Thanks for the tip. I wouldn't really mind less comfortable seats on these flights though, especially since we would have a stopover in Dubai. We wouldn't be able to do the DXB stop otherwise. Besides, I normally always travel economy class, so it will be better than usual in any case.

I have in the meantime added a couple of flights to the itinerary and am working out the exact number of flights, stopovers and transfers. I think I'll end up somewehere very near to 29,000 miles and 24 flights!

As i said on malaysianwings, it's YMMV anyway as some people prefer the older seating.

And lots of FF miles too... LH M+M gives you 200% accrual for business class (225% on LH/LO/LX/OS/UA after 35 000 status miles).

Hi Levant,

Just my luck that I stumbled across your post. My partner and I just thought of doing a RTW next April.

Are there any suggestions for good RTW travel agents in BKK? I've been using Eight & Nine travel (corner of Silom and Narathiwat) for personal travel. I might consult with our Amex travel agent this week, however.

I'm just struggling to find all the rules and interpretations for RTWs - on backtracking, stopovers, over-land trips, etc.

Also any idea how much RWSTAR1 and RWSTAR2 cost, ex-BKK? (Google found me this info at traveller2000.com: http://www.traveller2000.com/thailan...conditions.htm ) but am wondering how current are these fares...

Also, I'm wondering how does having *G status helps with upgrades (to bus - but we might opt to go bus RTW)?

Thx everyone.

Welcome to FT!

The fares you linked to seem a little dated. Here are the current Thailand fares...

YRTWSTAR1/2/3 100930 116080 136260
CRTWSTAR1/2/3 201150 231440 271560
FRTWSTAR1/2/3 306550 352350 413660

Hi, I haven't really looked at travel agents yet, as I have been putting the itinerary together with the Mileage Calculator that you can download from the Star Alliance website. However, I have looked on the internet and came in contact with an agent called Chawla Travel on Patpong 1 road. They seem to specialise in RTW fares, although their website still mentions old fares. I might visit them on my next trip to Bangkok.

As for rules, you'll be able to find all the details in various posts on this forum. But the most important ones ex-BKK are as follows:
- Maximum 24 flights
- Maximum 15 stopovers
- Max 3 stopovers per country, except USA (5)
- Max 1 stopover per city (stopover is more than 24 hours)
- Max 3 transfers per city (transfer is less than 24 hours)
- An overland (surface) sector does not count as a segment of the trip, but does count as 1 stopover.

Hope this helps. I have just finished my itinerary and will post it here, so you can get an idea of the possibilities. I managed to get very close to 24 flights and 29,000 miles...b

Planning a RTW is a lot of fun, and I am sure doing it much more!

Well, after many hours of puzzling, shifting with flights and looking at various options, I came up with the following. I have added 'just a couple' of flights to my original itinerary...

I downloaded the RTW Mileage Calculator from the Star Alliance website. It works quite good although I think I found a few glitches. For example, it claims that I have more than 24 segments in my itinerary, which is not true.

Here we go!

BKK - NRT: probably Singapore Airlines (777), although I'd like to try ANA (767).
NRT - SEA: United Airlines 777. Looked at ANA NRT-SFO and UA SFO-SEA, but no miles left!

Overland from Seattle to Phoenix via San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mojave and Las Vegas. We plan to do a scenic flight over the Grand Canyon, probably with a Scenic Airlines Twin Otter.

PHX - DFW: America West (will their aircraft be repainted in US Airways colours?)
DFW - ORD - STL: United Airlines, via Chicago O'Hare to St Louis.
STL - CLT - TPA: US Airways, via Charlotte to Tampa. The STL-CLT leg is operated by a Mesa Airlines CRJ900, while the CLT-TPA leg will probably be my first ever 757 ride.

We'll have a few days in Florida to drive around. We'll also visit MIA and FLL.

MCO - CLT - SXM: US Airways, via Charlotte to St Maarten. Spotters' heaven!
SXM - IAD: US Airways to Washington Dulles.
DCA - YYZ: Air Canada from Ronald Reagan to Toronto.
YYZ - BOS: Air Canada back to the USA.
BOS - LGA: US Airways shuttle to the Big Apple, leaves almost every hour.

A few days in New York, and then
JFK - FRA - AMS: Singapore Airlines to FRA and connection to Amsterdam Schiphol. Apart from spotting at Schiphol, I am going to show some sights to my partner, who is British and never visited Holland.
AMS - OPO: TAP Portugal to Porto, and the next day
OPO - LIS: on to the capital Lisbon.
LIS - MAD: TAP to the Spanish capital. Also planning to visit the beautiful town of Salamanca.
MAD - ZRH: Swiss to Zurich for some business and spotting. We might take the train to Geneva.

ZRH - IST: Swiss to Istanbul, for a week or so in Turkey. We'll probably head down to Bodrum.
IST - DXB: Singapore Airlines to the UAE, and after a few days
DXB - BKK: with Thai Airways back home.

As we can have 15 stopovers during the trip, including 5 in the USA, in some places we'll stay less than 24 hours for them to count as transits.

Phew! Well, the above list amounts to 22 flights (out of a total of 24 allowed) and some 28,920 miles (which is under the 29,000 mile limit of the cheapest business RTW package). I am sure the airport taxes will be considerable, but what the heck, this is going to be a fantastic trip! Lots of new routes, airlines, airports and other things to see and to do.

Never before have I been so eager to spend a large amount of money...