Round the World Tickets

[Nick Mahon]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me about any round the world tickets that major airlines provide such as BA or Virgin etc?

Any help would be excellent

Nick

[christep]

I know the OneWorld (BA, AA, CX, QF, etc.) ones pretty well. The exact rules and the pricing vary a little depending on which country you start in, and I suggest you talk to a good travel agent because they are a bit complicated. (What follows is from my experience on business class tickets, but I assume economy is basically the same.)

Essentially there are three-, four-, five- and (I guess six-) continent tickets. (Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Australasia). The price is set only by the number of countries your itinerary touches. (Other types of RTW ticket can be on mileage limits or sectors)

Broadly speaking you have to keep going in one-direction round the world and back to where you started. A certain amount of backtracking is allowed within continents. Rerouting is allowed at any time for a fee (75USD I believe) - this is not trivial for the person doing the ticket; in my experience you should allow up to an hour at an airport ticket desk if you find yourself having to change it en route.. . . .There is a maximum total number of flight sectors (normally nine) and you can only stop over in each city once, although there are exceptions for what are deemed "gateway" cities in the continents other than the one you started from (including HKG for example if you start in Europe). Tickets are valid for one year from first departure. "Open jaws" (where you travel between two of the cities en route by some other) means are allowed.

The pricing is not as discounted as it once was - a couple of years ago a business class RTW ticket from Taipei was cheaper than even the discounted (D-class) round trip ticket HKG-LHR. This is no longer the case, but for certain itineraries they can still be very good value.

In Europe, the tickets are significantly (~25%) cheaper bought in the euro-zone than in London. More than once I have bought tickets starting in Brussels (or similarly Paris) and flown Southampton-Brussels-Heathrow with the the SOU-BRU on AirMiles in order to say about 500 quid (and once I saved over 1000 quid on a First Class ticket this way).

There are a few other quirks, but I hope that gives you some idea. On specific prices, in December a business class three-continents bought in Paris (with a routing CDG-LHR-SFO-LAX-HKG-DPS-HKG-NRT-HKG-CDG) was a little over 4500 Euros, which I reckon is a pretty good deal.

Hope that helps.

[ 07 February 2002: Message edited by: HKGpax ]</p>

[chrishowley]

The One World deal (generally the same as the above) is excellent value if bought from BA from the US as well - particularly if you do it in business or first class. And over here it gets full mileage benefits which should just about cover your next trip.

I'm told that Star Alliance and One World compete for in this market in the UK so its worth checking both out.

[Kuhtai]

Before you buy your ticket, checkout<a href="http://www.travelbag.co.uk" target="_blank">travelbag</a> They sell all of the tickets previously mention at very good prices, especially if you travel business or first. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[SLF@LBA]

I'd also recommend giving Trailfinders a call(any of their branches will help - we've used their MAN office many times). Not only can they offer standard airline/alliance r-t-w packages (usually at a good discount) but can also tailor make a r-t-w route to suit your exact requirements. They also currently have some great deals on J class r-t-w . . . we're off on such a trip in April.

[ 10 February 2002: Message edited by: SLF@LBA ]</p>

[str12]

Nick

I'm currently using a Onw World RTW ticket. It cost about 1050 Sterling and includes 6 stops and restricted to 29 000 miles.

Changing dates enroute is free but charged 50 Irish pounds to make a change in destination (I bought the ticket in Eire.

Haven't had a single problem so far but noticed that I am not earning any airmiles on my BA Executive Club account. Apparently RTW tickets don't qualify (I suspect Business or First Class would though).

Left UK in May 2001, in NZ now, don't want to come back!

Cheers,

str12

[Lawyerboy]

str12 - I used a One World RTW ticket in November last year, same as yours 6 stops/29,000 miles and economy all the way, and still managed to get all the flights to qualify for Iberia Plus points. Not sure why the BA Executive Club ought to be any different?

