Choosing the Right Round the World Ticket for You

 

RTW tickets are an area where overcharging is common through travel agents. The sheer choice and complexity of some tickets can leave people baffled (agents can be in the dark as well).  Being more informed before you do your shopping will help you avoid paying to much.

Your ticket is big part of your expense and what you buy can greatly affect your options for travel both before and after you leave Australia.  For advice on starting to plan your trip destinations see Taking Off.

Many advertised cheap RTW fares  can almost seem too cheap to be true (and usually are).   Some things to consider with RTW tickets are:

• The most basic rule is that the more complex the ticket the more expensive it will be.  While seemingly obvious often people assume that a RTW ticket will get you virtually everywhere for very little. They can be great value, but not always cheap.
• The standard RTW route from Australia is home – Asia (stopping in Bangkok/Singapore), Europe (usually via London) – New York – Los Angeles and back home (or in reverse order).
• Adding extra stops or travel to Africa and or South America will make things considerably more expensive.
• All barring one 18 month RTW through STA, tickets are valid for 12 months from date of departure.

There are probably a hundred different fares to choose from.  The following are the most common and popular on sale in Australia.

Option 1

The cheapest advertised specials

Round the world from $1699 inc. tax! Come one come all! These tickets do exist, but you will most likely be leaving on a Tuesday in March, but only if Jupiter is lining up with the Sun.

These fares are usually the advertised fares through Student Flights or STA that seem to go to lots of places for very little.  These advertised specials often work to set people’s expectations of what an RTW ticket will cost to a very low level.  In reality many RTW tickets will be closer to double this type of price.

A lot of the time these fares can be put under the too good to be true category, as availability is limited and rules/routes change regularly.  These types of prices are usually advertised to get you on the phone or in the door of an agency.  The process of up selling then begins.

Some points to consider with these fares:

• These tickets will be advertised as RTW, and that’s essentially where they take you, but they are really just the cheapest one way fares available from one place to the next with airlines each agency has some sort of agreement with, or an agent has just put together themselves.
• Chances are you will have to make your own way via land between some of the stops.
• These fares can be great if you are certain as to your dates of travel and are happy with the route.  They can represent great value for money.
• On the flipside, as these are essentially one way fares laced together, if you want to change dates you might be in trouble.
• Each flight on your journey may be subject to complex rules and high date change fees.  This will make your trip fairly set in stone dates wise unless you are willing to pay through the nose for the changes or even new flights.

An example of this type of ticket might be this recent fare from Student flights:

Round the world airfare including all pre-paid taxes stopping in Bangkok, Dubrovnik, Split and Los Angeles

~Please note customers must make their own way from Dubrovnik to Split~

So..

• Consider that with a year away the chances of you wanting to change your dates are high.  It can be worth paying extra to have more flexibility and confidence in the airlines you are flying should you want to change anything.
• For shorter trips these fares can be good value, and could take you to places you might not have considered

Just don’t be too disappointed if the advertised RTW fares for $1700 – $2000.00 including tax doesn’t actually exist when you go to book, and be sure to carefully check the conditions of the ticket if you are buying one of these fares.

Option 2

Qantas/BA round the world student/youth/adult fares

Qantas and BA have a few different types of RTW fares through the One World Alliance, a grouping of airlines affiliated with Qantas on which you can earn frequent flyer points and utilise when flying around the world.  The cheapest and probably most popular is this:

A ticket that will follow the basic route from Australia-Asia-Europe-New-York-LA-Australia or around the other way.

Tickets sold through STA travel have student/youth prices on this route that can be great value (under 26 or full time students of any age).  See more in student pricing for details of requirements. The adult fares may only be a little more expensive (worth checking for everybody).

There are sometimes cheaper fares on this type of route from time to time (see above), but this one will usually give you better flexibility for changing your dates if need be, and will give you a decent amount of points if you have Qantas frequent flyers. (yes, they have almost crashed once or twice now, but there are worse airlines around).

The price will be affected by the season you depart (usually if you are heading to Europe close to the northern summer).

For under $3000.00 including tax you should be able to get one of these tickets, usually with an extra flight in Europe thrown in.   Pretty good value for the distance covered.

Some points on this ticket:

• The main stops in Asia are Singapore or Bangkok.  You can, for a higher price, fly via Tokyo or Hong Kong.
• Then always via London.
• The next rule being that you must fly New York – Los Angeles with Qantas otherwise your ticket is void – so no skipping the flight and road tripping unless you fly back to meet the flight. This is perhaps the strictest condition on the ticket.
• You can also stop in Hawaii on the way over/home, but this will up the price by at least a few hundred dollars.
• On the most basic route STA have started to sell one of these tickets that’s valid for 18 months, the only RTW valid for over a year on sale in Australia.   A good option if you are planning on working in the UK/USA/Asia for a while.
• One other catch for some is that BA has recently banned surfboards on their flights.  I haven’t heard how strictly this has been enforced, but they seem serious on screwing over a big part of the traveller market.  It would be great to hear from anybody with experience of this ridiculous rule.

