NW charges 140k coach/220k biz class. DL charges more. Other Skyteam members may charge differently. Since the program really isn't published, they can easily change the rules and miles required, and people don't find out until they call up to book one.

Well, finding out which Skyteam airlines fly to a destination is critical. When I booked my flights, I spent about 2 weeks putting together a basic flight plan. First, I picked what countries I wanted to go to. Then I choose the logical order (W to E). I then called up and after a few attempts got a NW agent that somewhat knew what they were doing. I got a lot of wrong info out of the first couple of agents.

Most agents won't even want to try and book this. Sometimes, they say you have to call the RTW desk, which wasn't true when I last booked my trip.

You do need a lot of patience, that's for sure. With the charges for changes for Plat members, I'd guess it will be much harder, these days. I had about 5 changes to my trip. Mostly because Biz seats opened up. Unless you're lucky, or have a simple itin, don't figure on getting biz for all your segments.

That sounds like useful info, Jaimito, thanks.

I already found out that searching for one-way award flights at nwa.com doesn't work. I needed to use a round trip with a fictitious return date. I started looking at AMS-CPT next April/May and found economy available on one day only, with no business availability at all. I guess this mirrors FB availability and FB's curious inability to book more than 10 months ahead, in contrast to other airlines' 330 days.

I got much better results for a dummy LON-NYC, including DL LHR-JFK in BE.

There was a note saying that Worldperks members could get better availability. As a mere European, I'm not a Worldperks member.

I'll try again, armed with copious amounts of patience.

You don't have to specify Biz and you shouldn't get "No available flights" in most cases. You might have to break down the trip segment by segment to find availability or flights. So for NYC-CPT you're better off searching NYC-CDG and NYC-AMS and then AMS-CPT and CDG-CPT to figure it out, as an example. You should get back a grid with flight numbers and then availability. Try a simple flight first if you think you're not getting decent results, just to make sure it is actually searching correctly.

And, yes, you have to put in a return date, as you've discovered. It should default to a week after the outbound which is sufficient for your needs.

The other thing - increased availability for elites - only really matters for the "home carrier" searches. So as a CO elite I search nwa.com for partner flights but I also search co.com for seats on routes I know they operate since I get increased availability (and I take advantage of that benefit quite frequently). For you the only time that would potentially come into play is with FB and it probably won't actually happen.

Thanks, sbm12. More useful advice.

I don't know why it's so elusive (had a hard time finding it on Google myself) but here's a link to the SkyTeam RTW Calculator:

http://www.skyteamtimetable.com//update.html

Hope that works.

But this is not a RTW calculator. It's just the Timetable.

Ah yes, you're right. I've always used this as my RTW calculator when I did ST RTW's. The (I think) Flash-driven interface is similar but it doesn't calculate the RTW rules. It does give you the mileage for each segment but doesn't give you a cumulative. It'll output .itn files which if I recall you can view in the SA RTW Calculator, and vice versa.

Don't know if anyone has any thoughts here but I'm in a bit of a jam...

I need to buy a RTW ST biz ticket (via NW) for a departure next Sunday (7 days from today). I called Friday at around 6pm and apparently just missed the RTW desk, and they of course are gone till tomorrow (Monday).

As I read through the restrictions, it says I have to be ticketed 7 days in advance, which I cannot do because no one is there to buy the ticket from! Once they're back tomorrow, I will be at 6 days.

Does anyone have any advice? Will they ever make an exception to that rule, or is there an online place or other resource I can issue a ticket today? (My travel agent can't do anything because they too have to contact NW's RTW desk.)

I'm stuck! I want to give them my $10k, but no one is there to take my money!

Thanks for any thoughts or advice!

Does anyone know if it is possible to do the last segment as an overland??

I want to start an Eastbound RTW from CCS, but the departure of COPA means there is no way of getting back there without passing through the US (for which I would require an obnoxious visa). However, AM are starting a flight to Medellin, so I'm wondering whether it would be possible to do the last "flight" as an overland segment from MDE to CCS (or even MAR)...anyone have a clue?

I'm not sure what your routing is, but AM fly to both Asia and Europe so I'm not sure why you would need to go to the US? UX also flies from Mexico to Europe. Aren't there flights from CCS to Mexico?

And as long as you start and end your RTW in the same country, it is fine. It doesn't have to be the same city or airport.

I'm pretty certain that the last segment cannot be over-land; you must have a flight back to the country of origin.

That being said, there are MX flights to CCS so you have that as an option. Or, if you would prefer to end in Colombia you could probably book BOG-MEX-CCS and just throw away the last segments and make your own way home.

MX are not in Skyteam (so can't be included in the ticket), and AM don't fly to Venezuela.

So I can come back to MEX from NRT, but AFAIK I have no way of going from MEX to CCS.

Yeah...I screwed that one up. Sorry.

Looks like the best you can do are MGA or LIM on AM. Or you'll have to transit the USA. You can either add on the random segments and just not fly them (but still pay the USICS taxes) and then fly on to CCS on your own or deal with getting a visa.

SkyTeam has very sparse coverage outside of USA/Europe, and you're suffering for it.

My sympathies, graraps: it seems that, in Central America, the departure of COPA from SkyTeam will leave a lot of 'holes'. The best option I could find for MEX-CCS (but only a quick search) was to get to GDL, then formally book GDL-(USA)-CCS (with DL) but ignore those sectors; maybe you can get a LCC ticket back to CCS (or CM via PTY).

-- Henry