I used to start my RTW from Malaysia but recently when I did a price check, it had gone up tremendously and it isn't that cheap anymore.

Does anyone know where the cheapest country is to start a OneWorld RTW in business or first?

How about Korea?

One World Explore RTW :
Combination of carrirers Cathay Pacific / American Airlines / British Airways
/Canadian Air / Quantas Airways / FINAIR / IBERIA

Fare
Economy
Business
First

3 continents
1,715,200WON
2,786,500WON
3,718,800WON

4 continents
2,058,300WON
3,343,800WON
4,462,600WON

5 continents
2,367,100WON
3,845,400WON
5,132,000WON

6 continents
2,722,200WON
4,422,300WON
5,901,800WON

5,901,800 Korean Won = 3,343.83 British Pound

Of course, only valid for start in Seoul.
I had that once. A bit hard to get there. Only CX going from there to HKG.
Although CX service is outstanding.


[This message has been edited by FoxPro (edited 03-28-2000).]

Beware, the current fare is valid thru March 31. Rumors
are they're raising it somewhat from April 1. Doesn't
matter you purchase one today, CX Seoul has announced
that they will be collecting the ballance at the airport if
your departure is actually after April 1. Don't worry,
you're not the only one anxious to see what the actual
price raise is, including myself, a whole bunch of us in Japan
have OWEs booked for Golden Week vacation (late April -
early May) and so on. BTW, Bagold, what's the current fare,
say OWE 3 conts Biz, originating from KUL? The last time
I checked was MYR 9,461, pretty much same as SEL originated.

I can understand Silver starting from Korea, but is someone in NAm or the EU really going to fly Y to and from Korea to start/end? If you fly Biz or F, you're usually better off buying the RTW at home.

The current (before 1st Apr) fare for a 3 Continent Business Class ticket originating from MALAYSIA is: M$13,719.

4 Continent - M$16,464. 5 Continent - M$18,935. 6 Continent - M$21,775

Fares in Malaysia and Thailand went up by 50% from last August!

Re: OWE SEL

I checked fares last Friday, there seems to be no immediate increase
of airfares as of April 1 (still not sure if there is going to be a raise
and when). Meanwhile, seems like CX has changed their policy against
tickets issued before the fare change; they will honor the old fare and
would not collect the balance. Good news.

This was the last info I had
USA Mid-EastCANADA
COACH
3 Cont $2,800 $2,722 $2,121
4 Cont $3,500 $3,265 $2,373
5 Cont $4,000 $3,754 $2,665
6 Cont $4,500 $4,319 $2,985

BUSINESS
3 Cont $4,000 $3,665 $3,787
4 Cont $5,500 $4,400 $4,453
5 Cont $6,000 $5,060 $5,235
6 Cont $6,500 $5,819 $6,153

FIRST
3 Cont $6,300 $5,418 $5,032
4 Cont $7,000 $6,503 $5,983
5 Cont $7,500 $7,478 $7,037
6 Cont $8,000 $8,600 $8,261

OWE-SEL price will be raised 15% when ticketing after May 1.

All prices in Korean Won

3 continents Y 1,972,500 C 3,204,500 F 4,276,700
4 continents Y 2,367,100 C 3,845,400 F 5,132,000
5 continents Y 2,722,200 C 4,422,300 F 5,901,800
6 continents Y 3,130,600 C 5,085,700 F 6,787,100

And maybe this summer, the prices will increase again.

Try Thailand. I don't have any price charts handy, but often ex-Thailand fares are good.

Also, India has some really good deals on RTW's.

ex India the oneworld 3 continent fare in business class is INR 106900 + taxes. At present the exchange rate is 43.5 INR per USD. just bought one last week so this is the current price.

AC*SE, I maybe wrong so forgive me if so, but a few months ago I think I heard that BKK raised OWE RTW fares substantially, roughly to like USD4,000 for a 3 cont C.

indogulf, nice to know BOM fares haven't changed, thank you for the update. With the SEL haven soon to be gone, BOM is definitely an option. I assume you're living in the region, lucky you!

I had my most recent 4 cont OWE issued from SEL last Wednesday, the day before the fare raise announcement. Didn't know about the announcement, but I guess the goddesses were on my side. A total of USD8,500 for two people, not bad for 45k miles of F travel :-)

BTW, anyone know how TPE OWEs are nowadays? The last time I checked a 3 cont OWE C was NTD 94,367, roughly USD 3,000.

Global Explorer fares from Asia go up by about 75% !

There was one oneworld Global Explorer fare that had a limit on mileage that did not go up with the fare increase last year. This fare was based on mileage of a maximum of 28500 miles and in fact , one could easily include Australia on this without having to do the 4 continent fare. The best place to get this fare was Malaysia.

Now it has gone up by 75% making it almost as expensive as Singapore. I think OneWorld is shooting themselves in the foot for doing this. The average malaysian cannot afford to even do this RTW fare anymore. The economy class fare alone is almost US$2500.

as has been the tend in the past with the other fare increases India has NOT participated. the fares have remained the same and are not scheduled to be increased any time soon. the only possible increase will be a 2 - 4 % currency adjustment. one of the main reasons for this is that the indian currency was not devalued (and subsequently regained value) during the asian currency crisis.

Dear fellow FT'ers!

Why not take advantage of the low value of Australian $$ against US$ and British pound amongst other currencies? Due to low Aussie wages prices for airfares are constantly very low even for locals. It is no problem to pick up a RTW Y-class fare for around US$1500. C-class won't cost more than US$3500. Please feel free to look for your best deal on the following sites: www.travel.com.au and www.etravel.com.au Please note that I am in no way associated with these sites and am just trying to be helpful. Happy flying!

Spider, do you know if the *A RTWs are also lower cost (as you say the OW RTWs are?)