With the holidays approaching, student travelers need to make transportation arrangements and, despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, low fares still are drawing them to air travel.
The closest airport to the University, the Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport, services 60 flights daily with airlines that offer shuttles, including Comair, The Delta Connection, United Express and U.S. Airways Express.
Though airlines are filling seats to capacity, there are fewer flights in the air these days according to Rebecca LaPensee, branch manager for STA Travel, a travel agency located in Newcomb Hall. Almost all airlines are cutting about 20 percent of their flights across the board, so flights with available seats are filling up with people who are bumped off flights that have been canceled, she said.
Smaller airlines like Atlantic Coast, which flies United Express shuttle planes for United Airlines carrier and Delta Connection shuttles for Delta Airlines, report that sales haven't changed much. Atlantic Coast's Web site states that since resuming service on Sept. 13, "ACA's controlled cancellations have totaled only 1.2 percent of all scheduled flights." Although the number of cancellations for ACA surprisingly is low, other larger airlines aren't flying at capacity.
Despite low fares at small airlines and extra seating at major carriers, time may be running out for student travelers looking to book a flight for Thanksgiving.
"Seats were available at lower prices longer," LaPensee said. "The Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after are the busiest travel days of the year." Although the number of travelers in October 2001 was lower than in October 2000, more people are becoming comfortable with traveling again, LaPensee said. Even though business was slower following the Sept. 11 attacks, lately the STA Travel office has been "inundated with people and it's been very busy. People are rebounding very quickly," she added.
Second-year College student Lauren Maxwell will fly home for Thanksgiving break because she does not want to take the train home to Massachusetts. Besides paying a lower price, Maxwell also said that she feels safe on flights "considering how tight security has been at all the airports lately, though I'm sure I'll be nervous once the plane actually takes off."
Another hot option for holiday fliers are flash deals, where fares will come into the market briefly, staying less than a week.
"I've found some really low airfares on www.travelocity.com," second-year College student Anita Bhatia said. "I found one from D.C. to San Jose for $139 roundtrip."
During the summer and peak fly seasons like Christmas, it was not uncommon to see that type of fare for $400. But with tighter competition now, some students even boast of finding fares as low as $40 round trip to Atlanta.
Web sites are key resources to find discounted air tickets. Users can sign up online at sites like smarterliving.com and orbitz.com, where they can put in up to six cities and each time the fare goes down the new rates will be sent out by email, Bhatia said.
Searching the Web always is an option to find low airfares, but LaPensee also offers some advice including calling ahead early and being flexible on the dates for departure and arrival, the times of travel, and the location of the airports. "Flexibility is the key to finding lower fairs and thinking ahead," LaPensee said.
And flights aren't the only option. Both Greyhound bus services and Amtrak trains offer a 15 percent discount to students who have the Student Advantage Card, which costs $20 plus shipping and handling. Amtrak also offers occasional flash fares. But while trains and buses attempt to slash fares with seasonal rates and special deals on travel along the eastern seaboard, fares still remain higher than airlines.
Local travel agents confirm this pattern too. LaPensee said that there has been more interest in railway fares than usual, even though trains aren't necessarily cheaper.
As for Thanksgiving, "if people are flexible they still may be able to get things that aren't ridiculous," LaPensee said. "But if people do wait, and we do not encourage that, then they are going to have to pay absolutely outrageous prices"
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