StudentUniverseReviews 5,387

This website advertises getting discounted fares for students but i've found this is a LIE. While searching for flights on their website an offer from them popped up to get a flight at a discounted prices but it gave me like 5 minutes to put all my information in and hit book before the "special offer" expired. Booked thinking this was actually a good deal since they're supposed to be discounted and then found a ticket directly with the Airline for significantly cheaper. Tried to cancel later and was told that I could not get a refund to my original payment but I could get a credit with the airline, but when I rebooked it would have to be through them and I'd be charged an additional $50 rebooking fee by Student Universe - oh and they finally told me about this rebooking fee after my 3+ time confirming there'd be no fees. I wish I had booked through United, they're much more helpful and have cheaper fares. Never using student universe again. Do yourself a favor and AVOID student universe at all costs. You won't regret booking elsewhere.

After 2 1/2 hrs on the phone to StudentUniverse to try to pay for the flight (£723.99) it was impossible to get the flight for the price advertised. I was eventually told I had to pay in US$ (booking a UK originating flight, advertised on a UK website in GB£) at a cost that StudentUniverse could not confirm how much I would be paying,
StudentUniverse post flights at discounted rates and then make it impossible to pay for the flight. I was told my credit card was not PSD2 authorised (I phone Mastercard and it was). The texted backup security code input to authorise payment was rejected by the StudentUniverse website - in short it was impossible for me to pay for the flight.
I was offered a flight which I was told I could pay for by credit card at £957.46.
The discounted rate is to draw traffic to the website, I assume in the hope that people will pay the higher prices for the tickets.
My experience with StudentUniverse will be reported as a formal complaint to Abta
DO NOT USE STUDENTUNIVERSE you have been warned

Never book, if you cancel or change you will lose more money than the original price. Will ask you new fare which is even not quoted by the by the airline

While on vacation I received a phone call and e-mail from StudentUniverse claiming that my return flight home on Frontier Airlines had changed and that I needed to call Frontier to verify that I accepted the changed flight or that I'd have to schedule a different flight. I called Frontier and they said my originally scheduled flight was still scheduled and there were no changes. I called StudentUniverse back and they tried again to get to me to say that I would change my flight... I think they were trying to free up my seat on the plane so they could sell it for more money. I can only imagine I would've been left paying a flight change fee or a whole new flight altogether!

I have booked 3 separate flights in the last month and all got cancelled 24h emailing me, asking for more info on credit card and traveler. They then cancelled and said that my bank had the money, I'm down a couple thousand!

Last straw was the last flight I booked, I even got a ticket and no problem at first, but this time I just got my booking cancelled, even after I had the airline ticket. They couldnt "get an exact match on the credit card" even after charging it and buying the flight from the airline!

They have terrible customer service and have not returned my money yet, even though it's been over 10 days and even though they are the ones that cancelled the flights!

When I was checking out on the Australian website it changed me to the US website and then the cost said $190 and it turned out to be $280 because of the conversion as well as a conversion fee? Very bad service the guy on the phone was rude and said 'I didn't force you to book it' and said it was my fault for not double checking the website. It is obviously a scam site because why would it transfer me onto the US site from the Aus site. ALSO THEY WOULD NOT SEND ME MY TICKETS! I had to call the airline to ask them to send me the tickets because studentuniverse just kept sending me the same confirmation email without tickets.

I purchased a ticket, got a confirmation email; after hours I got an email from them requesting MY PERSONAL INFORMATION:
"The cardholder's phone number and email so we can contact them
Color pictures (not scanned) of the front & back portion of the card used in the purchase, with the first 12 digits of the credit card number and the security code covered.
A photo of a valid ID showing the card holder's signature.
Valid ID of passenger/s. Once we've confirmed the card information, your reservation will be ticketed at the current rate available. Unfortunately, if we do not receive this information in time, we will have to cancel the flight and refund any charges made."
YOU TELL ME THIS AIN'T SCAM!

Another company trying to steal your money instead of helping. I called to change my flight because I have an exam and they charge $50 for that. I had to look for a cheap flight because she chose the most expensive flight on that day. I found a flight cheaper than my original flight, she didn't bother to give me back the extra $68. She counted it as the same price. They deserve 0 star. I would never use that website!

I had purchased an international ticket for my son and paid an extra $150 for insurance that allowed a cancellation for any reason. When his passport didn't arrive in time because of Covid we had to cancel (in advance of the 3 day window). The insurance company only refunded me $135 and offered zero explanation. They won't talk to you on the phone and the appeals process says I have to wait months to hear. This company is a fraud!

The website is one of the worst I've ever experienced. Half of the time it doesn't load, and when it does, the fares fluctuate and it shows false information. Customer service canceled our flight before we were able to book a new one (which turned out to be no longer available), leaving us with no flight. Our customer service agent did his best but it seems the lack of correct information on the website is just that bad.

Edit: Ended up booking a new flight through them afterwards. Hopefully, there will be no issues this time. Still hard to beat how low the fares are. You get what you pay for, I suppose.

