Around the world plane ticket.

Can someone please explain to me how these work? How many stops do you get? Do you have to go \'around the world\'? I have researched the net and found prices as low as $1,500. Wifey wants to go to Ireland and Europe with a couple of stops in between. Is this the most economical method.

Many thanks
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Hi Fransor, Im going on a RTW ticket at the end of this year and i have done a fair bit of research, the are three main tickets and this is basically down to airline alliances. The is the One World ticket and this is made up of British airways, Quantas, Lan Chille,United Airlines and a few others that i can not recall at the moment and the one world ticket is priced by high and low season and by continents.

Basically the One world ticket gives you upto 20 flights and has 4 internal flights per continent except for North America were you get 6 flights. the more continents the higher the price.Were ever you start you have to include that as a continent and so were ever you go you are using a continent straightaway.

The next ticket is the Star Alliance and the alliance is made up of Air Canada, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Asiana, Austrian Airlines, British Midland, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, SAS Scandanavian, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SpanAir, Swiss International, TAP Air Portugal, Thai AIR,i think the are more airlines and the ticket is mileage based and the are options and the basic ticket is 29,000 miles and you can change this upto to 39,000 but the cost goes up.


The is the escapades ticket and is made up by the following airlines Virgin Atlantic Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Silkair, this ticket is better if your going via Australasia and the is a basic 29,000 ticket which is the same price all year round.


The key to an RTW is you can not back track, you can change times for a small fee, if you reroute it can get really expensive and as brigette says your limited to 12 months.

The price is basically set by the alliance and then of course taxes on top, so its a case of shopping around to see which agency is willing to give the best deal, as the tickets and taxes are the same everywhere and it is down to how much profit the agency is trying to make.

Another consideration is helpful are the agency.............one agency may quote slightly less but may not have the technical staff that can advise you on what visas you need and what routing is best.Afterall some agencys have been there for years cause they know what they are doing.

Routing can also effect the price, for example an RTW ticket out of london or sydney is cheaper than from going from the states or canada, dont know why, but it means if youre in the states you pay more...........which sucks.


thats a brief overview really, but if i can help anymore Fran, just give me a holla and good luck😊

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Wise words TTC.............i was going to mention the Skyteam........but then thought better of it because of the small scope and the laughable experience i have had with KLM and Aeroflot ( Aeroflop as i lkie to call it)........but i suppose he needs to know all the options😊 Reply to this

Well TTC....its all down to personal choice mate, but for starters KLM lost my luggage for 4 days and i was only Russia for ten days....which really didnt help and then i had to pay to get my luggage back?..........as apparently KLM's lovely Russian luggage agents were securely storing my luggage. as compensation they offered we a 12 euro voucher off another one of their flights...but it had to be used on a flight over 100 euros..........so basically they were offering me £6 off a £90 flight and wasn't wanting to spend money with them again.

The aeroflot flights were an experience......even the newer planes are not that new and a local told me that if they aren't really noise when flying....then thats when you worry..........the carpet wasn't laid down on the aeroflot flights and the in flight meal was a dry croissant with what possibly could have been chicken inside (although it could have been anything) and the croissant looked hand bought and made on route as it was wrapped in cling film.

The were other delightful elements..........but im saving that story for when i have kids.........lol, it was an experience and maybe you will have a better time, however from friends and my housemates who have used the skyteam.......its a resounding thumbs down..........but as i said its personal choice.

Take care mate and feel free to ask me any questions:0)

Mike Reply to this

Hi,

I'm not sure about other countries but in Australia Luftansa and Finn Air have some cheaper fares (albeit much more restrictive than the One World/Star Alliance round the world fares). You can travel from Australia via the USA onto europe then back to australia via asia. These fares tend to allow less stopovers (only one in us, one in asia and generally 2-3 in europe), but can be great value in conjunction with cheap internet fares like ryan air, easy jet etc... If you want to have a larger number of stops in each continent my personal choice is the One World 4 Continent fare were you can have up to 4 stops in each region, eg 4 in Europe(including middle east), 4 in asia, 4 in south west pacific and up to 6 in North America(well USA and Canada). There is a lot of options but essentially it comes down to were you want to go and finding the best fare to suit.

Cheers
Evan Reply to this

Hi guys,

I just wanted to give an ex-travel agent's point of view on this topic. As it's been said, there are 2 main groups of airlines that you can use for travelling around the world (and i'm also of the opinion that Skyteam isn't worth mentioning). It's also true that you must travel in one direction, although in some circumstances you can backtrack within continents. It's also true that tickets are only valid for 1 year, and there's no such thing as a ticket that lasts longer, or can be extended.

