StudentUniverse
Reviews and Complaints

I booked my flight to London from Etihad airways through studentuniverse. I cancelled my booking within 1 hour and they said they would refund my amount in 7 to 10 days. It’s been 15 days I haven’t got a refund. I have emailing them time and again and they are telling me they have released a refund but I have not get any refund in my account. It’s really frustrating experience

I have been trying to change my flight since I made the mistake of booking it. I called numerous times trying to cancel it and I’d get a dial tone and Hang up or no one answered at all. I emailed and used twitter to try and change or cancel it to a one way and the emailed me back late and with a careless “apology” on the fact that it took them so long to get back to me just to tell me to call them. I called after being on hold forever and spoke to this rude, unhelpful guy who gave me the run around just to tell me he couldn’t do anything about it. When I spoke to the airline they told me they were able to change and modify flights but that they’ve heard many complaints and advice not to book with questionable third party sites specifically this one. I called back just to talk to another guy being condemned and glazing over all my complaints and wasn’t even trying to listen. He claimed that they let you know the call is being recorded but they never do and that’s illegal where I live. I don’t want to lose 1600 dollars bc they don’t want to work with me even though you are able to change a flight within 24 hours of booking but they don’t follow many policies, rules and regulations that’s why they’re sketchy. Now I’m stuck with 4 tickets and 2 I’m not going to be able to use. I’m out more than 1600

I had a really bad experience with StudentUniverse when my son was studying abroad in England. We used their service twice, but the first time we tried to cancel within 24 hours, it was a real headache. They didn't answer our calls or emails until it was too late to get a refund. But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, my son's home college required all students to return home immediately. I tried to change his flight through United, but because I had booked through StudentUniverse, they wouldn't help me. I emailed StudentUniverse more than a week before the college mandate, just to be safe. But I never heard back from customer service, even though I got tons of sales and marketing emails.

I spent four hours on hold on the regular reservation line and two hours on the premium line (which I paid extra for), but when I finally got through, they told me my son's return ticket had no value. They wanted to charge me $450 in change fees and $1500 for the fare difference, even though there were 54 empty coach seats on the flight. It felt like they were trying to take advantage of a college student who was stuck in another country during a terrible crisis.

Honestly, I don't think StudentUniverse should be allowed to sell airline tickets. They don't care about their customers and they don't provide any real service. If they went out of business, it wouldn't be a loss to anyone. I gave them one star, but I wish I could give them no stars at all.

So, I booked a flight for my daughter and her friend on StudentUniverse last night at around 11pm. I filled out all the details for each person in the boxes provided and then entered my name in the credit card section. I made sure to double-check all the information before hitting the purchase button. However, to my surprise, the ticket that was generated had my name on it instead of my daughter's friend. I immediately contacted their customer service via chat to inform them of the error, but I didn't receive a response for over an hour. Frustrated, I had to go to sleep.

This morning, I woke up to an email saying that the ticket name couldn't be changed. I called their customer service, and the lady who answered was very rude and unhelpful. She told me that no one could help me and that I had to buy a whole new ticket. I couldn't believe it! The ticket even had my daughter's friend's date of birth on it, which was something that was changed on their website, not by me. I've been on hold for 32 minutes now, and they're telling me that I have to buy a new ticket. This is outrageous! I'm going to the Ombudsman!

It's really disappointing when companies like StudentUniverse prey on the less fortunate. Life is already hard enough, and it's not fair that we have to deal with companies that are only interested in ripping us off. They could be the straw that breaks the back of those who are truly trying to cope in this life. I just wish they would be more honorable and treat their customers with respect.

Me and my buddies had to change our flights from Buenos Aires to Thailand today because of the corona Virus. Luckily, StudentUniverse (SU) is offering to change flights without cancellation and changing fees if it is because of Coronavirus. However, they pretended to not know about Convid by not asking us the reason to charge us a $150 fee each. We had to cite the policy on their website to avoid paying this fee.

One of my friends successfully changed the flight with a $70 fee, which is a good thing. But after that, every one of us was charged different fees due to some bs reasons they made up. I was charged $210 for booking the ticket late while some of my friends, who booked their tickets 1 week later, were charged $150 and $178. I questioned the fee and was told that the booking date was not the reason, it was because some classes are out seats and we had to pay more to update our class. Then they offered me a $150 fee like nothing has happened. The funny thing is we ended up having the same class, while the price on their website decreased, I guessed the flight was not full as they told me. So I'm not sure we're ripped off or not but I feel like the fees they asked based on nothing but arbitrary numbers popping up in their head. And the whole experience to me was like we were bargaining for some groceries at a market instead of buying flight tickets from a credible flight agency. Unless this event is explained to us clearly, I'm pretty sure no one in my school would use SU again.

