Who can travel

Approved travellers

Approved travellers may be any of the following:

• a student approved for a higher rate of ABSTUDY when living away from home
• a student’s parent or other family member
• a member of the student’s community
• a supervisor travelling with a student
• a boarding school or hostel staff member.

Learn more about the type of travel requests you can make for these approved travellers.

Supervisors

We recommend all students under 18 travel with a supervisor. A supervisor is a responsible adult aged over 18 who can be:

• a parent or guardian
• a person from the student’s community
• a staff member from the school or hostel.

Students must travel with a supervisor if any of the following applies:

• they’re younger than 12
• they’re younger than 18 and are travelling over the weekend
• the travel provider says they need to
• their Safe Travel Plan doesn’t include a plan B to deal with disrupted travel
• they’ve missed 2 or more pre-booked trips during the year without a valid reason
• they haven’t met their travel responsibilities on previous trips.

We also encourage ABSTUDY students who are 12 to 17 to travel with a supervisor if:

• they’re travelling to a school for the first time
• the trip involves more than one mode of travel, for example a charter flight and a commercial flight
• there are long wait times between travel connections
• they will need to stay overnight on the way
• they need support for emotional or psychological challenges.

Students may also only need a supervisor to meet them at connection points and help continue on to the next leg of travel.