How to Book Round the World Tickets

Did you just graduate or retire or maybe you lost your job and dread the demoralizing task of searching for a new employer in a sour economy? Whatever the reason, time is on your side and you've decided to dust off the passport and do some serious travelling. Let’s take a closer look at booking round the world tickets and discover how to get a real deal!

DEFINITION

For the sake of this article we will keep things simple and define a round the world (RTW) ticket as a multi-stop international itinerary - bonus points if you actually DO travel around the world. While certain RTW tickets do mandate the direction of travel and require that you have one trans-Pacific and one trans-Atlantic flight, the best RTW ticket for you may simply be piecing together a number of point to point segment fares to create a multi-stop itinerary.

IS IT EXPENSIVE TO FLY ROUND THE WORLD?

While the answer to this question in largely subjective let me first state that if booked correctly, a round the world trip will be a great value relative to the distance traveled. A well planned simple RTW ticket can be equivalent to a high season round trip to Europe. Often RTW tickets can take advantage of free stopovers, or unlimited travel with-in a certain time period allowing you to get more bang for your buck. As an added bonus with all the flights you will be taking, you may earn enough frequent flier miles for a free flight by the time you return home. Also, let’s assume that your RTW trip will include a number of destinations that offer a cost of living far less than that in the US meaning daily expenses while travelling could be cut significantly while on the road. It may be cheaper to travel than to stay home!

ROUND THE WORLD TICKET TYPES:

There are two types of RTW fares available: 1. Airline alliance fares and 2. Individual segment fares. Both types of fares have their own advantages and disadvantages and the ticket you choose will largely be determined by the number of flights you wish to take, not necessarily the number of places you wish to visit. For example, a certain traveler may be willing to travel overland from Vietnam to Thailand therefore omitting the need for a flight to Cambodia and Laos. Instead the RTW ticket would enter into Ho Chi Minh City and exit from Bangkok giving the traveler the freedom to create their own overland itinerary in between the two. This type of RTW ticket would be cheaper upfront than someone who wished to have every flight booked and included in the fare. Such an itinerary might include a flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to Siam Reap to Phnom Phen to Singapore and finally to Bangkok. Lets look at each type of RTW ticket in detail:

1. Airline alliance RTW. Airline alliances are groups of airlines that partner together in order to expand their route map and fill seats by allowing partners to sell their inventory. Popular alliances in the US include the One World Alliance (American Airlines and its partners), Sky Team (Delta Airlines and its partners) and Star Alliance (United Airlines and its partners). All three alliances offer one or more RTW fares.

• Pros: The advantage of using an airline alliance RTW is more miles flown for your buck. They generally offer unlimited travel within a certain mileage. These fares make it possible to fly nearly every leg of your journey for one set price.
• Cons: Starting around $4000 Alliance fares are generally more expensive than segment fares. Also, you are limited to the destinations covered by the alliance you choose. This limitation and the maximum mileage requirement may require you to purchase additional segment fares to reach all the destinations on your list.
• Bottom Line: If you are short on time and want to fly to multiple destinations in each continent or if you are not fond of long train/bus journeys this might be the right choice for you.
• How to book: Start by visiting the websites of all the three alliances (See links below). All three sites provide detailed information about the RTW fares and may have fun planning tools where you can begin to plan your trip on an interactive map. The most important decision is choosing the alliance that is right for your trip. Look closely at the flight map of the alliance and choose the group that that will get you to the places you want to go. Also examine closely the restrictions of each fare – maximum mileage, maximum number of stops, change fees etc. When you are ready to book call the respective airline on which your journey will begin or a qualified RTW travel agent to make the booking. Some of the sites do offer online booking but beware that RTW tickets involve pages of booking rules and a qualified agent may be able to come up with creative itinerary to help you get the most out of your RTW ticket.

2. Individual segment fares. This type of fare usually consists of multiple one-way tickets that are pieced together to create a customized RTW ticket just for you. The segment fares may also be combined with roundtrip or open-jaw (fly into one city and return from another) flights within a continent allowing for a mix of air and land travel. This option allows for the most flexibility as you can fly any airline to any destination at any time. In fact, if you wish to be spontaneous, you could even book your tickets as you go (see visa warning below). One-way tickets often allow for free stopovers at the airline’s hub city. For example, Cathay Pacific may allow you to spend some time in Honk Kong on your way to your final destination at no additional charge. Generally, travelers use segment fares to create a basic structure to their trip and leave the rest to over-land travel.

• Pros: If booked correctly, there are some great deals to be found on one-way segment fares. Flexible and easy to add destinations on the go. No minimum or maximum stay requirement and no mileage restriction as each ticket is separate from the next.
• Cons: Long overland trips require extra travel time. Any changes may involve fees from ever segment booked. Airline pricing policies traditionally offers great discounts for those who book roundtrip travel and add surcharges to one-way tickets. This can be avoided by booking private (consolidator) fares but in some cases a destination may simply be unreachable due to cost constrains.
• Bottom Line: If you are looking for a cheaper, basic itinerary that allows for flexibility and overland travel this might be the right choice for you.
• How to book: While alliance fares are booked as published fares directly through the airlines most segment fares must be booked through another entity in order to avoid the traditional airline pricing policy of penalizing one-way fares. These private fares are also known as consolidator fares or net fares which are pre-negotiated rates with the airline that are given to travel agents and online travel agencies to sell to the general public. Not all airlines, however, follow the traditional pricing structure and may offer great one-way deals so be sure to check multiple sources and airlines for the best fares. A qualified travel agent should have access to nearly all fares available both published and private while an airline agent will only have access to published fares. Additional discounts on segment fares are also available for students, youth and teachers by contacting a student travel agency (see link below).

VISAS

As with any international trip it is very important to ensure you have the correct visas for the countries you’ll be visiting and transiting through. Acquire you Visas before your departure whenever possible by contacting the country’s consulate or by using a visa agency (see link below). While you won’t need a visa to book your RTW ticket, you will need to follow certain restrictions that most countries require you abide by. Such restrictions include the maximum time in which you are allowed to stay in a given country. Upon arrival you will be required to show immigration proof of your onward ticket within a certain time period. This can be a hurdle for travelers who wish to be spontaneous as you must plan at least your next destination in advance.

E-TICKETS OR PAPER TICKETS

When booking your tickets inquire as to whether your ticket will be issued as an e-ticket or a paper ticket. While almost all tickets are e-tickets these days if just one airport or one airline in your alliance fare does not accept e-tickets a paper ticket will be issued for the entire itinerary. The obvious disadvantage of paper tickets is that if they are lost, hefty fees will be charged to reissue while abroad. Paper tickets may also be problematic when trying to make a change over the phone as the physical ticket must be presented at a ticket office in order to be reissued. All airlines and travel agents will always issue E-tickets when possible.

DATE CHANGES

When travelling round the world you will mostly likely need to date change a flight at one time or another and in general round the world tickets are quite accommodating when it comes to changes. Alliance fares issued as a single E-ticket are often the easiest to change as the next airline you will be traveling on can make the changes directly over the phone. Segment fares on the other hand are considered un-flown itineraries and changes most often have to be made by the issuing office back home – not a problem if an e-ticket but troublesome if traveling on a paper ticket. There are always exceptions to these rules so be sure to carefully check the change and cancellation rules on your RTW ticket and also enquire into the change process for each segment of your trip.

Article by Martin Bell of Row 31
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