So, I had a flight booked with StudentUniverse (studentuniverse.com) and it got cancelled just 48 hours before the departure. I was in a panic and immediately called them to know my options. I left my number in the call back queue and sent two emails with the subject "URGENT FLIGHT CANCELLED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF DEPARTURE". I even DM'ed them on Instagram and tried calling them twice more. But, to my surprise, I didn't receive any response from them for 18 hours. And when they finally called me back, it was 2 am in the morning and they only tried calling once. They didn't send any text or email or anything.

By that time, I had already rebooked a new flight directly with an airline because I realized that I couldn't rely on these people to do their jobs. As I had booked through StudentUniverse, the airline couldn't make any changes to my booking. So, I had to pay $1700 for a replacement flight. It was clearly StudentUniverse's fault because they failed to prioritize bookings based on departure date/time. But, they didn't respond to any of my emails.

Two weeks later, I called them up and received appalling service. The employee spoke to me as if I was a child and offered nothing more than an airline credit. But, the airline credit doesn't even meet the airline's credit policy. An airline credit entitles you to the $ value of your flight which can go towards ANY international route they fly. But, StudentUniverse has decided that I can only use my "credit" to rebook the original route.

I should have received a refund and an apology for this company's incompetence. But, instead, all they offered was a subpar "credit". I thought it was safe to book with StudentUniverse as I am aware that they are owned by Flight Centre. But, now, I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy.

I gotta say, I was pretty confident in Student Universe until I had to cancel my flight with United Airlines that I booked through them. They left out some pretty important information about cancelling flights that ended up costing me a pretty penny.

I did my due diligence and asked about the conditions of cancelling before I even went through with it. They told me I'd be charged $400 ($100 from Student Universe and $300 from United Airlines) and that I'd get a flight credit for the original ticket price. They also told me I had to use the credit with United Airlines within 300 days of the original purchase date.

But what they didn't tell me was that I had to go to the same destination. It took me three calls to Student Universe to finally book my new flight, and only then did they reveal this crucial piece of information months after I cancelled my original flight. And to make matters worse, the price of flights to my original destination had gone up, so I had to pay an extra $300 on top of the $400 cancellation fee just to use the flight credit I'd already paid for. That's a total of $700 extra just to use the credit I was promised.

Honestly, it's pretty ridiculous that they can't be clear about the details of getting a flight credit from a cancellation, especially when they already have my money. Even the email they sent after I cancelled my flight didn't explain everything clearly.

So if you're thinking about cancelling a flight with Student Universe, make sure you get all the details and rules upfront, or you might end up paying way more than you bargained for.

I recently used StudentUniverse to book a flight from South Africa to London. I had spent a lot of time researching flights and found that StudentUniverse had the best deal. Even though it's an American website, I was able to view the prices in my home currency, the South African Rand.

However, when I confirmed my ticket and paid the invoice, I noticed that the amount deducted from my account was over R1000 more than what I had confirmed. I reached out to their customer service team and received automated responses that blamed the discrepancy on the exchange rate and my decision to change the currency to my home currency. But this is an option that their website openly provides, and there is no way that changes in the exchange rate could have created such a large difference in just a few minutes.

To make matters worse, my invoice clearly stated that prices are in USD unless otherwise stated. And in my case, the price was stated in Rands, so that's what I should have been charged. It's clear to me that StudentUniverse is intentionally misleading students who are working hard to save money for travel. It's absolutely shocking that a company would operate in this way.

If you're not in the USA, I highly recommend that you avoid using StudentUniverse to book your flights. And even if you are in the US, I urge you to consider whether you want to support a company that operates in such a dishonest way.

I had a really bad experience with Studentuniverse, let me tell you. I was looking for a direct flight on United and I found a great price on their website. I clicked on the flight and waited for it to load, but then it said "Sorry!" and told me that the flight wasn't available anymore. I was pretty disappointed, but I figured that maybe it was just a clickbait site trying to get me to click on their promoted prices.

So I decided to select another United flight that was a little more expensive but still a good deal. I went to book it, but every time I tried to go to the payment page, it said that my session had expired and I couldn't purchase the ticket. I tried reloading the page and using a different browser, but nothing seemed to work. The page was even worse on Safari.

