ScholarTrip
ScholarTrip is a Plano, Texas-based online travel agency offering discounted flight bookings for college students, youth travelers aged 16-25, and college faculty via a proprietary verification system and exclusive negotiated fares across 500+ airlines.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersPlano, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What ScholarTrip does
ScholarTrip is a Plano, Texas-based online travel agency that targets college students, youth travelers (ages 16-25), and college faculty with discounted flight booking. Founded in 2020 and operating with 11-50 employees, the company runs a self-serve website platform that aggregates more than 500 airlines and surfaces exclusive negotiated student fares claimed to deliver up to 30% savings versus standard published fares. Its core differentiator is a proprietary eligibility verification system that validates student, youth, and faculty status without requiring ISIC, IYTC, or ITIC cards, removing a $25 friction point common to competitor offerings.
The technology stack combines the three major Global Distribution Systems (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) plus Iatan and Asta Flat certifications for real-time inventory and pricing, with social single sign-on via Google and Facebook and PayPal-based payment processing. Around the core flight product, ScholarTrip has assembled ancillary modules including an Airfare Deposit installment-payment program (deposits as low as $300), Group Travel, Tours & Activities through a Tourradar partnership (250+ tours), Travel Insurance via Travel Guard, and Student Beans discounts. The company maintains destination-marketing partnerships with Tourism Ireland and the Korea Tourism Organization and is an active member of USTOA with its $1 Million Travelers Assistance Program.
ScholarTrip's revenue model is purely transactional: it earns commissions or take rates from airline partners on each booking facilitated through the platform, with no membership or subscription fees charged to users. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the website and 24/7 phone support, supported by email newsletters, social media, SEO-optimized destination pages, content marketing, and promotional code campaigns. The customer base spans at least 19 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and South America, with the primary segment being full-time college students aged 16 and above. No venture funding, parent company, or institutional investor is disclosed in available material.
ScholarTrip firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ScholarTrip
- Legal name
- ScholarTrip
- Website
- https://scholartrip.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ScholarTrip is a Plano, Texas-based online travel agency offering discounted flight bookings for college students, youth travelers aged 16-25, and college faculty via a proprietary verification system and exclusive negotiated fares across 500+ airlines.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ScholarTrip industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Student Travel Booking
- NAICS
- Travel Agencies (561510), Travel Agencies (56151), Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services (5615)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Group Flight Booking & Airfare Management (EDAIANAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Educational/Student Retail Travel Agencies (THAKABAK), Student & Youth Educational Tours (THAKAGAA), Travel Ancillary & Add-on Booking Platforms (Insurance/Baggage/Seat/Upgrades) (BPAMAIAN)
Keywords
Where ScholarTrip is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Plano
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
ScholarTrip business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Flight Booking Transactions: The company earns revenue by facilitating flight bookings between customers and airline partners. Users search for and purchase flights through the ScholarTrip platform, with the company receiving commissions or transaction fees from airline partners. The service does not charge membership or subscription fees to users.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Economy Class Student Fares |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Premium Cabin Upgrades |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Promotional Discounts |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Airfare Deposit Program |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
ScholarTrip product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ScholarTrip operates an online travel booking platform that aggregates flights from 500+ airlines and offers exclusive discounted fares for verified students, youth travelers aged 16-25, and college faculty. The service includes round-trip, one-way, and multi-city search and booking across economy, premium economy, business, and first class cabins, supplemented by 24/7 phone and chat support, an airfare deposit installment program, group travel bookings, and partner-powered travel insurance and tours.
Product overview
ScholarTrip is a student-focused online travel agency offering a unified flight booking platform with specialized modules. The core product is the Student Flight Booking Platform enabling search and booking across 500+ airlines with exclusive student fares. Supporting modules include Airfare Deposit (installment payments), Group Travel (educational trips), Tours & Activities (via Tourradar), Travel Insurance (via Travel Guard), and Student Beans discounts. The platform includes a proprietary Student Verification System that eliminates the need for traditional student ID cards, integrated GDS connections (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) for real-time inventory, and SSO authentication via Facebook and Google.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Student Flight Booking Platform Primary online flight search and booking service that lets verified students, youth, and faculty travelers access discounted airfares on 500+ airlines, with round-trip, one-way, and multi-city itineraries across economy, premium economy, business, and first class cabins.
- Airfare Deposit Program Installment payment program that lets budget-constrained students lock in international fares with deposits as low as $300 and pay the balance closer to departure.
- Group Travel Booking Booking service designed for educational trips and group itineraries, supporting multiple passengers on the same reservation with coordinated travel planning.
Quantifiable outcome
- Savings up to 30% off compared to full unrestricted published fares
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use ScholarTrip
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
ScholarTrip technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
Feature2 records
ScholarTrip partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and supporting.
- Airline Partners (50+)corePartnered with more than 50 airlines including Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Southern, Copa Airlines, Emirates, EVA Air, Fiji Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Icelandair, Japan Airlines, LATAM, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, United, Virgin Atlantic, and WestJet. These partners provide exclusive student fares in exchange for eligibility verification by ScholarTrip.
- Travel GuardminorPartnership with Travel Guard for travel insurance offerings. Plans available at checkout cover trip cancellation, interruption, delay, missed connection, baggage loss/delay, and medical emergency. Company refers customers to Travel Guard for insurance purchases.
