Flights Through "Studentuniverse.com" = SCAM

[Mjake4479]

i tried to call customer service to complain about this before posting this threat, but what do you know, the number provided on this website doesn't exist! big shock there. quite a reputable company you're running here.

[bjorn]

Hello there,

Thank you for your feedback. First of all, I am terribly sorry that you did not have the experience you expected with StudentUniverse.com.

We are always aware of our prices, and how price sensitive students are. We run reports to compare our prices to our competitors ongoing, and know where we are strongest, and where we are less competitive. We know that if we do not have competitive prices, students will purchase elsewhere. A couple of notes about airline prices:

• As you know, prices change constantly; airlines have sales, price wars, etc., and our fares can go from being the least expensive in a market to non-competitive overnight. Since we negotiate our fares individually with each airline, our fares do not change as quickly. This works to your advantage when fare prices go up, less so when they go down

• The competitiveness of our fares varies significantly by market. In general, where you will find StudentUniverse.com to be most beneficial to students is in all but the heaviest-traveled city pairs, where lower demand and less competition mean that published (non-student) fares are generally more expensive; StudentUniverse almost always offers the lowest fare to most international destinations as well. Furthermore, the tickets we sell are generally less restrictive than published fares on the major carriers -- you can buy them closer to departure date, buy one way, stay for shorter or much longer periods, etc.

• The $915 fare you found to Europe may not be as cheap as some other sources. Our fares to Europe are, however, generally very competitive.
We always recommend that you check at least three to four sources every time you look to travel. This is a different philosophy than most other companies, but we believe it's in your best interest to spend 45 minutes and get the best fare. We know that we won't win every time, but we will win more than our share.

As far as the taxes go, we are launching full fare display later this summer, which will enable you to see the full amount on the search results page. The taxes, however, are the exact same as on any other online travel site out there. These vary from destination to destination and include 9/11 and other security fees, as well as fuel surcharges.

One thing that your comments did make us aware of, was a glitch in our phone system. Our customer care center is open between 9am and 9pm, Eastern Standard Time. After 9pm, the system is set to play an auto-message about the opening hours. This was not working properly, and you hence got the busy signal. We apologize for any inconvenience in this regard. As the student airfare provider for Orbitz, Travelocity, and CheapTickets, we take great pride in our professionalism, and we're sorry if you were disappointed in our service in any way.

Best regards,
Bjorn

[Mjake4479]

but there is a glaring inconsistency in what you just wrote. you said "The taxes, however, are the exact same as on any other online travel site out there." well, that is simply not the case. the taxes i was being charged for my studentuniverse flight were upwards of $225. when i checked a similar flight on expedia or cheaptickets, the taxes were about $80. now, if your taxes were the same as other airlines, my total quote would have been in the mid 700's, which, compared to prices of $915 or so on other websites, would have been a great deal for a student. however, when you triple the tax (and make it so it's about 30% of the total quote price), your price is about equal with everyone else. also, i happen to be a law student, so i looked into this. failure to disclose proper aviation taxes and/or setting the taxes higher than federal regulations is a FEDERAL CRIME. this should come as no surprise to you since you're in the business of selling airline tickets. this is all a moot point, however. i'm not buying my ticket through you, i'm not booking hostels through you, and i would encourage anybody who reads this to do the same. you're simply not an honest and/or reputable company, otherwise, you WOULD be charging the same amount for taxes as everyone else.

[bjorn]

Mike,

It would be very helpful if you disclosed the exact itinerary you tried to search for, including the dates. If there is a flaw in our tax calculation, I would like to find out about it. Different agencies actually define “taxes and fees” slightly differently, but if there is a discrepancy, I would like to dig into it.

Thanks,
Bjorn

[bjorn]

For those of you that are interested, here is a breakdown of what this user may have seen on our site, how much the taxes are, and what specifically they are:

Departure Flights: BA/ 188 Q EWR->LHR 08/02/2005 9:05 PM BA/ 434 Q LHR->AMS 08/03/2005 11:35 AM

Returning Flights: BA/ 429 Q AMS->LHR 08/26/2005 10:55 AM BA/ 189 Q LHR->EWR 08/26/2005 2:40 PM

Airline: British Airways
BaseFare: 689.70
TotalFare: 914.35

Breakdown of the taxes:

28.20 US International Tax
5.00 US Customs Tax
7.00 US Federal Inspection Fee
4.95 US Aphis Fee
2.50 US Security Fee
43.40 GB International Arrival Tax
13.40 NL Airport Security Fee
15.80 NL International Passanger Surcharge
3.00 Newark Airport Fee
122.00 YQ -British Airways Fee Surcharge (British Airways is allowed by the British goverment to charge a fuel fee as part of their tax structure. The US goverment requires all US carriers to price this charge in their base fare. With the rising cost of fuel BA has started charging 45USD per oceanic segment and 16USD per intra-european domestic segment.)

[wilson49332]

We are sorry for the problems! I myself have never had any issues flying with Student Universe, and have always found them just as cheap as travelocity and other competitors. I am not exactly sure where you got the 80 dollars from, ive never seen even domestic taxes that low. Usually figure on adding around 150-200 onto any price. British Airways however is one that charges more for taxes due to British laws as BJORN mentioned.

If you find another site with a better price, then take it by all means. I dont see an issue here given that the price with taxes here was the same as quoted through the carrier direct or other website. Im sure they try to give us as cheap of a deal as possible, but sometimes that is not possible due to seat issues and the rising cost of gas. As to the phone number, you must not have looked well enough as it is posted in several places and worked for me when I called a few minutes ago.
(Thanks Bjorn- it is fixed.)

I think you need to check the bottom where it says our fares, as well as the legal stuff. It is all posted clearly there, best of luck with the BBB. They will tell you the same as what I have just mentioned. I think your just angry because it is so much to go to Europe. Trust me, 900 is cheap! We cant help the prices, if you cant afford it stay in the US.

(I am not affiliated with this company btw- this is what I feel.) I wish fares were less, but we cant always beat the competition. We can however say that without a doubt, we are always competitve and DONT fix tax prices- the airlines do. As Bjorn said, we encourage shopping around. We are again sorry you are not happy with us and wish you a good trip to Europe all the same.