I was looking for cheap plane tickets from New York to London. I'd been searching on their website and found a $720 ticket. Noting that the cheapest ticket from an Orbitz search was anywhere from $844 - $872 so this was a good find. However, I thought I would actually go into an STA travel office and talk to an agent since all I wanted was a cheap ticket, my dates and airports were flexible etc.
Well, while on a trip to Boston (they have only 1 office in all of New York state) I stopped in an STA office. I told the travel agent my requirements and waited. She was, of course, very nice, no complaints there. Once she was done on her computer she said the cheapest ticket she could find was $815!!! I told her I'd found significantly cheaper tickets on their website. She told me they don't "have much to do with their website" and that I could go ahead and purchase that cheaper ticket online.
So, I went home and bought the $720 ticket. The actual purchase went through fine. Although I received no confirmation number or e-ticket for my flights in the reservation email. It wasn't clear if I was going to be mailed my tickets or what.
I called them a couple days later. The agent on the phone (who was again, very nice) first told me he didn't know if my tickets would be mailed to me. He finds my information and gives me the e-ticket number and everything. Then he tells me I need an International Student Card (note - while I was buying the tickets it said nothing about this ID card so if I had not called I might have been screwed.) Now, my flight was in less than a week so he told me I could either go into an office to get one or I could get it 2nd day DHL shipping which is another $15. I decided I would play it safe and spend another $37 on this card and shipping.
I bought the card on a Tuesday, and still hadn't received it on SATURDAY so I called again. This time, the woman tells me that "for some reason" the ID card wasn't "endowed by their mailing department" - whatever that means. And because it was a Saturday she couldn't do anything except request that it be overnighted on Monday night to get there Tuesday (a week from when I first ordered it and a day before my flight). I double-checked to make sure I wouldn't be charged for this expense, I had already been charged for the card, and she confirmed it would be no additional charge. So now I am waiting for my student ID card to arrive - hopefully it does by Wednesday when I leave. I plan to call STA several more times and write to them about this.
So basically I didn't have a good experience with STA at all but I did give them an extra star because with the ID card expense I still got a ticket to London that was cheaper than the cheapest ticket elsewhere. If you want a cheap ticket be ready for some inconveniences and lots of phone calls.
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Advantages: face to face staff are extremely helpful. i couldnt ask for better. Disadvantages: telesales staff are rude and very unhelpful. also you cant report them as they cant be traced.
bluntandbrief 05.01.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of STA Travel
Advantages: All the benefits of STA (good prices, well-travelled and helpful staff etc) combined with no queues, you can take your time Disadvantages: You might not get an expert in the region you're travelling to; some innacuracies in their information system?
nikeair 24.01.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of STA Travel
Jun 8th, 2008
very helpful by (76%):
helpful by (24%):
