Is there a single thread for oneworld RTW travel reports? I'm interested in doing one of these, so it would be nice to learn from the mistakes of others :-)

I guess what i'm really looking for is the experiences people are having with the ow member airlines on these fares, and what kind of troubles they might be having.

I've searched and not found a single collected thread on these. sorry if i missed something obvious.

thanks,

_m

I don't know of such a thread, though there are lots of trip reports that are for travel on RTW fares (though often not identified as such, for example someone may report on LHR-JFK but not highlight that it was actually part of a RTW ticket).

But I'm intrigued by the premise of your thread -- of having troubles "on these fares" and/or having a different experience. The in-air experience is identical to a point-to-point F or J ticket, and I've never seen even a hint of a difference. Some airlines even provide limo service on RTW fares (e.g. CX in LHR) so the sameness even extends onto the ground. Is your question theoretical or have you completed RTW travel and experienced a difference in treatment or problems from using a RTW fare?

Echoing N6, rtw "problems" almost always involve buying tickets and revising those tickets after starting - the rules are really not particularly complicated, but some are badly worded and subject to intepretation, and some important things are unsaid, so too often there are differing points of view about how much a ticket should cost or what travel should be permitted.

About the only "en-route" concerns anyone mentions concern seat availability. The rtw fares only permit the traveler to book flights that have seat availability in the appropriate discount fare category - A, D, or L for first, business, coach - and some travelers are annoyed when a flight appears to have lots of seats in their chosen cabin, but they're not allowed to book it. That leads to a little venting here, but I've never seen a "rtw trip from hell" kind of report where one hapless traveler had enough "experiences" to make a tale out of it.

And lest I've frightened the OP regarding seat availability, although some airlines are notoriously stingy about releasing first-class seats on prime routes (e.g. American on its coast-to-coast services), availability is startlingly good imo. Unfortunately, it's impossible to quantify that meaningfully without a page full of anecdotes, but if you plan a month ahead in first class you can have any flight you want (with exceptions); if you want to travel "tomorrow", it's 50-50. "Tomorrow or the next day or so" and you're usually back to 100%. (Availability in the bigger cabins becomes progressively better, I believe.)

I guess i'd like to leave the possible topics open.. I think in my original post I specified "problems" posters may have had booking or in travel, but i think it would be just as helpful to know about interesting differences in services (like the Limo service in LHR by CX).

Thoughts?

_m

Purely theroretical. I think in my original post i worded myself poorly. My intention was to see what kind of experiences people were having booking the RTW fares, both positive and negative.

I'd also be very interested in problems that arise outside the flying experience as well as in the air. What did you do to prepare? How did you do laundry? What have you done when the atm card died? I'm sure that experienced RTWers have developed stratiges to stay sane while living out of a suitcase for a few months.. I'd love to hear these as well.

My RTW will probably happen next year after JL jumps in the mix.. I'm looking for better APAC routing.. specifcally into and out of NRT/KIX.

Thanks,

_m

Go to the trip reports board, type "rtw" into the search box, and stand back.

ADDED AS AN OT NOTE: Readers should have a look at RTW4's SFO-YVR-SFO QF FC trip notes on that board.

What is this?

I agree with Gardyloo regarding a search in trip reports. I, too, haven't seen a lot on this forum other than relating to ticketing, and then there is more info than you could ever want.

Dunno; maybe something similar to what IB offers?
see-> iberia.com | Travel With US | Other Services | Limousine Service

A simple search on "limo" in the CX forum would bring up this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...highlight=limo

Interesting, didn't know that, thanks. I don't follow the CX forum.

Do a search in trip reports under my name. I posted a very large report from my 2002 AONE5. I have another one in progress for my 2004 AONE5, but it has been slow going.

I too am waiting to do my next AONE5 until JL comes into the OW fold.

Will you be including SA on your AONE5? I ask because by the time JL joins LAN will no longer offer FC between NA and SA, thus reducing the value of an AONEx in that part of the world.

Michael,

If you're looking for experiences outside the flying experience, can I suggest having a look at the RTW forum on ThornTree on www.lonelyplanet.com ?

There's a lot of good information (and the usual daft questions) on the day-to-day stuff about living out of a rucksack for months on end. However, be aware that they are *useless* about planning/buying RTW flight tickets, apart from when Gardyloo helps them out

I think that a lot of people here use RTW tickets as an access to reasonably priced D/A class, without necessarily engaging in 'traditional' RTW trips.

JL provides JFK-GRU flights. (JL48/JL47)
Bye the way, JL47/JL48 may affect xONEx rules.
Because JL47/JL48 are single flight number flights between Asia and South America (NRT-GRU v.v.).

About general RTW trip discussion, if these are not OneWorld specific issue,
Trip Report forum is appropriate, I think.

Why would the rules have to change? It already accomodates a 2nd entry to NA for SA travel -- which would be the required rule change to allow JL47/48. The fact that it can use 1 sector instead of 2 is irrelevant for purposes of the rules (most of the UK-Australia flights are single flight number despite the stop). They might add the clarification that NA counts as a continent even if you just transit there, but that isn't an essential rule (it is implicit in the definition of continents).