I guess that is the fastes way. It is 5564$ plus tax in Business Class...anyone wanna go?

This one has the same issue as LHR-ORD-HKG-LHR: it does not cross over into the southern hemisphere. SIN is pretty close, though.

Before the A345, had to go to SIN ex JFK once a month for about two years. Those were usually JFK/EWR-SFO/LAX-NRT/TPE-SIN-AMS/FRA-JFK/EWR, all on SQ except the US domestic. If I recall the schedules correctly (SQ 25/26's schedule hasn't really changed over the years), a RTW on SQ would have been possible over a weekend even in the old days .

Here is a SkyTeam option from a non-hub (AUS-MEM-ORD-ICN-BKK-AMS-MSP-AUS). It violates the "leave after 5 pm on Fri" rule but is the best you can do on SkyTeam.

Austin To Seoul, at 11 Sep 2009 ( 7595 Mi ) ( 12152 km )
NW3510 / NW3500 / KE38 Dep 6:00 , Arr: 16:10 Stops: 2 Dur : 20h10m
Northwest Airlines 3510 Dep: AUS at 6:00 , Term: Arr: MEM at 7:48
Equip: CR9, Meal: , Dur : 1h48m
Northwest Airlines 3500 Dep: MEM at 8:50 , Term: Arr: ORD at 10:36
Equip: CR9, Meal: , Dur : 1h46m
Korean Air Lines 38 Dep: ORD at 12:35 , Term: 5 Arr: ICN at 16:10
Equip: 744, Meal: LD, Dur : 13h35m

Seoul To Amsterdam, at 12 Sep 2009 ( 7985 Mi ) ( 12776 km )
KE651 / KL878 Dep 17:35 , Arr: 5:45 Stops: 1 Dur : 19h10m
Korean Air Lines 651 Dep: ICN at 17:35 , Term: Arr: BKK at 21:10
Equip: 773, Meal: D, Dur : 5h35m
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 878 Dep: BKK at 23:20 , Term: Arr: AMS at 5:45
Equip: 74M, Meal: , Dur : 11h25m

Amsterdam To Austin, at 13 Sep 2009 ( 5202 Mi ) ( 8323 km )
NW41 / NW3633 Dep 10:50 , Arr: 17:18 Stops: 1 Dur : 13h28m
Northwest Airlines 41 Dep: AMS at 10:50 , Term: Arr: MSP at 12:55
Equip: 333, Meal: DS, Dur : 9h5m
Northwest Airlines 3633 Dep: MSP at 14:30 , Term: L Arr: AUS at 17:18
Equip: CR9, Meal: , Dur : 2h48m

Rather pricey in J, though. Over $10,000. And it doesn't quite cross the equator but it is all SkyTeam.

Here's a oneworld option from my hometown BNE.

The criteria (i.e. check-in after 5pm Fri and back by 9am Mon) did make it hard to design a good oneworld itinerary from Australia. There might be some flexibility if you started in SYD or MEL, but the long and short of it is that there are not a lot of ultra long haul flights that leave after 5pm from BNE, SYD or MEL. FWIW, all of the Trans-Pacific flights from East coast Australia leave before midday; AKL-LAX is a silent exception but getting to AKL from Australia to make the AKL-LAX flight at around 1450h or 1550h violates the "must check-in after 5pm rule".

Total time in flights is 49 hours and 10 minutes, covering 23,998 miles. 9 hours and 20 minutes is spent in transit.

Check-in at BNE needs to be 30 minutes in advance with checked baggage. Without checked baggage it is 15 minutes although I'm unsure if that still works if you have to check in for an international connection. (If I had to guess, I'd say it'd be alright.)

In any case, that means arriving at the airport at about 1725h. Unless you were a speed demon with perfect traffic conditions, you'd probably need an early leave pass from work to get to the airport in time for check-in.

There's enough breathing room at each stop (including the HKG stop) for a shower, a stretch, a quick bite to eat if on-board wasn't enough or good enough and check a few emails or hit Twitter, etc. Well, except for perhaps LHR with the T4->T5 terminal transfer and only 150 minutes....


