Basic RTW Questions
 

Okay, I've scoured the *A and OW boards and found lots of very technical details about RTW itineraries. However, I have some basic questions that are probably more suited for this board. I hope some of you have some advice for me...I'm planning a possible RTW, or perhaps a Circle Pacific, for about a year from now.

- First of all, cost: I've seen fares for RTWs range anywhere from $1500 to $6000 coach, $3000 to $9000 biz. I see the low fares whispered about on these boards; the high fares on the official *A/OW websites. What's the deal? Is there a place to buy super-cheap RTWs, and do you sacrifice flexibility or other benefits with the cheaper fare? (Or am I totally off my rocker with the $3000 biz RTW?)

- Second: Miles/status. There will be two of us traveling - both AA plats. We will also be UA Premier (not Exec) at the time. Do RTW flights earn status miles on UA/AA? Do they earn bonuses (1.25 or double) based on UA/AA status? Do I give up the right to earn miles with super-cheap fares?

- Third: Upgrades. If I purchase a coach RTW, can I upgrade certain segments to biz with miles? What about upgrading the whole ticket with a fixed number of miles?

- Fourth: In general, in one alliance better than the other overall for RTW trips? I know some available destinations will be different because of the different airline sets, but I'm mainly trying to understand if people in general find one alliance to be much easier to work with using these tickets.

Any info would be greatly appreciated....
Thanks!

You get all the benefits of a standard full fare business or first class tickets except for some airlines capacity controlling the premier seats in high season. I will give you an example of a recent RTW ticket I purchased and it will answer all your questions.
The ticket was an oneworld explorer business class ticket originating out of Sweden, which currently is the cheapest for OWE tickets. I was in London traveling to USA and a ONE WAY business class ticket was quoted at $ 3800 undiscounted to New Orleans. I paid $ 80, went to Sweden and originated there. I registered for AA Platinum challenge before starting. The routing was 4 continents carefully chosen to maximise mileage (Can be chosen for convenience too)
ARN=LHR=MCT=LHR=SFO=MSY=SEA=YUL=SFO=BOS=PHX=LGA=JF K=HKG=BOM=HKG=DEL=JNB=HRE=NBO=BRU=LHR=ARN
The total base miles were around 70000, the total Q miles were 87500, total FF miles around 200000 enough for two more business class tickets anywhere in the world. In addition this one ticket made me first a AA platinum, will make me a Platinum EX when completed and will give me 20% of a million miler status.
The total cost including Tax was $ 3330. This may be an extreme example of beating the system and that is why RTW tickets are so interesting http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif
Basically the choice depends on your routing and airline preference. I used to be a *Alliance follower and have now changed to one world. Yes you can upgrade segments using miles, but cannot upgrade paying for it. Most of the tickets are valid for a year, you can change the dates ad nauseum, can change the routing once free and later on a nominal payment in OWE and always on payment in*A

Was that 3330 ex sweden Y or C?

AFAIK, the cheapest place to buy RTW is Bangkok, mainly due the baht exchange rate,

Useful link

http://www.travel-library.com/rtw/html/faq.html

Ticket Planet (800) 799-8888. Ticket Planet has round the world tickets starting at $1195 for a New York - Paris - Delhi - Bangkok / Land / Malaysia - Beijing or Hong Kong - New York trip.
Source: http://cssvc.independenttraveler.com...D=9&category=6

BUSINESS CLASS! Fares from BKK have gone up and are no longer good value.

drbala, which airlines did you/will you use?

Especially for the DEL- onwards sectors.

TravelOne,

You can find which OW carriers fly on a specific segment by using a freely downloadable program from Cathay Pacific's (CX) website.

http://www.cathaypacific.com/intl/pl...le/0,,,00.html

http://downloads.cathaypacific.com/9574_setup.exe

If the links do not work for you, navigate from the CX site under schedule and downloadable fares.

For HKG-DEL you will need to use CX. For DEL-JNB you can use BA. Many have codeshare numbers as well.

One of the challenges I see in drbala's itinerary is that JFK-HKG is only available on CX among OW carriers as a non-stop. Any problems there because of pilot problems at CX will involve rerouting. The problem is that because of pilot problems at CX, the only proposed nonstop flt is now unavailable. CX has a direct service (single flt number with intermediate stop) which will solve the problem as long as there are no strikes or cancellations at CX.

