seekout

In the middle of a RTW trip and thought I would get your thoughts how to do it as cheap as possible.

As you can see, I have already done the first two locations and the prices I estimated are the prices I paid.

I want to buy the Yap ticket today (in a few hours) but I thought I would hold out to see if there is anything cheaper than $250. The real killer though is going from Yap to Truuk with the ticket cost being $420! I can’t find anything cheaper but I’m still hoping for some magic…

1. HKG (Hong Kong) – MNL (Manila): $90 DONE

2. MNL – GUM (Guam) (stop ROR [Palau]): ~$273 DONE

3. ROR – YAP (Yap): $250

4. YAP – TKK (Truuk): $420

5. TKK – PNI (Pohnpei): $144

6. PNI – KSA (Kosrae): $118

7. KSA – MAJ (Marshall Islands): $113

8. MAJ – TRW (Kiribati): $121

9. TRW – NAN (Nadi, Fiji): ~$355

10. NAN – TBU (Nuku’alofa, Tonga) : ~$234

11. TBU – APW (Apia, Samoa) : ~$264

12. APW – AKL (Auckland) : ~$179

13. AKL – PPT (Tahiti): ~$700
I’m trying to find a way to get from Samoa to Tahiti cheaply or from Tonga but no luck yet. Any thoughts?

14. AKL – OOL (Gold Coast): $109

15. OOL – KUL (Kuala Lumpur): $160

16. KUL – VTE (Vientianne, Laos): $140 RT

17. KUL – DAC (Dhaka): $113

18. DAC – CCU (Calcutta): $85

19. CCU – COL (Colombo): $220

20. COL – KUL: $100

21. KUL - LHE: $203
This may not work if I can’t get a visa on the road as a US citizen. This particular country is such a pain to get a visa for on the road (at least for Americans).

22. LHE – DXB (Dubai): $325

23. DXB - BND: $179 RT
This may not happen as well since Americans need a tour but there may be a way around this. I’m still waiting for this one.

24. DXB – EBL (Erbil, Iraq): $171
If I can make it work, Afghanistan (Kabul maybe) will be after here.

25. EBL – IST (Istanbul): $120

26. IST – TLV (Tel Aviv): $54

27. IST – ADD (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia): $199

28. ADD – NBO (Nairobi, Kenya): $193

29. NBO - DAR (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania): $30 ...

30. DAR – JNB (Johanesburg): $50

31. JNB – LAD (Luanda, Angola): $230
Yet another pain in the butt visa. I’ll go if I can get a visa.

32. LAD – LOS (Lagos, Nigeria): $457 arikair

33. LOS – CAI (Cairo, Egypt): $403

34. CAI – CMN (Casablanca, Morocco): $335

35. CMN – FCO (Rome): $

36.

This is as far as I have gotten. But I will head north to Europe after this point and then to South America.

Thoughts so far?

EmailKid

You can hope all you want, but I'm not sure anyone but UA flies this route. With no competition .....

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk.

And keep us posted on your RTW @:-)

Oh, and good luck with LOS Bring lots of ca$h for bribes from what I've read.

seekout

Thank you for the welcome, EmailKid. If you see any legs that you have tips on please please share.

I don't know if the prices I have researched are the cheapest available for the selected route.

PS - I'm in Palau currently. Very expensive here.

Mwenenzi

Cheapest for any date in the long future and cheapest to purchase X days head of the date range you want to fly are very different things.
Can cost a lot of $$$ to go cheap.

Prices trans Tasman (Au-NZ) I am very familiar with. AKL – OOL (Gold Coast) $109 may be possible some time, but will be seat only. No baggage or food or in flight entertainment. May be unsociable departure and/or arrival times. Otherwise will be closer to NZ$200. For the 2015-16 summer China Airlines were consistently the cheapest trans Tasman

seekout

Yes, I don't need food or entertainment since I sleep the entire time. I only have a backpack (laptop) and a 7kg duffel bag (carry-on) so I don't need a baggage allowance as well.

Mwenenzi

On some low cost carrier that's 1 item to much. And too much weight.
I have seen people refused travel on Jetstar for that

seekout

http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/help/ar...bring-on-board

I can get rid of more things to bring it under 7kg if they are strict, no problem. The two bags should be fine.

Edit:
I tried to post this in the "Flytalk Cares" forum but it won't let me for some reason but my bank called about 30 minutes ago to say that they want to shut my card down for card fraud. Someone has my number and tried to process two payments from different locations in the United States.

Someone either really has my number or I think it is some sort of mistake. The two payments were for a total of about .50 cents. The only purchase that small that I made recently was from the App store and it was .99 cents. I don't remember seeing that purchase in the transaction history earlier via the mobile app of my bank. What a sudden and unpleasant situation to suddenly be in.

My thoughts on a solution is leave the card open but just call them right before I make every purchase. They want to close the card but I can't allow that to happen since I won't be in a particular location long enough to actually receive the card. Also, I have no address here or where I'm going.

Mwenenzi

That is not what I have witnessed on JQ. A backpack is not a "personal item" Its a "bag" You can travel with one, not two. But at times JQ check in can be liberal.

I travel on JQ international every month. Every time I see people sent to the ticketing desk to pay for checked baggage. Only once were the police involved, when a 20 something European backpacker tried to go cheap and argued. That individual did not fly.

greycap7

TLV will be a pain after visiting all those Asian/ME countries.

seekout

@Mod, the post I just wrote about my bank reporting fraud on my debit card disappeared. What happened?

Mwenenzi

As a newbie a post with a link will be vetted.
After a moderator has reviewed it will reappear. That may be some away hours due to time zones and volunteer unpaid moderators having a normal life.

seekout

Ah ok, that explains it then. It automatically disappeared without any user intervention?

EmailKid

Correct. I'm assuming you are at the other end of the world and posting while I sleep @:-)

Thank you for an excellent explanation ^

MightyTravels

For the Africa segments (the non Fastjet segments) I would strongly suggest a United award for 35k in Economy. It gives you 4 cities and you save yourself the outrageous fares there.

LOS is a though and expensive visa (and so is LAD). While LOS is cheap using points you can't use hotel points in LAD, which makes it extremely expensive once there.

The Middle East legs are often cheaper when you look in DWC (flyDubai) and SHJ (AirArabia). Your tickets seem expensive. Also consider using Etihad Guest and Avios for those short legs.

seekout

Yes, that’s probably correct. I thought I would uncover a charter flight or two not listed online but I never found one. I have bought the ticket already despite the fraud fiasco yesterday (what a headache!).

I haven’t heard anything like that from my friend who lives there...

Actually, this is a pretty set price (incl. tax etc.). I don’t know what “trans Tasman” means but China Airlines does not fly this route.

Why?

I have been traveling since January and I still don’t belong to any frequent flyer programs. I was going to try it out but I don’t like having that on my mind when I search out cheap flights. I assume you are referring to 35K in frequent flier miles (please correct me if I’m wrong though). But if you mean $3500 USD then the prices I researched are much cheaper.

Yes, I’ve seen that it can be a pricey visa. I’m going to see if I can get around it though.

LAD is another story altogether. I couldn’t even figure out how to go about getting a visa when I was in Hong Kong last month. That’s going to be a pain in the butt but hopefully I will go totally local and cut down on costs.

Which leg(s) are you referring to specifically? Number 23 and 24? If so, I checked flyDubai and these are the prices I saw. I haven’t checked the other three you mentioned yet but I will when I have a moment. But I’m not sure which legs you feel I should research further for better lower prices..