Round the World Tickets - Basic Info Please?
 

I have to fly from Bangkok to the States to Europe and back to Bangkok.

I have heard that you can occasionally get a good deal on such tickets in business class but don't have any idea how to go about booking or even researching a round-the-world ticket.

Any guidelines? Advice?

Thanks so much in advance.

Here's a good guide I'm using: https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-t...-a-rtw-ticket/

Not sure how it works for business because I can't dream of ever affording it.

Make sure to price your legs as a multi-leg flight on Google Flights or whatever too, and compare. I think if the price is close, the advantage with the RTW ticket is that there is flexibility, and you can change dates and maybe legs (not sure) during your trip.

You didn't say how long your trip will be, but if this is a short business trip you may be out of luck. Many (most?) RTW fares require a minimum stay of at least ten days outside your continent of origin to prevent them from being used to save money on business trips of a week or so.

Oneworld, Skyteam and Star alliance have a RTW product
Limited by continents/flights (OW & Skyteam) and distance (Star & OW)
FT thread --> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onew...ser-guide.html
https://www.oneworld.com/world-travel
https://roundtheworld.staralliance.c...ound-the-world
https://www.skyteam.com/EN/round-the-world-planner

But for a simple BKK-USA-EU-BKK 3 flight 2 stop itinerary may not be that price competitive. The more flights/stops you have the attractive these become

Any decent real travel agent in Bangkok would be able to price a point to point RTW

Anyone have basic information on planning a round the world trip using an award (awards)? This might be planned for 2023 if the pandemic gets much better in 2022. It might be in 2024. Of course, a lot can happen before that, like airline enhancements and devaluations. I see several RTW threads on specific airline forums on FT but no overall threads on planning a RTW with miles.

Main questions for now are:
1. Are award trips even worthwhile for RTW or maybe just a shortened itinerary that is round trip or 3 one ways?
2. Anyone done it before?

I could possibly get an award on United or partners, American or partners, Delta or partners, or Alaska or partners.

Must visit is Singapore. Might want to visit include Taipei, Chennai, Paris. Optional brief stops of at least half a day possibly in Tokyo, Toronto. Optional is to fly aboard aircraft that I have not been aboard, such as the A380 and A350 but particularly the A380 because that might be harder to do if Emirates becomes the only airline to fly it.

Dreaming...
Star Alliance itinerary
HNL-NRT NH A380 1-2 days in Tokyo
HND-TSA NH or BR, a few days in Taiwan
TPE-SIN SQ or BR, a few days in Singapore
SIN-MAA SQ, a few days in Tamu Nadu state, India
MAA-FRA LH (I know it's been suspended since the pandemic as have some other flights that I listed) few hour stay in Frankfurt
FRA-CDG LH, 2-3 days in Paris
CDG-YYZ AC, a day or two in Toronto

OneWorld itinerary, might have a few short paid segments, like SIN-MAA and MAA to BOM to connect to Europe
SkyTeam itinerary, might have a paid segment, like SIN-MAA because I wouldn't want a connection, like on

If I used one way awards, I might try:
US to TPE - one way
TPE-SIN - paid segment
SIN-MAA - paid segment
MAA back to the US - one way and skip Europe, alternatively, it could be a Bangalore-CDG/CDG-US award and try to get the last flight out of CDG so that I have a few hours in Paris.

The best place to look is The star alliance forum. Using awards for the long legs would be cheaper.

Thanks for the suggestion of looking in the Star Alliance forum even though I could fly any of the 3 alliances on an award.

Too bad that award charts are either a thing of the past or getting there. I will be looking to see whether the miles needed are too high compared with just stringing approximately 3 one ways and possibly (or possibly not) buying a few short segments. My intended itinerary would not be an extensive RTW trip but just one must see city and maybe add on 2 more for a total of 3 cities. Additional cities might be added as just a few hours as a connection. For example, arriving in FRA in the am and leaving in the mid afternoon.

The details will depend on the FFP. (not the alliance). Most ffp's now do not allow stopover on awards.
UA have the Excursionist Perk. https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...vel/types.html
BA have a OW carrier award, that allows stopovers. AS ffp allow a stopover on awards subject to the t&c's
So point to point one way awards may be your only option.