Laura Chau ‘11 woke up early yesterday morning with a mission: to find free plane tickets. Hidden somewhere around campus in a golden envelope, the tickets were just one of many prizes in an American Airlines promotion taking place on college campuses nationwide.

Chau returned to her dorm with eight golden envelopes but no jubilant smile.

“I wanted to visit a friend in North Carolina,” she said, “but each of the envelopes only had $10 coupons.”

To promote its new Deal Finder software, American Airlines enlisted campus representative Peter Finlayson ‘07 to hide 250 golden envelopes — each containing either round-trip tickets or discount codes worth $50, $20 or $10 — around campus.

The Deal Finder Treasure Hunt is only one of a number of promotions that American Airlines will be running at Stanford this year.

“[American Airlines] have identified college students as trend setters,” Finlayson said. “We will become the next generation of professionals.”

At last Saturday’s football game against Notre Dame, American Airlines sponsored a field goal contest, and when Brad Pereira ‘08 made the short kick he won two round trip tickets to the domestic destination of his choice. The airline also plans to include a promotion at an upcoming basketball game.

American’s promotions have given it an enhanced campus presence, but events like the Treasure Hunt may not be enough to drive students away from popular low cost carriers, like Southwest or JetBlue.

“All of these American promotions are great, but I will be sticking with JetBlue for one reason: it’s cheaper,” said Yashraj Narang ‘11.

As for Chau and her disappointment, Finlayson had some advice.

“$10 is $10; it’s always nice,” he said. “Stay alert — there will be a lot more chances to win later.”