It’s the end of another week, and that means it’s time to throw two travel heavy weights into the ring for another Friday showdown. Are you ready? Let’s get ready to rumble!
Student Flights and STA Travel have long been fierce competitors, both keen to capture that ever-lucrative youth market.
And today, on the Friday showdown, we’re pitting them against each other – in the ring, one round only – to see who can offer the best airfare to London departing in late June.
Again, we have Terry the referee overseeing today’s battle.
Take it away Terry.
TERRY: Thanks Shaun.
In the black and yellow corner we have Sarah from Melbourne. She’s been wearing the Student Flights (SF) colours for the last three years, rising to the top of the SF leaderboard and smashing her PB’s like free wine at a Buzz Night.
She recently came back from a Contiki Island Hopper famil in Thailand, and she’s ready to face “the others” – those that wear no uniform and have access to some exclusive student fares… (STA Travel)
Please welcome Sarah into the ring!
TERRY: And in the green, grey and light yellow corner (?) we have Tim from STA Travel in Sydney. He’s been turning GAP year dreams into reality for four years, and is ready to prove to the world that you don’t need to wear a uniform to sell tons of travel.
Let’s hear it for Tim and his cool hat!
TERRY: Let’s have a clean and fair fight guys.
(BOTH TRAVEL AGENTS NOD – Tim’s hat nearly falls off)
**Round one.**
Ready? Set? Go!
And Sarah is off to a great start!
She’s found a cheap-as-chips return student fare with Qatar Airways (flying from Sydney from 2 March 2016) for just $1,199 NETT, and she’s only marking it up to $1,499.
It’s a direct flight from Sydney to London via Doha – with only a 45 minute transit!
INCREDIBLE!
(CROWD CHEERS)
TERRY: We’re pretty sure those little kids are too young to fly on their own, but you just gotta love their enthusiasm!
But it looks like Tim has something up his sleeve – or is it under his hat?
Yep, he’s definitely got something… and …
He’s thrown a quote at Sarah that includes a return student fare with Etihad for $999 NETT, and he’s only adding on $300 on top of it to make a grand total of $1,299!
That’s quite a deal wouldn’t you say?
(CROWD GOES WILD)
TERRY: But hold on just a second.
Sarah has inspected the quote, and she’s made some notes.
She’s pointing out to the crowd that the transit time with Etihad in Abu Dhabi is 10 hours, and she’s also talking up the benefits of Qatar Airways – namely their wider seats and their recent award as the Best Airline in the World in 2015 according to Skytrax.
And the crowd is lapping it up!
TERRY: But now Tim is slashing another $100 off his quote and talking about th…
DING DING DING!!!
And that’s it folks.
The battle is OVER!
TERRY: Just getting the final results from our panel of judges now…
(LISTENS TO EARPIECE)
Yep … OK …
Ok guys, we’re going to try something a little different this week. We’re going to leave the decision up to our loyal readers!
So back to you Shaun.
SHAUN: Thanks Terry.
What a great battle between Sarah from Student Flights and Tim from STA Travel.
These two youth travel giants showcased their excellent student fares – which aren’t available online; yep, one of the many reasons why travel agents still kick Webjet’s butt – and demonstrated their industry knowledge.
But as Terry said, we’re leaving the decision up to you.
**Sarah and Tim are completely made up and bear no resemblance to any living travel agent.
Did you check out last Friday’s showdown between Flight Centre versus helloworld yet?