At this point, I was getting pretty frustrated, so I decided to call customer care. They asked me to verify my account by sending them some student documents, which seemed fair enough. I typed up an email and sent it to them, but the whole time I was on the phone, the customer care rep kept confirming the details of the flight because apparently their website was having some issues. I was okay with booking the flight over the phone, though. I just wanted to get that good price. But then the person on the other end told me that I needed to send even more documents to verify that I was a student. I was starting to get really annoyed at this point, but I started taking more pictures anyway. About 30 minutes into the call, the rep told me that there wasn't actually a student deal on the flight I had selected. In fact, it was $300 more expensive than the flight listed on their site. I was so done with this whole thing. After that, the rep had the nerve to ask me to submit a bug report to their technical support and to keep looking for a student deal on their site.

I don't think I'll ever use Studentuniverse again after this experience. It was just too frustrating and time-consuming.

I gotta tell ya, I had a pretty rough experience with StudentUniverse. I mean, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. These guys lure you in with these cheap tickets that seem too good to be true, and let me tell you, they are. You think you're getting a great deal, but then they hit you with the ol' switcheroo. Suddenly, your flight is rescheduled and they act like it's not their fault. They blame it on the airline, but I'm pretty sure they're in cahoots with them. They know that they can get away with changing flights for their budget class passengers, so they do it all the time.

I noticed that my flights were being changed left and right, but when I looked into it, I realized that the flights were still operating at the same time. It was all a scam to get me to pay more money. I mean, imagine thinking you're saving money by buying a cheap ticket, only to find out that you're now forced to stopover somewhere and pay for a hotel, taxi, food, and rebook your luggage. It's a nightmare.

At the end of the day, when you add up all the extra expenses, you'll realize that you're actually paying way more than if you had just bought a regular ticket in the first place. It's a total ripoff. I mean, if you're cool with all that hassle, then go ahead and book with StudentUniverse. But if you're like me and you don't want to deal with all that nonsense, then I suggest you steer clear of these guys. Trust me, it's not worth it.

So, I recently booked a round trip flight from Denver to London through Student Universe. I saw the flight on the United website and the only discount was $20. I mean, come on, that's not really a discount at all. But, my daughter who is in college told me that her professors recommended booking through this company. So, I made the mistake of going through Student Universe. And then, the pandemic hit and my flight was cancelled. Now, I have to deal with Student Universe instead of United Airlines directly. It's been a real hassle.

I just tried to re-book 3 small domestic flights with the credit I had from the cancelled flight. I did some searching on Google flights and found that these 3 flights only cost $161 total. But, when I talked to the Student Universe rep, she quoted me $299.80 for all 3 flights. That's basically double the price of what I could pay right now. When I asked her why it was so expensive, she said that because the London to Denver flight was deeply discounted, we have to pay more now on these domestic flights. I mean, seriously? That's just ridiculous.

And then, I asked what would happen if my daughter got sick and couldn't make one of the upcoming domestic flights. The rep told me that all 3 domestic flights would be cancelled and we would lose the $299.80 credit. That's just a scam. I feel like Student Universe is just taking advantage of the pandemic and selling students and parents a bill of goods. They should be ashamed of themselves and their business practices.

If you're reading this review, Student Universe, don't try to blame this on airline policy or deeply discounted tickets. You're lying. That original ticket was NOT deeply discounted. You're just a middle man who is obviously just taking a big cut. Do NOT book anything with this company.

I recently used StudentUniverse to purchase some flights, but unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and my plans were disrupted. While I understand that this was not their fault, I had to rely on StudentUniverse to communicate with the airline directly about getting a refund. This was a bit of a hassle, as I couldn't communicate with the airline directly and had to go through the whole process with StudentUniverse.

My boyfriend and I had StudentUniverse request refunds for our cancelled flight, which was cancelled by the airline. They informed us that it could take up to 2 months for the airline to respond, which was understandable. However, after 1 month, I called to check if they had heard back and they said they hadn't yet. One month later, my boyfriend received his refund, but I still hadn't. When I called again, they told me that they had never made a request for me. I was frustrated and confused as to how this could happen. How could they say they were requesting it for both of our flights the first time, but then tell me they hadn't heard back the second time, without mentioning that they never made the request in the first place?

After I brought this to their attention, they finally made the request for me. However, I had to wait an additional 2 months and then received an email saying they were offering me credit instead of a refund. I was upset and called again to ask why the airline was only giving me credit when my boyfriend had received a full refund. The person I spoke to said that the airline still had not responded and that the email was simply stating that I had the option to get credit if I wanted. However, the email did not sound that way at all, and I was frustrated with the lack of clarity.

The staff I spoke to seemed incompetent and unhelpful, and I was disappointed that they wouldn't let me speak to a supervisor. While I understand that some things are out of their control, the way they handled this situation was horrendous. I don't think I'll be using this site again in the future.

