Students have to travel from one destination to another, within their own country or to a foreign destination, for reasons of pursuing their study. To this end, they have certain special requirements when flying with an airlines. These special requirements are generally about having cheaper fares so that they can travel on budget, and about having higher baggage allowances. Airlines are free to decide whether to offer concessional fares to students and/or higher free baggage allowances than normal to students or not.

Some of these airlines which provide deals and discounts for student travel needs are given below. Please note that these offers are temporary and these can be changed or withdrawn completely.

Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines has its MHExplorer program meant for travel by students with certain benefits. It is open for both the Malaysian students and for international students from other countries. The program can be joined online by signing up for it. Passengers who are already Enrich members can also make use of this program. Here are some of the benefits from this program-

1. Up to 30%off on flights fares of Malaysia Airlines and Firefly.
2. Extra 10 kg baggage allowance
3. One date change allowed free of cost
4. Benefits associated with Enrich membership
5. 10% off for Temptations and Firefly online stores
6. Per Year 4 special offers for family and friends on Malaysia Airlines and Firefly flights
7. Multiple payment options
8. Firefly Cargo to offer 20% discount

However, these benefits can be availed only when certain conditions are met. These are given below-

1. Student of age 13-17 years are required to provide their ID or Passport for verification
2. Those of age 18-26 years are required to provide confirmation ID or valid student ID
3. The fares are available for all outbound flights of Malaysian Airlines and Firefly except the codeshare ones and those operating to/from Jeddah or Madinah.
4. Bookings have to be made on website of the airline after signing in to the MHexplorer, on this link malaysiaairlines.com/MHexplorer

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines also has a special program for the students. It is meant for those students who have the membership of Miles&Smiles program and are registered with the airline.

Both Turkish citizens and students of other countries can register for this program as a student and create an online account with Turkish Airlines

Let us first look at the benefits it provides-

1. 20% discount on domestic flight fares, 10% discount on international flights and special fares for the one-way international flights
2. There is higher baggage allowance of 40 kg for the international travel on weight-based routes and 2 bags of 23 kg each for the piece-based travel routes. The airline also offers more excess baggage for the domestic flights.
3. 25% more miles can be earned by 2022 end. 1000 miles will be added for new memberships and 2000 miles in total.
4. Another advantage given is of one-time free ticket change, provided that the fare class is not changed. So, if there is a fare class change with the changes in the ticket, then fee will be applicable.

Air India

India’s national carrier, now an airline under the Tata Group, offers 25% discount on basic fare on some booking classes in the economy cabin class. You just have to be studying in India, of age 12-26 and enrolled in a full time course of at least 1 year at a school/college which is recognized/ aided/ affiliated to a Central/State board.

The student needs to carry the ID card to show as proof.

This scheme has limited application as it is meant for those students who have to travel within India only.

Indigo Airlines

Indigo Airlines also provides 6% discounted fare and 10 kg additional baggage (total of 25 kg in 1 check-in pcs only) for students above the age of 12 years on the condition that the reservations shall have been done at least 7 days before the flight departure time. 

Applicable on both the one-way and round trip bookings.

Students must present their valid Student ID cards (school or university) during the check-in process. 

Students are required to SELECT “STUDENT” from the flight search engine and then make searches. All fares shown under the “SAVER” fare class are the discounted fares for students. Then, they are required to provide their Student ID. 

Singapore Airlines

Benefits of Singapore Airlines Offer for Students

Singapore airlines also offers Student discounted fares, complimentary booking change for the first time (without any fee) and higher baggage allowances, along with other benefits to the students.

The higher baggage allowances are 3 pcs of 23 kg each for USA and Canada and 40 kg for other destinations in the Economy and Premium Economy Class, and, 3 pcs f 32 kg each for US/Canada or 50 kg for other routes for the Business class travelers.

How to get student benefits from Singapore Airlines?

In order to avail these benefits, you have to be a KrisFlyer member and get verified as a student and make a booking on the airline website using this student logged in status.

How to get verified as a student?

Verification is done by third party organization, Sheer ID, on behalf of the airline.

This service is available in following countries

− Australia

− Canada

− Denmark

− France

− Germany

− Hong Kong SAR, China

− India

− Indonesia

− Ireland

− Italy

− Japan

− Korea

− Malaysia

− Netherlands

− New Zealand

− Philippines

− Republic of Korea

− Russia

− Singapore

− South Africa

− Spain

− Sweden

− Switzerland

− Taiwan, China

− Thailand

− Turkey

− United Kingdom

− United States of America

If your school/college is not present in the list of institutes which is available online, you need to submit the request by filling out a School Request form which is provided on airline website. Else, you can approach the local Singapore airlines office with necessary documents (student ID card, offer letter, enrolment letter, tuition receipt, or transcript).

It shall be noted that the online verification is available only for the tertiary institutes and not for secondary or boarding schools. For non-tertiary institutes, this is required to be done offline by approaching the airline or Sheer ID help centers.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways is another airline which offers special offers for the students. You are required to join the Qatar Airways Student Club, which comes with a number of benefits-

1. Special fares- 10% on first booking, 15% on second, 20% on third and 20% on fourth. Tickets have to be booked on qatarairways.com including on one-way journeys.
2. Additional Baggage Allowances- Extra 10 kg or 1 bag of 23 kg.
3. Flexibility of changing the dates- One complimentary date change
4. Saving on fares when flying with Companion Pass with a friend
5. Tier upgrade to Privilege Club
6. Complimentary Super Wi-fi

It is to be noted that ‘Student’ is defined as a person who has-

1. Joined Degree course, under a recognized higher education provider
2. And, is between 18 to 30 years of age, and has a
3. Valid and current Student ID card issued by official Student Union and or an educational institute or a valid student visa or official acceptance letter from an educational institute in English language.

It is to be noted that special booking fares and higher baggage allowances will not be valid for codeshare or interline flight partners.

 Offer period: 1st November 2020 – 31st March 2023.

Travel period: starting from 1st November 2020.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa is another airline which offer student discounted fares and other benefits for students who want to travel from India to Europe on both one-way or return trips.

1. Discount of upto 50Euros.
2. Higher baggage allowances- extra 2 bags of 23 kg each.
3. Flexible travel dates
4. Option of refund against a fee

In order to make a booking, the passenger is required to sign in using his/her registered university email address for the verification step. If you do not have this email ID, then you are required to email at generationfly@dlh.de with proof of status.

Some of the other terms and conditions associated with student discounts are-

1. Available only in Economy class, from India to Europe
2. Validity till 31 Dec 2023
3. Also offered from UK to India as one-way fares.
4. It has to be booked for one student per booking.
5. Students must be 18 or above years of age, enrolled in higher educational institute with valid student email ID and have valid ID, which has to be shown at the check-in at airport.

Gulf Air

Gulf Air is the airline of Bahrain. It also offers additional baggage allowance to the University students. Here are some key pointers-

1. For Falcon Gold travelers, two bags of 23 kg each are allowed with no other condition attached.
2. For Economy class travelers, there are two scenarios-
   
   • If there is a stopover in Bahrain, then 1 bag of 23 kg is the additional allowance.
   • If there is no stopover in Bahrain, but the origin of flight is on the network of the airline, then additional 9 kg is allowed free within the existing allowance with maximum of another 9 kg for the second bag. So, a total of 18 kg additional weight is allowed within the existing allowance of 2 bags of 23 kg.