- AmadeuscoreGDS integration for flight search and booking capabilities. Amadeus is one of the major global distribution systems enabling real-time flight availability and pricing.
- SabrecoreGDS integration for flight search and booking. Sabre provides real-time airline inventory and pricing data.
- TravelportcoreGDS integration for flight search and booking through Travelport's platform.
- IatansupportingTravel industry association and GDS-related partner for industry standards and certification.
- Asta FlatsupportingTravel industry association partner for industry standards and certification.
- Visit Korea (Korea Tourism Organization)supportingIn partnership with the Korea Tourism Organization for destination content. Visit Korea logo appears on South Korea destination pages, providing travel inspiration and destination information to ScholarTrip users.
- Tourism IrelandsupportingPartnership with Tourism Ireland for destination content and travel guides. Tourism Ireland provides information on Ireland's attractions, experiences, culture, and travel tips for students visiting Ireland.
- TourRadarsupportingTours partner offering over 250 tours for young adults with 58,000+ reviews. TourRadar is accessible through ScholarTrip's platform for complementary tour and activity bookings.
- Student BeansminorStudent discount verification partner. Student Beans provides student discount verification services that ScholarTrip users can utilize for additional savings.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ScholarTrip competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Kayak: Kayak is a meta-search travel platform aggregating flights, hotels, and cars across hundreds of suppliers. Competes with ScholarTrip at the search/compare step and has a price forecasting tool — overlapping with price-sensitive student travel discovery.
- Skyscanner: Skyscanner is a meta-search engine aggregating flights from airlines and OTAs globally. It competes for student fare comparison shopping and lacks a verification-gated exclusive-fare proposition, making it complementary rather than direct on fares but competitive on top-of-funnel discovery.
- Expedia: Expedia is a broad incumbent OTA offering flights, hotels, packages, and cars. While not student-specialized, it competes for the same discretionary travel dollar and aggregates hundreds of airlines — ScholarTrip's differentiated value is its exclusive student fares vs Expedia's published fares.
- Booking.com: Booking.com is a global OTA with broad flight and accommodation inventory. It competes with ScholarTrip at the meta level for student travel bookings and offers its own Genius youth discounts, an adjacent value proposition to ScholarTrip's verified student fares.
Direct peers
- StudentUniverse: StudentUniverse is a direct competitor — a travel booking platform specializing in discounted student flights, hotels, and tours globally. Like ScholarTrip, it negotiates student-exclusive fares with major airlines and targets college/university students with a verification flow.
- STA Travel (now Wander beyond): STA Travel is a pioneer in student and youth travel, offering discounted flights and tours for students, with ISIC integration and youth-focused itineraries. Directly comparable on customer segment, fare negotiating approach, and youth/discount proposition.
Emerging players
- Kiwi.com: Kiwi.com is an OTA specializing in budget and virtual interlining fares. It targets price-sensitive travelers (overlapping ScholarTrip's youth/student demographic) with aggressive low-fare positioning across Europe and globally.
- Hopper: Hopper is a mobile-first travel booking app focused on flights, hotels, and cars, with price prediction features and 'price freeze' deposit-style products similar to ScholarTrip's Airfare Deposit. Competes for digitally native younger travelers and price-conscious bookers.
Others
- ISIC (International Student Identity Card): ISIC issues the global student ID card used to access student discounts worldwide. ScholarTrip's verification system explicitly displaces ISIC card purchase. ISIC is the legacy infrastructure ScholarTrip is bypassing — relevant as an enabling/competing verification provider rather than a direct flight seller.
- Student Beans: Student Beans is a student discount and verification network — ScholarTrip already partners with it. Adjacent to ScholarTrip in the student-verification ecosystem, enabling cross-promotion but not directly competing on flight inventory.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ScholarTrip social profiles
Digital presenceScholarTrip financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ScholarTrip leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
ScholarTrip funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ScholarTrip M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ScholarTrip
What does ScholarTrip do?
ScholarTrip operates an online travel booking platform that aggregates flights from 500+ airlines and offers exclusive discounted fares for verified students, youth travelers aged 16-25, and college faculty. The service includes round-trip, one-way, and multi-city search and booking across economy, premium economy, business, and first class cabins, supplemented by 24/7 phone and chat support, an airfare deposit installment program, group travel bookings, and partner-powered travel insurance and tours.
Is ScholarTrip a public or private company?
ScholarTrip is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ScholarTrip founded?
ScholarTrip was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ScholarTrip based?
ScholarTrip is headquartered in Plano, United States, in the North America region.
How does ScholarTrip make money?
One revenue line is on record: flight Booking Transactions.
Who are ScholarTrip's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Kayak, Skyscanner, Expedia and Booking.com. Direct peers are StudentUniverse and STA Travel (now Wander beyond). Emerging players are Kiwi.com and Hopper. Others are ISIC (International Student Identity Card) and Student Beans.
Does ScholarTrip have an API?
No public API is recorded for ScholarTrip.
What industry is ScholarTrip in?
ScholarTrip's product category is Student Travel Booking. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAIANAB, Group Flight Booking & Airfare Management, with a secondary code of THAKABAK, Educational/Student Retail Travel Agencies. Its NAICS code is 561510 and its SIC code is 8200.