For newbies wrt around-the-world fares, a cautionary reminder: global marketing schemes (i.e. OneWorld) that sell you tickets on diverse airlines with multiple reservation/ticketing systems that don't communicate well with one another require the purchaser/traveler to be extremely diligent about always retaining (and carrying with them) the most up-to-date e-ticket numbers. Voluntary changes, reroutes or irreg ops almost always cause/require ticket reissues, but unfortunately new e-ticket numbers are routinely NOT automatically sent to all subsequent carriers. Experienced purchasers of these tickets know to expect spending many more hours on the phone or at airline check-in desks while enroute than they would with an itinerary on a single airline. Forewarned is forearmed.