Mind you, some 29,000 miles around the world and the only problem I had was in Madrid on the way back to LHR on the only BA flight; a two hour short hop, and the ******s try to charge me for being 5k overweight, despite having no hand luggage and despite no other airline having been in the slightest bit bothered all the way around.

I know what you mean about NZ, though...

[Gaza]

Check out <a href="http://www.flyertalk.com/milesfr.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.flyertalk.com/milesfr.shtml</a>

Have a look at the oneworld and Star Alliance forums. There is lots of advice on RTW. There are also several very good, unoffical, RTW websites.

Star Alliance - <a href="http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm" target="_blank">http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm</a>

oneworld - <a href="http://www.fewmiles.net/oneworld" target="_blank">http://www.fewmiles.net/oneworld</a>

I've just bought a oneworld 4 Continent RTW ticket in First Class starting in Joburg for about £2800. It works out at about £128 per sector. Unfortunatley, oneworld got wise to all the non South African based people booking and bumped the price by about 90% on 1st February!

I've booked a BA Miles flight in WT+ to get me from EDI to JNB.

The full itinerary is:-

JNB-SYD - First. .SYD-PER - Biz (two class cabin). .PER-SYD - Biz (two class cabin). .SYD-HTI - Economy (single class route). .HTI-SYD - Economy (single class route). .SYD-LAX - First. .LAX-MIA - First. .MIA-SJU - Biz (two class cabin). .SJU-EIS - Economy (single class route). .EIS-SJU - Economy (single class route). .SJU-BGI - Economy (single class route). .BGI-LGW - First. .EDI-CDG - Business (single class route). .CDG-EDI - Business (single class route). .LHR-DXB - First. .DXD-LHR - First. .LHR-CPT - First. .CPT-DUR - Business (single class route). .DUR-CPT - Business (single class route). .PLZ-JNB - Business (single class route)

The great thing is that the ticket is valid for a year, so I get three good holidays and a weekend away for one price!! :) :) :)

[Gaza]

[quote]str12 - I used a One World RTW ticket in November last year, same as yours 6 stops/29,000 miles and economy all the way, and still managed to get all the flights to qualify for Iberia Plus points. Not sure why the BA Executive Club ought to be any different <hr></blockquote>

oneworld RTW tickets in Economy are booked in "M" class. BA do not normally give miles or points on "M" class. The only exception is on BA operated flights where you will get 25% of the normal miles, however, you still get zero tier points. First (booked in "A") and Business (booked in "D") tickets get full mileage and tier point credit.

[chrishowley]

This is the BA US information from their web site - clearly states that eligible flights will qualify for mileage and tier points. However this is still confusing as it does not actually state that the flights will be eligible! And of course the information is only relvant to members of the US exec club and not the UK. BA don't seem to have a similar information page for RTW for UK travellers which appears remiss.

<a href="http://www.britishairways.com/regional/usa/rtw/" target="_blank">http://www.britishairways.com/regional/usa/rtw/ </a>

[ 13 February 2002: Message edited by: ExiledTyke ]</p>

[christep]

In my experience, the BA Exec Club in the UK is one of the least generous FF clubs around. The euro equivalent (e.g. being a BA Exec Club member based in Belgium) is more generous, with upgrades available for miles, more subclasses qualifying for miles, etc. If you have any way of using a European mainland address then I recommend you do so (not sure what the Irish version is like). The AsiaMiles scheme which is where your points end up if you live there is more generous, but then you might as well be in the Cathay MarcoPolo club if you live in Asia. The only relatively good thing about the BA UK Club is that it is quicker to get to Emerald status (e.g. 4 round trips in business LHR-HKG compared to 8 (!) for MarcoPolo Diamond).

[sanjosebaz]

Agreed - the most annoying thing about BA exec club is that you have to pay full fare to qualify for points (which is how you promote to Sliver/Gold...), though you do get reduced airmiles allocated when you fly at lower fares.. .. .So BA Executive Club is not actually a Frequent Flyer scheme at all - it's a frequent "pay us the maximum fare" scheme in reality.