will save on student priced plane tickets.

In my personal opinion I think the ISIC card is better for international travel, it appears to be the most universally accepted outside the U.S. For example, at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, only the ISIC card gets you in for free.

The Student Advantage card appears to be the best for domestic airfare discounts on stuff like merchandise (think the big names like Urban Outfitters, Eastern Mountain Sports, Target, and AllPosters.com), while ISE offers both domestic and international savings, a lot of times at smaller stores, hotels, and attractions—although some big companies (like the Eiffel Tower) are on the list also.

How to get cheap airfare:

If you are on a budget, you will discover that Student Universe.com offers some really great student travel deals.

This is especially true for international travel.

The booking tool is very easy to navigate, you don’t need an ISIC card (just an .edu email address or other proof of enrollment), and discounts are available to faculty as well as students.

You are not able to book more than one plane ticket at the same time, which sucks because friends won’t end up sitting together.

Make sure you get as much information about each card before deciding which is best for your needs.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm and is filed under student travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.