Westjet starts to offer student fares through Travel Cuts

http://www.travelcuts.ca/en/08%20Hot...ls.asp#westjet

Students will get 25% off fares on all Westjet flights until Dec 15th when booked through Travel Cuts. I find this deal to be very good as either Travel Cuts or AC recently increased the fares on the Z class tickets. I found out about the Westjet deal and the AC Z fare increase when I was booking a ticket for my little brother a few days ago.

The Z fares are great for students as there is no min. advance purchase required. I missed the train in Halifax once, and within 3 hours I was en route to Ontario via AC on a TC Z fare. If Westjet's student fares are just 25% off the regular fare, the AC option would still be a better deal in most cases.

Unfortunately, the problem with both is that you have to deal with Travel Cuts. Why can't AC/Westjet just offer these through their direct sales channels? TC is not open all the time, often hard to get through to on the phone, online bookings need to be done at least a week before departure, etc.

As for Westjet what happened to trying to increase margins? Offering a blanket 25% to one of their primary target markets is hardly going to assist that...

25% off the regular fare meaning the lowest price the public pays? Seems from the link like a short term offer at any rate.

New WestJet/Travel CUTS student deal is a longer-term programme and not a one-off situation. Airlines need an ID card to verify student status and the ISIC is what they have chosen and this is issued by Travel CUTS. If you have a valid ISIC ID card you can book as close as 2 days out.

Here's the link to the details:

http://www.travelcuts.com/en/02%20Fl...jet_fall09.asp

MY god, i hope they realize how easy it is to get a fake ISIC card

A quick test online:

YEG to YQR Nov 27-29

WJ.com - 262.85 CAD

TC: $254.05

I haven't used student fares in quite a while, but the Z fares on AC that used to be offered to me by Travel Cuts used to be great. Then once AC changed to the Tango/T+/L fare system, the student fares were often the same of more expensive then what I could get on the Web site or through any TA. Don't know what Travel Cuts offers these days for AC, but up until about '02, Travel Cuts fares were great for studnets, then between about '02'ish and '05 when I regularly travelled YVR-YYZ as a student, the Travel Cuts fares were no better. At least, on YVR-YYZ.

Boy, that $8.80 savings will be well worth dealing with the junior agents over there (not). Perhaps for some cash-strapped students on-campus, but even when I was on-campus lecturing, 2/3 of the students had no idea where the office for Travel CUTS was located and either booked on-line or their parents were booking (and paying) for their travel via whatever source (TA, on-line, etc.) that the payer was selecting.

Yah, if thats the discount, what a waste of time.