My daughter will be spending this fall in Paris. I'm investigating the various travel options to get her there and back and would like some opinions. She will be leaving from PHL (probably) with a rough timeframe of late July to mid December. She is an experienced traveller (previous European trips) and is willing to consider travel that involves flying to another city in Europe and taking a train/LCC to Paris, if that makes economic sense. She may also go to southern France before going to Paris.

I know there are "student" fares promoted through different student travel organizations, are they a good deal?

What about the potential desire to change the return date, what is the best way to handle that with a purchased ticket?

I also have DL and AA miles available to get her a ticket, but since she is traveling during peak time I wonder if that is a viable option. One advantage is the changeable nature of award tickets. Is this a good option?

Thanks in advance for your input.