Reservation code: umjczx
Amount £233.99

I booked a flight on may 7th, it was cancelled almost immediately due to covid.
I rang up within an hour of the flight being booked and was told the refund was applied straight away.
It is now a month and a half later and my refund is still not in my bank account.
Despite numerous emails telling me they have refunded me and it's my banks fault and to check with my bank (which I have more than once). I still have no refund and no refund pending on my bank account.

I would like my refund and not to continually be told it's my bank's billing cycle.

I purposely booked my flight through student universe because they claimed to have 1 free flight change. I was supposed to fly to Minnesota for an interview but changed the date of this interview. I contacted them today on 10/24 to change my flight. I figured I would have to pay the difference between the flights. I did not expect a $75 extra fee not mentioned anywhere on my tickets or in the confirmation. When I complained about this fee and that it was not mentioned anywhere, the person I was talking to tried to blame me and for not paying extra for an elite membership at $20 a person. I would like a refund of this $75 fee that was not mentioned anywhere. I needed the flight changed so I had to pay it up front despite the fact that I found it unsatisfactory.

I had a medical emergency due to which I had to travel to India on 20th October, 2018. I trusted student universe to do my reservation and they highly disappointed me.

I had called qatar airways to check on baggage. From there I came to know that due to short layover period at Frankfort there will be issues with my checkin luggage. I immediately called student universe customer care. The representative admitted she was seeing a notification on my itinerary which she was reluctant to share. She checked with her supervisor and said the layover time is sufficient for baggage transfer at Frankfurt from AA to Qatar airways. However, to be sure she said she will call up AA and get a confirmation from them regarding this. Post that she was going to mail me. 2 hrs went by and my I received no update from student universe.I called up AA and they told me that student universe have goofed up my reservation and they tried to make changes to it. On calling up student universe, they then sent me the new change in itinerary which had longer layover period. This was 2.5 hrs before my boarding time. They wanted me to confirm post which they were going to confirm with AA. 1 hr went by and I received no communication from Student universe. My boarding time was approaching so I checked at AA desk at DFW airport where representative found that she was able to check my luggage only till Frankfurt. I called up student universe again and they said they were still in talks with AA. In the end it was just 1hr left for my flight to take off so I hurried to check in and found that I was not allowed to check-in my luggage. I boarded the flight without my luggage which had the necessary medical documents required for my surgery.

Not only the representative was unable to make changes to my itinerary as AA denied but added an extra Qatar airways flight from Kuwait to Mumbai which was not required considering my original itinerary was from DFW to Frankfurt to Mumbai. Now I fear I may face no show charges from Qatar airways because of this goof up from student universe. This has greatly broke my trust with student universe and I have cancelled my return flight to dfw. I had to go through this chaos with no fault of mine during my medical emergency

I bought my to and fro travell from dallas to india in the month of february 2018. My journey is on 30th july 2018. I was unconfirmed on One of the connecting flights from amstradam to bangalore ..flight rederence AEDLIA through jet airways.

I have to travel on time for my fathers event which happens on the next day on 31st july 2018, i have been calling and following up with your agents sincd last 2 momths ..but there has been no resolution till date.

I have beem transfered to different agents without any concrete resolution..
I am never going to use your service if this is not resolved.

Cheap almost always means bad quality, bad service, bad treatment or attitude.
You better pay more and save your nerves from extra worrying.
I am absolutely sure that StudentUniverse is the worst travel agency in the world because they don't appreciate their customers, care nothing about their problems and provide no help when needed. Moreover, the itineraries they offer are ridiculous and far from the reality.
In short: don't use this website.

What a terrible mess! Please choose alternatives and never book through them. Absolutely appalling.
I booked a ticket, but later changed my mind and decided to cancel it. They refused to do it providing no acceptable reasons.
Then I asked for a refund and again my request was rejected. Look like I just gave them money as a present and they are not going to do anything about it. They just stole it. So sad I dealt with them. I am extremely upset and highly recommend you to use different services that don't steal money.

Needed to rebook a reservation from EWR to EDI to accommodate a sudden medical procedure. Contract says penalties for this change should be $50 for Student Universe and $300 for the airline plus the change in airfare. The rep wanted to charge $100 for Student Universe, $300 for the airline, AND ANOTHER $100 for a "NO-SHOW" fee for the airline that was not mentioned in any of the penalties attached to the ticket we purchased. They wanted $590 for a change that should have cost $440 and refused to honor the terms of the contract they agreed. This on top of a ridiculously limited choice of only one (1) available flight for the new date, a flight that now required a day layover in Brussels. Entirely dissatisfaction's and extremely unethical behavior. I learned I can get flights on Norwegian airlines that are completely flexible and refundable for $599, Student Universe will never see another penny from us.