Hi Travelone
My ticket was designed to produce maximum miles. I am flying JFK-HKG-DEL-HKG-BOM-HKG-JNB ETC. You could fly Cathay Pacific to Hongkong or BA to London.

rmccamy,

- Do you prefer economy or business? There are cheaper RTWs that do not work alliance wide but work for limited networks sometimes outside core alliances (UA/CX, NW/KLM/SQ, etc.) that have different constraints. There are under $3K biz fares on these networks. I have done numerous $3K or so biz RTWs and they are fine. On some special flts you may need to wait until the last minute to get confirmations. Limited availability (as opposed to full J which gets you a seat when any seat is available) but rarely has it been a real constraint especially when planning in advance. With all the status and value of miles, I recommend biz class because of better availability (the fare difference is partly compensated for by the bonus miles and in case of OW, the First class bonus and q-points on US travel).

As far as alliance fares are concerned (OW, Star, etc.) the rates are the same usually based on country of start or country of issue (and rarely country of residence). You cannot get cheaper than published fares unless you get someone to discount you (many agents outside North America do this a lot but will not publicize it - you need to get info word of mouth or through ads in specialized or local press). There are risks involved - if you use a credit card and cross-check the official ticket you may be OK (the cash discounts are usually issued from the comissions the agents get which are high in developing countries and Europe).

Beginners of RTW may find the following helpful:
http://www.guidebookwriters.com/regi.../airfares.html
http://hasbrouck.org/excerpts/index.html#RTW
I am not related in any to the links above. The key takeaways from the above are that to get a truly discounted fare you may need to buy locally in many areas or use an expert. You can use AMEX to buy locally but specialized agents like the ones hasbrouck mentions above may be better.

- RTW tickets earn miles, status and bonuses. In economy they are published discounted fares (M on AA). In Biz they are discounted business but get you the 25% class of travel bonus, as well as 100% PLAT bonus. On Star, the treatment is similar for UA and you get even better with LH (100% class of travel bonus instead of 25%). You do not give any right to earn any bonuses.

- As drbala mentioned above you can upgrade on AA flts using miles or VIPOWs (when you reach Plat EXEC status or million miles). On UA you can upgrade using SWUs and I think miles as well (check on UA/Star boards). If you are flying biz RTW you can upgrade to F. It is worth it on most OW/Star carriers.

- OW is better to maximize miles and status. Star is slightly expensive but is good to get the highest status on LH. I personally recommend OW but your choice may vary. The strategies are different for different alliances. Check the OW and Star boards and also search Google or other search engines for info. drbala has stated that he recently switched to OW from Star. I went to Star AFTER getting and locking in OW benefits. Star has much better network but I find OW pricing and benefits better if OW meets your travel needs.

DRBALA, any suggestions for a NYC-DBX-HKG-NYC RTW ticket. I know that you prefer buying them from BKK. Any vendor suggestions in USA?

Thanks a lot

MSP2000

I assume you want DXB. Originate in Toronto and fly Cathay-United combo. I think the fares are going up only after 15 August.
I have now downgraded BKK and prefer Sweden for OWE and Starlite.

Thanks for all the info...it's helpful to hear about the various options. I will check out the links you've all included in this thread.

To answer a couple of questions:

- We are interested in spending most - if not all - of our travels in business class. The reason I don't flat out say "all business" is that I'd consider options that involve buying a coach seat and upgrading the longer segments with miles. Finances permitting, the business class ticket seems like the better option.

- I'm definitely leaning towards OW over Star or other airlines. Obviously the bonus miles are important, but I'm even more interested in staying with airlines that I know will take care of me if something goes wrong (canceled flights, etc.). I will only be Premiere on UA next year, and I know how UA treats their non-1K pax http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif.

- My travel date is starting to firm up...looking like September 2002. I also think that we will know our destinations (likely 4-5 destinations) by this September. So instead of a true unlimited RTW ticket, we might be willing to book point-to-point if it saves $$$.

Speaking of RTW's, NW recently gave me an Awards ticket JFK-PEK that routed me thus:

JFK-NRT-PEK-AMS-JFK

So I've just finished my first RTW, tho' I only got an hour in NRT terminal and four hours in Amsterdam (enough time to go drink some coffee downtown).

As for RTWs, why not just buy as you go? Just about everywhere outside of the first world, the airline industry is sufficiently undeveloped such that there are no real advance purchase discounts. You'll have a lot of flexibility, and you just might end up flying places you didn't even realize existed, let alone wanted to visit before you arrived. There is also the possibility of adding overland travel, like a quick jaunt down the Trans-Siberian ...