Help with RTW options
 

I've seen some hard-core experts contributing the forum, and I am hoping you can help me out. If you could spare your expertise, I'd be most grateful.

Here's my situation:
I am in Spain at the moment.
Must be in Buenos Aires by November 5th.
Must be back in Spain for Christmas
Want to return back to south america in early January.
From there, I want to keep going west via Easter Island.
Here's the full route:

Barcelona - Buenos Aires - Barcelona - Buenos Aires - Santiago Chile - Easter Island - French Polynesia - Auckland - Sydney - Barcelona

Can this be done on a single global explorer ticket? Do you think it'd make sense? Or should I buy one or two legs separately (first legs), and start the RTW at some point later in the route?

And second question, I'm really struggling to get an up to date list of fares for global explorer, including several origination points. If you could refer me to the current pricing, I'd be forever grateful! :)


Thanks a lot!!!

Hi and welcome to FT!

No, it can't be done on a single GlobEx ticket. You can't backtrack across the Atlantic as you're showing. You'd need to purchase a separate return trip from Barcelona to BsAs, then start the RTW once you're able to continue on a constant east-to-west or west-to-east route.

As to current pricing, it's most important to know whether you're planning to travel in economy or business class. The cost differential from one origin point to another is much more significant in business class than in economy. Finding GlobEx prices is difficult; you really need access to a couple of subscription websites (such as ExpertFlyer) to get these easily. We can help a little, but only if you clarify your plans on cabin preference.

Thank you very much for the reply! My plan is to fly economy. LGLOB34 I've been looking at.

Thanks again!

Hola muchacho!

Welcome to FT
I am currently on the Costa del Sol on my current RTW (the joys of retirement:D)

As Gardyloo pointed out you cannot do all you want to do on a single RTW ticket – because you are allowed to cross the Atlantic (and the Pacific) only once and to achieve what you want would entail crossing the Atlantic three times

Your proposed RTW itinerary is just under 27,000 miles – so you can do it on a LGLOB29, which is less expensive than the LGLOB34 you mentioned
(ex-Eurozone the LGLOB29 base fare is EUR2500 and the LGLOB34 is EUR2900 – source ExpertFlyer)

The LGLOB26 is EUR2110, but I cannot see any way for you to get your mileage down to the maximum 26,000 allowed on that ticket (and also it allows only five stopovers, with a max of two in each region)

The LGLOB29 price ex-Argentina is USD4150, which is ~EUR3720, so significantly more expensive than ex-Europe

So to me it looks like your only option is a Spain-Argentina return ticket followed by an ex-Spain LGOB29

Your itinerary is nearly 27,000 miles and requires 9 segments. So you are ‘leaving on the table’ ~2,000 miles and 7 segments. Depending on your time availability and budget, you could look at adding more flights, for example in

• South America
• The South West Pacific
• Asia
• Africa
• Europe, prior to returning to Spain at the end

Happy planning:D

Muchas gracias compañero! Glad to hear you're enjoying Spain. It is a nice place to live, that's for sure!

That's really useful information, and I'm glad ex-Europe turns out to be cheaper for once!

While we're on this, I'm getting really terrible quotes for the Spain - Buenos Aires return flight. Almost as much as the RTW flight!!!

I'm looking at Kayak and the normal websites. If this were you, how would you go about getting the best possible price for that segment?

Thanks again for all the help, it is hugely helpful.

I'm seeing EUR900 all-in return on The Matrix
- flying LH via FRA
- depart BCN Nov 3rd
- depart BUE Dec 13th

yeah, I've been checking the Matrix site too. Thank you anyway!

One last question, if I may - how do you check the miles consumed in any legs? I used the measure function in google maps, and it was giving me a different figure to the one you gave me.

What's the most accurate way to get that number?

www.gcmap.com is fairly accurate.

I agree
Looking at the 17 Oneworld flights I have taken this year and comparing the gcmap figure with the miles that AA gave me

• all except one segment were within 2 miles of each other
• the big discrepancy was on OSL-LHR where gcmap said 750 miles and AA said 724 miles:confused:

GC is GC.
OSL-STN 710 miles (GC)
OSL-LCY 737 miles (GC)

TPM of LON-OSL is 734.

Some airlines use TPM rather than GC.
For example, JAL uses TPM. So HKG-NRT and HKG-HND are credited by using TPM of HKG-TYO. However, CX uses GC based miles. CX credits more miles for HKG-NRT than HKG-HND.

However, I have no idea about AA's 724.

Hi jordimr
how are you getting on with your trip? I just read your post and I would recommend the below approach based on 1 rtw ticket and 2 side trips. see attached picture with the details
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/data:...BJRU5ErkJggg==
Hope this helps
Cheers