The OneWorld Alliance has 2 types of RTW tickets; one is based on the total mileage travelled (26,000, 29,000, 34,000, 39,000), and the other is based on the number of continents visited and which ones. Whereas Star Alliance only have mileage based tickets. The pros of a continent based ticket over a mileage one is that you are given a certain number of side trips (or sectors) within each continent, so you're not wasting miles or having to buy separate domestic tickets to fly around within a country or continent, and you can get more flights for your money. However only certain airlines fly to certain destinations, so if the airline you need to use to get somewhere isn't a member of the OneWorld Alliance you will have to buy a separate ticket to get there, and it will end up costing you just as much as if you were to buy the Star Alliance ticket which includes more miles.

Therefore my advice is: Make a list of all the destinations that you want to travel to and give it to your travel agent. They will then put the destinations into an order which has you travelling in one direction (and you might have to be a bit flexible with your plans here), and then they'll work out which airlines travel between your chosen destinations, and finally they'll calculate the total miles that you'll travel, which will leave your best option. And by the way, if you fly into London and out of Athens and make your own way around in between, the distance between the 2 cities is calculated into your total mileage even though you're not actually flying between the them. It sucks, but unfortunately it's the rules.

Basically - let them have the headache, that's what you're paying them for!

Let me know if I can help with ay other queries... Reply to this

Hi all,

I am in Australia, was planning on traveling to the UK around end of October 2007 through November 2007. I have been told by a work colleague that it may be cheaper to purchase RTW tickets for myself and my soon to be wife. I dont have any experience regarding this so treat me as a novice OK.

Australia to UK is about 2000 to 2200 + taxes per person, standard stop overs ( depending on service ) Bankok, singapore and Dubia ( hope I spelt it right, 7am here ). My fiancee doesnt really like any of those stop overs. My work colleague advised that a RTW ticket may be the answer, he was talking in reference to the one with the basic set at 29000KM or miles something like that, for around the 2800 to 3000 Australian per ticket min 3 stops max 15 stops.

Can anyone suggest possible options, cheapest prefered but dont want lost luggage, plane falling out of sky or lengthy filghts ( I smoke ) it kills me if I cant have a smoke after a bout 10 hrs.

Last flight I took was Sydney to New York through LA. I had worked the day before, stayed up all night getting ready, never slept on plane or smoked, landed at LA ( 1 hr stopover ), re registered luggage, 1 smoke, 1/2 cup of coffee, back on plane to New York, landed, went to hotel, slept all night missed walking around alot of New York, jumped on plane the next day, flew to florida, 6 days, flew to NV 2 days, then San Diego for 2 days LA 2 days and back home. I was more tired after the trip than I was before I left to start it hehehehehe. 13 days total, went to all theme parks and attactions I could muster the strength to get to, every day was another attraction atleast 1.

This time I figure approx 3 weeks to 3 1/2 weeks ( rather than 2 ) maybe a little more, so I can actually relax.

What we plan to do in our trip

London, ireland, wales, maybe scotland, ( Lee wants to check out Gretna Green ), blimey stone etc etc etc. Did think about the train ride from england to france, once in a life time experience I guess. But thats about it.

Please offer any suggestions, stop overs, itineries, times to spend in different places etc....

Again, I am really a novice at all this.

thanx in advance

Russell and Shiralee
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Hi all, I'm about to go travelling in December and will start with Australia. The only problem is that my itinery is a "zigzag route" cause I am trying to accomodate to be able to meet some friends at different places...Basically my trip would go to Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, India, Nepal and to finish south america. I know it doesn't make sense but do you think I could find a travel agency who would be able to find a RTW fare with this? for those who have travelled the world already, is it complete suicide to follow that itinery?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Jerem. Reply to this

hey jerem, you could also try the guys that we did ours with - see the post above - aussie escape. check them out. sounds hard to me though! lol Reply to this

Hi all,

Me again with my questions...guess I'm gonna have plenty before I finally go...

I have a big dilema: I have planned to visit Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia from mid april until mid June. Would that be ok with the rain at that time of the year? the thing is my other option would be to visit these countries between february and April but then I would be going to the south of India from the end of May which seems to be a bad idea with the south west mansoon there at that time of the year.

Thanks in advance for your help ;0)

Jerem. Reply to this