customer unfriendly changes in the Round-The-World program
 

Thanks for the Update
 

I have done quite a few RTWs and this is a big change!!

Change fee $150 even if same route... just different day.


Can I ask what you are saving by originating in Thailand via US? Coach/WBC?

Basically it's now $150 to change anything (i.e. can be a different flight between points on the same day). This takes away the flexibility of a Northwest RTW ticket from a traveller who wants to explore & enjoy the world. I wonder if NWA did this to match any other airlines' RTW programs?

To fly World Business Class around the world originating/finishing in the U.S. and buying with U.S. dollars, the cost is somewhere between $6000 and $7000. To fly W.B.C. around the world originating/finishing in Thailand and buying with Thai baht, the cost starts at approximately USD $3800 (not including tax) for the 25,000 mile level (that is, you have 25,000 miles with which to fly with), going to $4,100 + tax for the level I'm flying at (under 30K), to ~$4,750 for the 35K level. The maximum number of miles you can fly on a NWA R.T.W. ticket is 40,000.

This definitely bites. Flexibility was a key bonus in the RTW tickets.

Steve

since most tickets require you to buy/ticket within a short period of time, the 7 days seems reasonable. Otherwise, people HOLD or block award seats when others want them

This is a real pain - I am planning a RTW trip for this fall, and the NWA ticket would be by far the best option (because of the destinations served) if it weren't for this new fee.

Let me just see if I understand how this works now. If I make changes to 10 different segments of my itinerary at once, I get hit with one fee of $150, right? Or would it be $1500?

And is it possible to avoid change fees by leaving my itinerary completely open (i.e., when I buy the ticket, don't book any flights other than the first leg) and then just adding segments as I go? Or would that cost me $150 each time?

Finally, if I buy through KLM or one of the other partner airlines, will the rules be the same?

It's $150 per instance of changing. So if you changed 10 flights at one time, it'd be $150. If you changed one flight 10 times, that would be $1,500.

I don't know if you can leave any segment "open" on the current RTW program. Knowing how they've tightened up on everything else, probably not.

I'm still probably going to buy RTW tickets on NWA ticket stock, but if they start cancelling segments on me before I get over to Thailand to make the purchase, I'll probably start calling consolidators and/or RTW specialists to find out about options for ticketing that don't involve Northwest.

Y'all need to visit the OneWorld forum to see if their flavors of rtw do anything for you.

Just found out about another customer-unfriendly enhancement to the RTW program.

You are now allowed 10 "free" stops on the ticket. Every stop after that is extra money, $100 (not sure if it's more for more stops). This restriction is separate (but alongside) the other restrictions on how many stops you can have on each continent.

NWA has also discontinued Circle The Pacific fares, you can't buy them through the airline anymore.

NWA is still selling RTW tickets, but the more restrictive these tickets get, the more likely it is that customers are going to go through bucket shops or agencies that specialize in RTW itineraries. Which would then mean the airline may just end up pulling and not offering RTW tickets for sale. This is a pity, since all of this is going to cost NWA money and customers-who-wouldn't-ordinarily-fly-NWA in the long run.

This is one of those little quirks of airfare I've never understood. My friend from HKG routes almost everything through BKK so he can buy his tickets in baht. I understand currencies fluctuate making it relatively cheaper to buy a ticket in one place versus another, but the consistently MUCH lower prices in Thailand versus the rest of the world make no sense.

Is this purely a marketing/differential-pricing thing for the airlines to sell tickets to (relatively) poor Thais who wouldn't be able to afford regular fares? Is there really that much less demand for airplane tickets in Thailand?

Thailand isn't the only example; I think many people originate their RTWs in CAI, I believe RTW fares are significantly cheaper from Cairo than even BKK. Maybe someone could verify this.

Also, take the example on the MR forum that's been kicked around for a while now... you can buy an OZ (Asiana) return business class ticket from CMB (Colombo, Sri Lanka) to LAX or SFO for under $2000, sometimes closer to $1000. Too lazy to post the link, but it's referenced in the sticky Mileage Run Tools thread at the top of the forum.

NW doesn't allow OPEN segments? That's the way everyone else gets around this, at least on Skyteam RTW's.

Depends on your defintion of "open" segments:

On a RTW itinerary, you can fly into Detroit and then jump on the next plane in Chicago... NWA will put the mileage between Detroit and Chicago into the RTW record as an "open jaw" segment, even though you're not flying.

If you're talking about the other definition, where you plot out only the first flight and any of the others are undefined... I don't think so But even if you could, they'd gleefully charge you the $150 fee to make any changes to the itinerary after its ticketed.

Govt. Regs
 

I think this has to largely deal with Govt. Regualtions in the country..

ALso.. the agencies receive preety steep commissions which then are passed on to the customer..

Same case in India and Sri Lanka..

Although the airlines are battling hard on this..

-milerunner

dates changes
 

Have asked this question elsewhere and have phoned KLM. TA told me that if you buy the 40,000 ticket you have free changes but any less and you pay the USD 100 fee. Bizarre and I'm not sure they know about all the rules, etc. Phoned MH as well and they said they would also charge USD 100 except if tix left open (onlu GBP10 charge acc to MH LOndon). But TAs in UK, it seesm will not open date. The buggers will get you no matter how! Such a shame as KLM RTW is so attractive in terms of where you can go.

Hope that helps and if anyone (esp Alanw) has completed a KLM RTW and not suffered penalties would be great to know! Do they open date ex CAI???

Best wishes,

William (hope that helps and not hinders!