This is a fairly pedestrian itinerary, but given the criteria there was no room to squeeze in more flights, except for perhaps LHR-JFK-LAX or the like, but the search engine I was using couldn't find anything which made the LAX-BNE flight in time. It fits the rules of a oneworld Explorer, but I had to construct this dummy itinerary with the availability engine turned off. Especially with the availability engine turned on, it took me forever (and sometimes could not) get the BA269 flight. Also, this itinerary should be achievable with MEL in DST; the arrival time in MEL should change to 2120h and the connection time to QF29 would be 1h 30m.

The going price for this itinerary would be AUD 11,340 in J (DONE4), and that's without taxes. You can't book this as a LONE4 because of the minimum 10 day rule (you could probably book each sector separately in Y and still end up cheaper than paying for a DONE4). In any case, not a great mileage run except for kicks, giggles and status (of a different kind, i.e. to feed your office ego ).

I've also done a fast RTW on OW, but in 80 hours as I had stuff to do in various places.

AKL-MEL-MQL-MEL-LHR-BRU-LHR-LAX-SYD-AKL

I was trying to build a route using the tool in *A website, starting at EWR
and it has all kinds of restrictions, such as minimum 3 stopovers (24hrs),
and last international flight has to start minimum 10 days () after 1st int'l flight.

Why?

If you just want a very fast around the world you can use the normal return fares (US to Asia or Europe to Australia/NZ) that allow routing via both hemispheres.

As for why *A RTW has the restrictions it does, it is to protect revenue of course. They don't want it used as a substitute for last minute business trips that might otherwise use much more expensive fares.

Man.. I would LOVE to do this out of IND over a weekend!

just to say you did it.

My report of around the world in under 60 hours.

If it does not have to be on one ticket, does a series of one way flights violate the "rules" of the contest? If not, then does this work? (With specific dates and price.)

May 14th Friday:
Depart New York City JFK at 6:15 PM Delta Flight #3
Arrive London Heathrow LHR at 7:05 AM Saturday May 15th
(Bookable on Travelocity for $843.00 one way)

May 15th Saturday:
Depart London Heathrow LHR at 9:40 AM British Airways #73 to Abu Dhabi (AUH) and connect to Qantas Codeshare #341 operated by Etihad Airways
Arrive Sydney SYD at 6:30 PM Sunday May 16th
(Bookable on Travelocity for $1336.00)

May 16th Sunday:
Depart Sydney SYD at 8:30PM "V Australia" #1 to Los Angeles LAX
Arrive Los Angeles at 5:10PM (Sunday May 16th)
(Bookable on Orbitz for $637.00)

May 16th Sunday:
Depart Los Angeles at 9:30 PM Delta Flight #2962 to New York JFK
Arrive New York JFK at 5:51AM Monday May 17th.
(Bookable on Travelocity for $187.00)

Total cost approx $3,000.00

I believe I would be ok with connection times. I have 2:35 in London, 2:00 in Sydney and 4:20 in Los Angeles. I do not know the connection time in Abu Dhabi, but assume it is ok, because it is routed on one ticket LHR/SYD.

I may have made a mistake somewhere, but I think this works. Not a true "around the world ticket", but I think it is an around the world itinerary.

Wouldn't that be great?
Like the OP said.
How was your weekend?


---
So.. I was trying to lookup some routes from EWR on CO.com going east (NGO) and west (IST),
and lots of CO flights connects with JAL and BA.
Isn't that strange? One would think that it would show mainly other *A carriers.
------
IS THIS TOO SHORT? (Star Alliance)

FRIDAY EWR-FRA on LH403 (B747-400) 7:35
Depart at 17:50 - Arrive 07:25

SATURDAY FRA-SIN on SQ25 (B747-400) 11:55 hrs
Depart at 12:35 - Arrive 06:30

SUNDAY SIN-EWR on SQ22 (A340-500) 19:10 hrs
Depart 10:40 - Arrive 17:50

Exactly 48hrs after departure, back in town, in time for dinner.