I have another few months left in Taiwan, then I want to do a RTW trip before heading back to Canada. I'm looking at the OneWorld Explorer ticket and am wondering what the minimum amount of continenets I need to purchase is. I've seen 3 - 5 continets published. Why would they even publish 3 continents if it takes at least 4 to circle the globe? Does anyone have the most up to date fare for this ticket? Last time I checked, I think it was $94,000TWD.

Thanks!

Have you checked the sticky at the top of this forum? spotwelder has prices current as of July 2004. They are all in British pounds.

3 continents is quite easy - North America, Asia, and Europe. Of course if you want to do a 3 continent ticket, that limits your starting points to places within those continents.

Does that mean that even though I'm starting in Asia, I can skip the South Pacific continent region and just purchase a 3 continent ticket: Asia, South America and Europe?

I've downloaded the OneWorld timetable program and can't seem to find any flights for the life of me leaving from anyplace in South America (eg. Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires) to North Africa (eg. Cairo, Tangier or Casablanca). Any help would be great! Dates don't matter, I'm just looking around right now.

I feel like I may be losing money since I will purchase the RTW ticket which includes the last intercontinental leg from Europe back here to Asia, but we're wanting to take the Trans-Siberian train journey from Europe (Moscow) back here to Beijing.

Thanks!

No you can't because you need direct flights on OneWorld airlines between the continents you choose, and not all continents are so linked.

From Europe/ME (as defined for the purposes of the ONE) you can get to Asia, Africa, North America, South America; you can also take a direct flight to South West Pacific but only if you ticket also includes Asia.

From North America you can fly to South America, SW Pacific, Europe and Asia, but not to Africa.

From South America you can fly to North America, Europe & SW Pacific, but not Africa or Asia.

From Asia you can fly to North America, Europe, Africa & SW Pacific, but not to S America.

From Africa you can fly to Asia, Europe or SW Pacific

From SW Pacific you can fly to Asia, S America, North America, Africa and Europe (if you ticket also includes Asia).

It doesn't seem to me that a xONEn ticket fits very well with what you want to do.

Ah, your first post didn't mention that you need to go to South America. That's a different matter than querying why the airlines sell three continent tickets. Smarter RTW experts than me will have to advise you as to whether a 3 continent ticket is possible excluding North America. Certainly, it is simple enough to get from South America to Asia - for example, the IB flight from EZE to MAD.

And while I was slowly checking rules and routes, christep came thru with the info you need albeit perhaps not the answer you want. If you have to go to South America, it sounds as though you need a 4 continent RTW.

Thanks guys for the info!

With my 4 legs allowed in SA, I was hoping for:
Santiago - Lima
Lima - Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires - Rio De Janeiro
Rio - Caracas.

It looks like they are all possible except for Caracas. Every flight I check goes through the states before hitting Caracas. Are there any flights from any of the above mentioned cities to Caracas?

The closest I can find for SA - North Africa is from Buenos Aires or Rio to MAD or London, then transfer down to Cairo or Casablanca/Tangier. Are there any direct flights from SA - Cairo, Tangier or Casablanca?

There are no direct OW flights EZE-GIG, GIG-CCS or SA-Africa. Alternatives are SCL-CCS (not daily) and SCL-GIG.

Also the north African destinations you mentioned are all included as part of Europe for OWE itineraries. All service to those destinations is via other European gateways, typically one of the Spanish or London airports.

The OWE does allow surface segments, and although the rules prohibit transoceanic (Atlantic/Pacific) surface travel, I don't think it would rule out intercontinental surface travel between Europe and Asia. If memory serves, a recent itinerary posted here had someone going HKG-BKK/DXB-LHR or some such, so if you wanted to take the train I think you could do it. You would then be able to use any remaining flight coupons for intra-Asia or other travel, provided you observed all the other rules.

You might also have a look at the OW Global Explorer product as well as Star Alliance's RTW offerings. Those are mileage-based but allow for slightly more flexibility in route planning, and you can go from S. America to S. Africa directly on Varig (*A) but not SWP-S. America as you can with OW. (Intra-Africa is still a weak link in all RTW programs IMO.) The OWE is more flexible in general.

You could, perhaps, fly EZE-GRU (on a BA flight) and then make yor own way from GRU-GIG.

You could do the following (if ordering isn't important)
SCL-CCS
CCS-LIM
LIM-EZE
EZE-GRU

all on oneworld.

Correct there aren't any South America - Africa flights on oneworld. There is a RG flight from JNB to GRU however, so maybe a Star Alliance RTW might make more sense. (South African also flies this route, they are scheduled to enter the Star Alliance sometime next year). However their South America network is spotty, so you'd end up having to route through Brazil for most flights. (exceptions are SCL-EZE on AC/LH)

Not sure if you could do:
JNB-GRU-EZE-SCL-GRU-LIM-GRU-CCS on Star.. definitely a bit out of the way..

For Africa to Cairo, you would have to do:
JNB-LHR-CAI

Either that, or
JNB-NBO

then buy a separate ticket NBO-CAI

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the help! I wasn't planning on doing the Africa OneWorld continent, just the Europe Oneworld continent which includes Morocco and Egypt. Looks like I will need to use my free trans-atlantic flight from SA - Madrid, then hopefully down to Cairo or Casablanca from there. After that, I will try to get a flight to Athens.

I read through the Oneworld rules, but didn't see any restrictions regarding surface segments. Why would they not allow me to pay my own way by train, ferry or bus to another city and fly out from there? (ie. fly into Athens, train/ferry to Vienna and fly out from there)

I see that I am allowed 4 flight segments per continent. What exactly does that mean? ...that I must have all direct non-stop flights? What if I were to fly from Tokyo - Bangkok, would that count as one flight segment or two since there's an hour stop in Hong Kong?

Then may I suggest you read them again more carefully?
" 93N . 8. INTERMEDIATE SURFACE SEGMENTS PERMITTED."

And that you also read the sticky FAQ thread at the top of this forum here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=338667 which answers you question in the "Terminology" section.

In addition to christep's comments there is also this:
And this: