I note the posts of RTW fares in foreign currency. Does this mean that you can buy a RTW ticket originating in the US in foreign currency?

If you mean buying it with, say, Swiss Francs, the answer is yes. You will pay the fare for US RTW's in Francs*ROE. But this doesn't give you the fare for RTW's originating in Switzerland.

The fare has to be quoted in the currency of the country where the itinerary originates, and they have to be sold in the currency of the country where the ticket is purchased.

So a US origin RTW fare has to be quoted in USD. But if you buy it in Canada, you have to pay the fare converted into CAD.

Given the huge discrepancy in RTW's, if you are going to do it regularly, it is best to buy a OW from US to the point of origin (even Canada is a bargain, but Hong Kong, Thailand and India are all attractive), and 'start' the RTW there.

As each one is used, you start a new one to get home.

Please note that if anyone wants to buy a ticket that originates somewhere else that is cheaper than buying it in th US, note that the higher fare (ie- US fare) will be used if the ticket is paid for and issued here. It can originate elsewhere, but as long as payment and ticket issuance is done in the US, the higher fare prevails.

The easiest way is to pay for the fare using Visa/MC or other credit card. This was you will be billed, say in Japanese yen if you have a japanese credit card and yet be able to buy the tickets in US or Canada or Switzerland and even via the internet or telephone and have them delivered to wherever you want.

Spider,

I have tried that and it is not possible (atleast with AC).

I wanted to pay for the tickets in Canada and have them mailed to Germany. They would not let me as the fare for the ex-Europe flight I was taking was a different fare depending on where it was ticketed. They considered the ticketed country as to where they had to send it.

Dorian

Spider,

I have tried that and it is not possible (atleast with AC).

I wanted to pay for the tickets in Canada and have them mailed to Germany. They would not let me as the fare for the ex-Europe flight I was taking was a different fare depending on where it was ticketed. They considered the ticketed country as to where they had to send it.

Dorian

Dorian,

You must have been dealing with the airline directly. Using travel agencies avoids you such problems as they, to the best of my knowledge always ship to wherever you want.
If you still prefer to deal with the airline then there is a way to get the tickets even though you want them in another country. Simply use a friend's address in the country where you are buying the ticket from or if you don't have a friend there then a mail forwarding service will suffice just as well.
Mail forwarder will charge you maybe $50 (for a month or $3 per letter) which is nothing in comparison to the savings you make by purchasing a ticket where you want.

I have no idea what Spider is talking about. If you are saying that I should buy my ticket in the US using say a German credit card, I can't see any advantage. What will happen is that the transaction will be converted from DM's to USD's on my credit card statement which I'll pay by converting USD's into DM's. I haven't accomplished anything other than all the additional costs I have incurred.

In the past, my travel agent has booked a return ticket in the currency of the country originating the returning flight. For example, LA to Frankfurt paid in USD's, Frankfurt to LA paid in DM's. What I have never seen is LA to Frankfurt denominated in DM's.
Is the rule as follows:
Regardless of how many countries you visit, if your RTW ticket origninates in the US, you must pay the fare quoted by the airline in USD's?

VicOsaki,

What do you find confusing? Maybe I can clarify.

I was originally under the impression that you wanted to buy a fare out of US just coz it was cheaper and to use foreign currency to do that. Maybe I misunderstood you.

Thanks Spider but I don't understand how your method of using a non-US credit card saves money. As I understand it from the above posts, if my initial flight on an RTW ticket originates in the US, I must pay fare denominated in US dollars.
As an example, say the fare is USD 100. If I buy the ticket using a DM credit card, the transaction would be translated into DM 200 (assuming the conversion rate is 2 DM for 1 USD).
I'd have to buy DM 200 which would cost me USD 100. What have I saved?
The only way I could save is if I could buy the ticket in Germany, if the ticket is priced at less than the US price -- say DM 180. Everyone is saying that I can't buy the ticket in Germany.

VicOsaki: there seems to be real misunderstandings.

I can buy tickets (for the local prices) from anywhere in the world ... if I start actually my trips (on that ticket) from that specific country.

The 'trick' is to combine two (or more) rtw-travels and use only one of them from your original country (book the first and last segments of all trips to that ticket, and all other rtw-tickets you buy from a cheaper/cheapest place 'en route' and you fly those segments in between). To be on the safe side (reservations, upgrades) you can book/confirm/prepay (with your crdit-card) rtw-tickets 2 & followings from an airline or a travel-agency in that 'low-cost'-country and either let the tickets be delivered by mail to your place (or if this is not accepted by the airline) have the tickets ready to be picked up once you arrive there.

It can be done ... it has been done ... and I am still doing this

It's my fault that I confused Rudi. What I want to buy is a Star Alliance RTW ticket to take advantage of the bargain first class fare and get a still bigger bargain by buying it based on what I'd pay in Germany for the ticket.
What Rudi is describing is simply comparing the price of segments based on the US price vs. the price in the country that you are flying out of.
I don't see why the final segment must be purchased in the US. Since that segment does not originate in the US, it can be purchased in the country that the flight will originate from.

VicOsaki:
help me if I'm gettzing this right:

1. You want to buy a*A RTW First Class ticket
2. You want to buy it on the price you'd pay in Germany for that ticket (which is currently DM 11999,- for a RWSTAR1)
3. You want to take advantage of the current weak DM and taking the rate of exchange into account, pay roughly 6000 USD for this ticket (which is 1000 USD cheaper than waht you'd pay in the US)

If this is your calculation, sorry, it does not work. RWSTAR1 for DM 11999 MUST start in Germany. AFAIK tickets have to be either SITI or SOTI. But your journey definitely has to originate in Germany. So as Rudi pointed out, his way of doing it is the only possible way.