The Travellers Lounge is not going to attempt to explain all the complex rulings of round the world tickets but if you take these following points into consideration your trip will be a lot more cost effective. We will give you invaluable insider advice on route planning so you can go armed and ready to book the best trip available to you!
There are a number of different airline alliances supplying round the world tickets. The main tickets are:
-
The World Discovery ticket
British Airways / Qantas / Cathay Pacific / Air Pacific
Good for trips to Oz/NZ with one or two stops en-route or internal flights in Oz.
Now bookable online with BA!
-
The Global Explorer
BA / Qantas / Air Pacific / Cathay Pacific / American Airlines / Iberia / Gulf Air / Lan Chile + more
Good for RTW trips which include South America and those that link Africa and Asia.
-
The OneWorld
BA / Qantas / Cathay Pacific / American Airlines / Lan Chile / Lan Peru / Iberia / Finnair + more
Good for RTW trips with lots of stops and those that do not take the 'conventional route' as this ticket is not based on mileage - but zones. Great for South America.
-
The Escapade
Singapore Airlines / Air New Zealand / Virgin / Silk Air
Good for round the world tickets with lots of stops in SE Asia, Australia or the Pacific.
- The Star Alliance
Singapore Airlines / Air New Zealand / United Airlines / Thai Airways / Lufthansa / Air Canada / Varig / All Nippon / Mexicana / Austrian Airlines / Scandinavian Airlines + more
Good for most RTW routes and for those not going through Australia. Can fit almost any round the world route in this ticket.
- The World Navigator
KLM / Emirates / Air New Zealand / South Africa Airways / NorthWest / Air UK / Kenyan Airlines + more
Good for RTW trips that link Africa and the Indian Sub Continent and those that have lots of stops in the Pacific.
- The World Journey
Continental / Northwest / KLM / Air Pacific / Alaskan Airlines / COPA / Emirates / Malaysian / South African / Jet Airways (India) / Braathens
Good value ticket for 'Northern Hemisphere' RTW's (ie not Australia). Excellent links between Africa and Asia and a fantastic link for a round the world ticket: Africa and South America! Very good for Central America and the India Sub Continent - 2 areas usually overlooked on other alliances.
-
Your own custom multi-stop ticket
Any combination of airlines - you choose!
Did you know you can book complex multi-destination tickets (including open-jaws and round the world tickets) online nowadays?
Build a multi-stop trip with Expedia
Build a RTW at Lastminute.com
Example could be London - Bangkok overland to Singapore - Cairns overland to Sydney - LA - London. Very easy, quick and cheap!
Neither one of the above
tickets is "better" than the others as they offer completely
different routing opportunities.
After speaking to your travel agent you will find that your trip will
fall naturally into one of the above alliances. If you are dealing with
a specialist travel
agent
they will hopefully offer
you a couple of alternative routings with slight changes to show you how
to get the fare down - if not you should definitely ask them.
When deciding which travel agent book with, if you find that the fares
they are quoting are similar, we would advise you to book with the one
who is the most switched on and efficient. Round the world tickets can
be very complicated and require lots of behind the scenes maintenance
from your agent during the course of your booking. This is your once in
a lifetime trip - you want someone who is going to keep their eye on the
ball!
back to top | HOME | next
