roundaworld23
Apr 18, 12, 11:31 pm
I am a student trying to travel from my hometown of Charlotte nc to Beijing to Douala Cameroon to San Francisco and then back to Charlotte. So far the cheapest that I have been able to get the around the world ticket is 5400$ after tax. I am wondering if anyone has any very specific tips for getting it lower. I have read most of the tips i can find online and nothing i have tried (such as starting in Canada) has worked. I am using star alliance because they are the only RTW provider to fly to Douala. Thank you very much.
UAPremExecflyer
Apr 19, 12, 2:59 am
I am a student trying to travel from my hometown of Charlotte nc to Beijing to Douala Cameroon to San Francisco and then back to Charlotte. So far the cheapest that I have been able to get the around the world ticket is 5400$ after tax. I am wondering if anyone has any very specific tips for getting it lower. I have read most of the tips i can find online and nothing i have tried (such as starting in Canada) has worked. I am using star alliance because they are the only RTW provider to fly to Douala. Thank you very much.
Welcome to FT!
Can I suggest you find a good travel agent to put together your RTW.
Guy Betsy
Apr 19, 12, 8:08 pm
I am a student trying to travel from my hometown of Charlotte nc to Beijing to Douala Cameroon to San Francisco and then back to Charlotte. So far the cheapest that I have been able to get the around the world ticket is 5400$ after tax. I am wondering if anyone has any very specific tips for getting it lower. .. Thank you very much.
You don't need a RTW for this.
What dates are you looking at? And do you need to stop over in Beijing,
, and for how long before going to Douala? And do you need to stopover in SFO as well?
Stopover = stopping more than 24 hours.
sh1982
Apr 19, 12, 11:31 pm
It is much cheaper to buy seperate tickets i did a search for random dates in september since i dont know when you want to travel and found the following:
SEA-PEK $474 with Delta nonstop
PEK-Douala $ 1361 with CA/ET via BKK/ADD or $1591 with SN via BRU
Douala-JFK $1266 with AT(royal air maroc) via CMN
That would set you back at around $3100 that would leave you $900 to buy CLT-SEA,JFK-SFO and SFO-CLT that is more then enough.You could also fly to IAD from Douala with ET for $1242.Hope this helps!
mecabq
Apr 20, 12, 12:14 am
It is much cheaper to buy seperate tickets i did a search for random dates in september since i dont know when you want to travel and found the following:
SEA-PEK $474 with Delta nonstop
PEK-Douala $ 1361 with CA/ET via BKK/ADD or $1591 with SN via BRU
Douala-JFK $1266 with AT(royal air maroc) via CMN
That would set you back at around $3100 that would leave you $900 to buy CLT-SEA,JFK-SFO and SFO-CLT that is more then enough.You could also fly to IAD from Douala with ET for $1242.Hope this helps!
Great advice. There are many itineraries like this, or you can take advantage of cheap flights to PEK and/or nested round-trips to do (and perhaps on better airlines and/or with more miles and some stopovers in interesting places if that appeals to you).
As further examples, U.S. to PEK round-trip for around $1,000, or one-stop starting in CLT for under $1,500, then PEK round-trip to some major city/hub in Africa (LOS, ADD, NBO, CMN), though short trips to DLA from elsewhere in Africa don't seem cheap. Or you can take a domestic flight to CAN for other options, e.g., CAN-ADD-DLA round-trip on Ethiopian for $1,800.
Or take Emirates, SFO-DXB-PEK for $1,800, then take a stop-over in DXB with a side trip to DLA on Ethiopian, Kenya, Air France. I even see one itinerary on Vayama DOH-DXB-ADD-DLA, on QR/ET, for $1,037 (09/04-09/18), if you can get from DXB-DOH or take QR IAH-DOH-PEK with a stop-over in DOH. Similarly, you can use IST -- fly LAX-IST-PEK on TK for sub-$2,000 (often less), then IST-ADD-DLA for $1,200. Or use a European carrier, e.g., AF ATL-CDG-PEK with a side-trip CDG-DLA. (You can also take advantage of open-jaws on AF, TK, or EK, e.g., JFK- or IAH-DXB-PEK/PEK-DXB-SFO, or ATL-CDG-PEK/PEK-CDG-SFO, to get closer to CLT on your outbound or return.)
All of these options are around the same $3,000 or a bit less, though I haven't priced the flights with stop-overs in DXB/DOH/IST/CDG.