Option 3

Star Alliance and Oneworld RTW fares

These are the fares you will want to be using for the greatest flexibility and greatest amount of destination choice.  They are expensive but can represent the best value for the amount of flying you can do on the one ticket.

These fares are based either on the amount of miles you do or the amount of continents you visit.  There are various restrictions and all currently cost

aproximatley $3500 -$500o inc tax  (the amount of tax can vary greatly).

The Oneworld explorer fare at the top of the list below is the best value ticket if you plan to really get out and see as much as you can in a year, taking in South America, Africa, or both as part of a RTW journey.  It is the grand daddy of RTW tickets and highly recommended for the adventurous. While prices on this fare have risen 10% in the last year, it is still great value if you plan to get the most out of what the ticket offers.

The following fares are the most common and best for Aussies heading off on a serious RTW trip.

Oneworld Explorer

Alliance: Oneworld (www.oneworld.com)

Major Airlines used: Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Malev, Mexicana (a new inclusion), Royal Jordanian and Lan Chile (for full and helpfully long) list of affiliated airlines or ‘code shares’ you can use see the Oneworld website.

Approximate cost: $3400-$4900 inc tax.

Max distance or ‘miles’ allowed on ticket: Unlimited miles; the price depends on the number of continents you visit (Australia is counted as one and the minimum is four, max six continents visited). You will get a set number of internal flights per continent as well, which also means you can backtrack within each continent before moving on.  All good stuff.

Max stops: 16 ‘sectors’ allowed.  This does not mean 16 stops; if you travel overland from flight A to depart for flight B that counts as a sector.   You used to be able to have more than 16 sectors, but new ‘e’ tickets have meant 16 is the max sectors most systems will allow on any ticket (funny that the change has caused this restriction).  It gets a bit tricky but you will be seeing allot in just a year if you use all 16, so no real stress with this.

Great if you are heading to: This is the best all round fare for the adventurous: it will give you the greatest flexibility and choice of destinations for your RTW.

Not good for: There used to be a few gaps in providers for Central America but this seems to be fixed with the new inclusion of Mexicana Airlines. Sweet.

Cost of changes to the ticket: Should be free date change fees (don’t let a travel agent charge you for this!), $150 and up for new sectors/destinations.

Worth noting: Many travel agents won’t touch this fare as it can get complex and the commission is terrible for the amount of work involved. You can book direct online or just try a few agents till you find one keen to help.  Date changes should be free no matter where you book; this is a big plus over the course of a year (don’t let agents try and charge you for this).

The way the total tax on this fare is calculated can be manipulated to make the overall cost sometimes hundreds cheaper (this is rarely the case with alm

ost all other tickets).  Make sure you get a few different quotes! ask an agent about ‘plating taxes’ on this fare – if they give you a blank look move on to the next.

If that sounds tricky don’t stress; it’s pretty straight forward and the best RTW ticket.

Global Explorer

Alliance: Oneworld (www.oneworld.com)

Major airlines used: Same as above (see website for any updates/changes)

Aprox cost: $2800-$5300 inc tax, based on the amount of total miles you cover on the ticket

Max Stops: 15

Max Distance: 39,000 miles

Cost by distance: (aprox): up to 29,000 Miles:  $4500, up to 34,000 miles: $5500, 39,000:$5900!

Great if you are heading to: Everywhere but you have a three stop max in each continent on the two cheaper fares, a fairly big restriction.

Not so good for: Same as above.

Change fees: Should be the same as above

Round the world

Alliance: Star Alliance (www.staralliance.com)

Major Airlines used: Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines, BMI, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, South African Airways (also with a long list of code shares).

Approximate cost: $3300-$5000 inc tax, based on total miles covered

Max distance: 39,000 miles.

Cost by distance: (aprox): up to 29,000 miles: $3300, up to 34,000 miles:$3900, up to 39,000 miles: $4500-5000 (all inc tax).

Max Stops: 15 stops with different restrictions: 15 Central/South America, 5 in USA/Canada, 3 in Japan, 5 in Europe

Good for: It’s a great fare, and the introduction of South African Airways makes it the best fare if you plan to see more of Africa.

Not so good for: Great coverage though you are restricted in that you can’t back track like on the Oneworld continent based fare.  It’s also not so great for South America.

Change fees: Another downer: $135 for date changes and more for others.  Expensive!

There are a few other fares through the Sky Team alliance and World Journey.  These fares are o.k but the fares listed here are the best overall choices.

So which round the world ticket should I choose?

For fairly simple RTW routes check for specials from option 1, and the current price of the Qantas/BA fares from option 2 and see what fits for you.

For a serious year of flying check out options from 3; they are the best bet, with the One World fare still the best value.  Australians still pay among the lowest prices worldwide for these fares (they can be astronomical in the States for example).

Also see what will my RTW cost? or saving for travel