4 return air ticket home per year - how to manage

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
1

<p>we are international family from asia, my son will start his boarding school life from sept 2010. it seems that we need to fly him home each year 4 times during various vacation time - namely thanksgiving (9 days), winter vacation (22 days), spring vacation (17 days) and summer vacation (3 months).
questions:-
1. what is the best way to buy air tickets early enough so that it is cheap? we have specific dates so in therory we can book tickets early??
2. how do other families handle this?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

2

<p>an international family will probably be more help but since my child has an international roommate, I know a little…</p>

<p>all the kids from a particular country seem to be on the same flight, and since they are all together there is a school shuttle that takes them to the airport and picks them up. They often return to school one day earlier than the other kids to adjust to the time change. Most of the kids went home with friends at Thanksgiving because it wasn’t long enough to go back to Korea.</p>

<p>So, I would recommend you call the school. Often there is someone on the faculty who coordinates all of this.</p>

3

<p>I second the recommendation that you call the school. Each school is a bit different, but they all have members of their staff whose job it is to help you with these kinds of issues. Start with the Dean of Students or Admissions–they’ll refer you to whomever you need to talk to at the school.</p>

4

<p>I agree - that’s a tough question since airline tickets fluctuate in price all the time and early isn’t always less expensive. Most airlines only give refunds if the price drops within 24-48 hours. Are there some airlines you know of that have policies? Or services such as Orbitz that do (just curious).</p>

<p>We’ve already told our daughter that in a pinch, she can bring students home with her that can’t get overseas for short breaks (like Thanksgiving). That happened a lot when I was in BS. And we love Southwest (here in the US) because if the price drops, you can rebook at no penalty and get the savings. Don’t know if there is an international airline with the same policy.</p>

<p>I’m betting the school or an Intl parent will have knowledge of the best way to get good pricing.</p>

5

<p>Yes, you need to talk to the school regarding travel dates, as often internationals come and go on different days than US students (often arrive earlier in the fall and leave a day afterwards in the spring) to accommodate international flights.</p>

6

<p>Air travel to BS for international and domestic students is a logistic issue that needs to be planned well in advance. </p>

<p>The issue that was surprising to us is, most schools don’t provide shuttle busses on the FIRST AND LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. We need to make our own arrangements on these two days. During breaks, typically BS provides shuttle buses for a small fee between $10 to $35 per trip or sometime free, between school and the nearby airports.</p>

<p>To plan ahead of time, we requested the school to forward us a list of 2014 class composition, which included states, cities of the kids who enrolled. From the list it is easy to see how many are from your home state and nearby places. Based on this we also requested school to forward us names and email of students from specific states, so we can plan and coordinated few kids to travel together. Also during revisit we took down name, emails and telephone number of all the potential students from our state. We already contacted other kids from our home state and we are making plans, so kids can travel together. </p>

<p>If you not within driving distance, and your kid is not used to traveling along, travel is a logistics nightmare for parents and kids. I have been training our kids to travel alone, as an unaccompanied minor for the past few years. Plus on certain routes as an adult, so our kid gains confidence in traveling alone. Some airlines do not allow unaccompanied minors to travel on domestic flights during evening or PM flights or last flight of the day. Some airlines only allow kids to travel as unaccompanied minors until they reach 14 or 16 years. Some airlines do not offer unaccompanied minors to travel on stop over flights. Typically cost betwen $65 - $125 one way unaccompanied minor fee.</p>

<p>For international students getting a ticket 6 month in advance is cheaper. Finding another student is the key. Goal is for your kid to make friends at an early stage, so parents can manage and coordinate few friends to travel together.</p>

<p>During short breaks like Thanksgiving or Easter, international students typically visit their friends who are based in US</p>

<p>Also found out taxi from airport to BS could be expensive. (typically $100 -$150, based on whicg school). Sometimes few kids pool and share this cost. </p>

<p>Typically international students are allowed to retune a day earlier or leave a day later. International flights to Asia are typically from Boston, JFK.</p>

7

<p>thank you so much</p>

8

<p>Lot’s of students visit other students and families for Thanksgiving or Easter and it’s very common for students to travel together as a group for “Spring Break”. After the first year or two many students do summer internships.</p>

9

<p>Don’t forget, the mileages from every 3-4 flights can get you a free ride. :)</p>