oneworld - Which RTW ticket? Or better off with single/return tickets?

Hi there,

We try to put our round the world trip together but we have difficulties to find the right round the world ticket and/or combination of purchasing single tickets. This time we would like to visit some places which are a bit more out of the way. Therefore we are aware that we won't be able to find a 'one fits all solution' ticket. We hope with the great expertise in these forum to find the right deal and ticket(s) for our trip.

Please see below our country (wish) list:
Hawaii
Easter Islands
Tahiti
New Caledonia
Vanuatu
Solomon Islands
Fiji
Tonga
NZ&OZ (we have to get Visas in OZ or/ NZ for China & maybe Mongolia, but only staying in Perth for a visit)
Mongolia
China
Japan
Myanmar
Indonesia (and maybe Papua New Guinea)

Our travel itinerary:
Europe (UK, Germany, CH, France etc.) - LAX
LAX - Hawaii return (proberly need for extra ticket)
LAX- Easter Islands
Easter Islands - Papeete
Papeete - Noumea - Port Vila - Honoria - Nadi - Tonga (proberly need for extra one way tickets)
AKL-SYD
SYD-PER
PER-PEK
Beijing-Ulaanbatar-Beijing (proberly need for extra flight ticket/ or one way train)
Beijing-Tokyo
Tokyo-BKK/KUL/SIN (we will travel to Myanmar and Indonesia, but can do this cheap from there)
BKK/KUL/SIN - Europe (UK, Germany, CH, France etc.)

With the oneworld explorer we can fly as follow:
FRA-LAX-SCL-IPC-PPT//AKL-SYD-PER-PEK-NRT//FUK-BKK-FRA

Do you have maybe other suggestions? What about star alliance and we book easter islands extra from papeete?

Or maybe a return ticket to Asia/OZ/NZ and we purchase another pacific circle ticket? Or only add. extra tickets?

Look forward to hearing your advise!!

Best regards
Katinka

You do not need a round the world ticket. Many of the place you intend to visit does not need long to stay. My suggestion would be:

1) a return ticket between FRA and SYD with a stop over in Bangkok or Singapore or Hong Kong.
2) you may choose CX for FRA SYD return in Hong Kong and ask for an add on fare between HKG and JAPAN then return or just few single sectors. The add on fares is only available by calling CX or a qualified travel agent. Easy addon sector will be available between US80-320 up to different destinations.
3) after you finish Japan you can use Air Asia or JetStar to Singapore or Kuala Lumper where you can visit Myanmar and Indonesia very cheaply from there. china and Mongolia isn't problem if you stay an extensive period in Hong Kong so you can squeeze everything in. A sensible thing might be to make two stop overs on the way. The first time concentrate on Southeast Asia and the second period on North Asia up to whether you depart in autumn or spring.
4) once you are Sydney you can take two cruises which is offered every north hemisphere winter time by three different companies. A 12 days cruise version will take you to Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and sometimes Solomon islands. A nine day cruise option will take you around New Zealand with most cities covered.
5) there is positioning cruise available between Sydney and Hawaii with stop over in Tahiti. Sometimes three islands including Papeete and Bora Bora. These cruises will be offered at begining and end of the season.(autumn and spring north hemisphere). You can take JetStar for the one way flight and if you in advance you can save a lot. Good thing is all meals are included so make overall travel expense within control compare with extraordinary hotel nights in Tahiti.
6) after your grand tour you can go to Easter Island as a separate holiday with LAN by using return ticket.
7)by now you have visited all the places you wanted to go and have enough air miles to go back where you would like to revisit.

Thanks chongcao for your message.
Maybe I should explain a bit more about our trip and background. We are quite experienced travellers with a passion for diving. Once again we are off for a year and this time we plan on spending approx 4/5 months in the South Pacific Islands. The other countries approx each one month, except Easter islands, just a week or so. Since we travel on a backpacker budget we look for the best possible deal. As I've mentioned before, we guess it's going to be expensive and for the tickets approx 8000-10.000 USD. But maybe someone has a another good suggestion?!

Katinka07, this post is very similar to one you left on the "newbie loungs" thread yesterday. Multiple posts with the same question are discouraged on FT, so I'm going to delete the earlier post and let this one remain.

Unfortunately FT doesn't have a forum where "general" RTW questions can be raised, e.g. asking for comparisons between various alliance-based products and/or RTW tickets vs. "do it yourself" RTW itineraries. RTWs are talked about extensively on the "global alliance" forums like this one, but as you can see your question falls between the cracks to some degree.

I did post a response some time ago to your similar thread on Lonely Planet - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2237604&messageID=20193547#20193547 so other FT members can have a look at that thread and see if my (or others') logic is on point or not.

It's pretty clear that you're going to need a combination of tickets, either including an RTW ticket as a "backbone" or not. A number of your destinations are served only by airlines that are not alliance members, others are served by one alliance but not others, and that alliance doesn't serve some other destinations, and so on. You're going to have to do a lot of homework to come up with a scheme that works for you; there is no magic wand.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

OK understood, thanks for your messages Gardyloo. We'll search and try to find the best tickets solution and might come back, if this ok, if we have questions on specific ticketing/frequent-flyer program/pricing.