I have been trying to get my $1200 flight credits for almost 2 years. Ive had every excuse under the sun. I was then told they would transfer them to a virgin credit, but first i had to pay $210 to get this done because it was a "airline fee" i contacted virgin directly and they advised this was NOT the case and that no fee should apply. I called back and told them id spoken to virgin and was told that it wasnt in fact and "airline fee" they then changed their story to "it's because you booked a promotion and we need that fee back". Virgin fought my battle with me, and almost 2 years later we were able to win.

My credit card (that I rarely use) was compromised within a day of booking on this site. I booked a trip to and then within 24 hr had emailed to get a refund, which was posted on their site and the airlines site as something they allowed. The only way is to email them though and they took a few days to get back to me and then told me that I was outside of that period. When I provided logical proof they went ahead and made up another story. Everytime I came back with proof thay "found" another reason to deny me. HORRIBLE service

Avoid using this company at all cost. Their customer service is horrible, it has taken over three weeks and hours on the phone to get a refund on the refundable ticket I purchased and they charged BS fees to get that done. They told me for weeks that they couldn't refund my ticket, the airline would refund the ticket directly, even though SU charged my card and not the airline. Only after I made a rep from SU do a conference call with the airline did they finally agree to cancel the flight with the airline and refund my money and it still took them over a week to accomplish this task.

"What are my legal rights for obtaining cash refunds from trips cancelled due to COVID?
When you purchase an airline ticket, you agree to certain terms and conditions set by the airline, and if purchased through us, StudentUniverse..."

Booked a ticket has a Transferring between HND and Narita but Japan doesnt allow tranfer.
Called Studenuniver they answer very simple to me that " this ticket are eligible for refund / change".
They confirm the ticket still valid, so we came to the airport but the airport cancelled our ticket and left us at the airport after 1 domestic transit.

I have never been treated so badly and so unprofessionally by a company within the Australian regulatory space. It is a shock to me that they are still operating. They have dedicated 'Charge-back Specialists' which speaks VOLUMES about how they operate and the kind of values they hold. If you're employing someone to look into why banks are protecting their customers from you and refusing to authorise your charges, you need to seriously consider your conduct.
I would caution anyone and everyone not to go anywhere near Student Universe. Warn your friends and family too! I wish I read these reviews before proceeding.

I booked with Student Universe in January 2020 for flights in April 2020. Then Covid happened in March and I wasn't able to get a refund, just travel credits with Virgin.

When I called to use these credits, I was told that my credit was actually less than the amount I paid. Even though I have a copy of the invoice and email correspondence stating otherwise. After some to and fro, I was eventually able to get them to acknowledge the correct amount, which is more than they were willing to accept prior.

I then tried to book flights with them, but was restricted by which flights I could book. Apparently, my credits only apply to certain types of fares. The problem is, you can't tell which fares will be accepted from their website, you just have to call and pray the flights you pick will make it through their tight conditions.

The prices for each flight fluctuate depending on the person you're speaking with too. Worst of all, if I don't use all my credits on the one transaction, I forfeit the balance. I suppose Student Universe keeps the rest. I don't think I've ever experienced such bad customer service and a more painful booking experience.

I was issued a credit instead of a refund after a system glitch caused duplicate bookings. Instead of sending me one I could use to re-book online, I had to ring the call centre to book. Over a 48hr period I requested a call back 3 times after significant waiting periods. They never called back.
Eventually I waited on hold for 2hrs before being served by a rude agent who tried to book me a flight $109 more than my credit voucher and telling me this was the only one available. I kept pushing and insisting that I was looking at a cheaper flight on virgins website. Only after 10min of back and fourth did he admit that there was indeed a much cheaper flight. I will be warning everyone I know not to use Student Universe and urge you to not book with them if you're reading this!

I thought I was getting a good deal from this site and seriously thought they were helping students save money. I was told by my friend that I got ripped off with the price I paid. What surprised me as well was that I received a charge right after I booked! I have booked from other sites and never ever was charged!
Seriously research before your book with this site! Try googling who is StudentUniverse... no answer but some generic marketing selling comment.

Student Universe can provide cheaper tickets for flights. I have used them a few times before with minimal issues.
However using them this month - for only a very minimal discount was a total mistake. I made the big error of not checking my ticket fields after filling out my details - and auto fill had changed my passenger details to my preferred name, which is an abbreviation of my long legal first name. The process to get this fixed has been ridiculous. Calls back and forth, email chains. At every point their customer service is lacking and agents know next to nothing. They take every opportunity to try and put the issue back onto you as well.
They ultimately managed to make a name correction for me (for which I had to pay) and they changed it wrong! When I emailed them to let them know it needed to be fixed, they tried to correct me and tell me I was wrong! I had to painstakingly try and spell out my legal name and how they had spelled it incorrectly, despite having a copy of my ID and my legal name also in the billing records they used to charge me for this name correction.

I would never use them again and just book directly with the airline. It's not worth the slight savings - when I could instead be accumulating frequent flyer points anyway.

I tried switching my flight and they wanted to charge me extra despite the fact that United Airlines don't charge any fee to switch your flights!