Round the World tickets?

[Nick Mahon]

I am intending on doing a gap year starting this summer and was wondering if any airlines do a round the world ticket to set destinations, any info would be of great use

cheers NM

[ExSimGuy]

Mnay airlines do "RTW"s, usualy in conjunction with partner airlines (as most don't fly all the way round themselves!)

The fare is often cheaper than flying halfway round and coming back. Think about where you would like to visit on your way, and chat with a good travel agent - they should be able to come up with something to suit. I would guess you are talking about something in the region of 1,500 quid, but my info is quite old.

Have fun :)

[GalleyWench]

United does the round the world; sfo-iad-lhr-del-hkg, all on 747 -400 eqiup. They just reintroduced this flight so there may well be promotional fares

[man in black]

Many airlines have special "round the world" fares which require a set departure date, a set itinerary (locations, but NOT dates, other than the departure date) and are limited to two airlines (and the last time I used one - airlines within a codesharing arrangement, although I was told this was probably expandable to all member of a particular alliance). These tickets are available in any class of service (i.e., Y, C, F). The cost savings are impressive. The last time (Spring '00) from HK, the round the world in business class came to about US$4,000 (equivalent) whilst the simple round trip HK-Ldn-HK in business was about US$4,800 (equivalent). Check with your agent.

[Icarus]

http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=9&category=6

[The Guvnor]

When I lived in South Africa, I used to go BA/SQ on their RTW fare. An average trip would be:

Cape Town - London - Edinburgh - London - Frankfurt - London - New York - Singapore - Surabaya - Singapore - Bangkok - Singapore - Mauritius - Cape Town.

All of that was in First Class, with the exception of London - New York which was on Concorde. Total cost: around US$4,500 or so (say £3,000) - which just happens to be about the same as a one way Concorde ticket between London and New York!!

How airlines can justify these things, I have no idea.

However, I would strongly advise you to check out fares departing from points other than the UK (try Amsterdam or Rome, for example) as you can often save several (or lots of) hundred pounds.

You'll usually have to book at least 14 - 28 days in advance, and whilst you can't change the first sector booking, you can leave the rest of the ticket open.

Don't forget to make sure you collect the Frequent Flyer miles as well as the executive tier points ... in the case of the OneWorld RTW tickets (BA, AA and QF) a carefully thought out multi-sector RTW ticket in F will get you a Gold card from scratch!

[World Traveller]

Hi,

For 'cheapish' RTW tickets, go see yopur local STA Travel or Usit Campus. These are dedicated 'student' travel agencies, and normally have deals with airlines for cheaper tickets (i.e. Northwests's great U26/U27 fares or APEX prices for midweek returns). They have some pre-set rtw itineraries for about £800 upwards, though I think you could put virtually anything together. Yeah, stick with one alliance and get the FFP miles too!

Most university towns/cities have a Usit or STA, though they may be located in students union buildings. They also have phone lines, but for a lengthy trip talking face to face is probably best....

Hope that helps, WT (Plus)

PS yes I registered just to post that:-)