Just an update on the VS/TG fare that's been discussed. Tried to book it today and was told by VS that the agreement with TG for the around the world was terminated back in October (although it still shows as valid on the VS website). It was good while it lasted I suppose.

I just called VS, and it seems like VS/TG, VS/MH and VS/BR round the world combinations are no longer available. The VS agent quoted me a whopping USD7500 for VS/BR Business/Upper Class fare, as opposed to the USD3500 posted online. So the low prices are definitely not available. The only ones that are available are VS/NH and the Great Escape, which are both quite expensive in Business Class.

Does anyone know of any cheap round the world in Business Class ex-USA? Anything available for under USD5000?

Last time I looked the QF/LY J RTW was around $4950 ex-USA. You have to fly LY metal over the Atlantic and QF over the Pacific; you can do one backtrack from TLV-Europe and can add JNB (LY weekly) for $300 (IIRC) then QF to SYD from there. The US QF people were easy to deal with but wouldn't ticket eastbound itins from the US - they sent me to LY instead, and that was frustrating to the max.

Thank you for your response. The destinations i need to fly to are LAX-LHR-HKG-LAX, neither of which are convinent to do QF/LY. Are there any other combinations?

Sounds ideal for any RTW offering that includes NZ. NZ does sell NZ-only RTW but I am not sure if it meets your price expectations ex-USA (I doubt it given the fares they command in business class LAX-LHR or LAX-AKL alone).

Is QF/LY still available? How about any other C RTW still available for ~$5000 ex USA? I need to go to LHR and SYD. QF/LY seems like a pretty good deal, though would prefer not to deal with LY as I need to go eastbound first.

LY/QF/FJ is still showing $4969 in J, $2909 in C.

really? That page still shows Malaysian...

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us...worldfares.jsp

Theres also SQ/VS for $3600(Y)/$6600(C) or VS/NZ $3149(Y)/$6800(C).

thank you. good to know it's still available around $5K. now just have to find if we can go westward first.

so ex-US is down to 3 around $5K >

- $4,850 VS/MH

- $4,785 *A Circle Pacific (CCPSTAR1)

- $4,969 QF/LY/FJ (+$300 for Africa) (DRWQFLY)

Dear pacificboot,

Not all the agreements you mentioned are still active in your system. At
this time, we have 4 active agreement leaving the US. The Call Center
agents are unable to price a Round the World Booking. In order to get the
proper price, you must make a booking with the Call Center, that booking is
then forwarded to the Rates Help Desk for a quote to be completed. Or
alternately you would make the booking in your own system and queue it over
to the Rates Desk from there.

From the Backstage site, the follow agreements are still actively available
for sale.

>The Great Escapade: Virgin Atlantic/Air New
Zealand/Singapore Airlines (business base USD7480.00 )
>Virgin Atlantic and All Nippon Airways (business base
USD7400.00)
>Virgin Atlantic and Malaysian Airlines (business base
USD4850.00)
>Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines (business base
USD6660.00)




All fares noted above are before taxes or surcharges of any kind. Certain
agreements will allow upgrading to higher class of service then those
listed for a surcharge. Please note that with the exception of the
Escapade, all the agreements have strict no back tracking rules. The
Escapade itself is milage based with a 29,000 MPM with the option of
purchasing addition milage if needed. All Round the World agreements
involve an advanced purchase requirement with most needing at least 7 days.

Please call our Contact Center at 1-800-862-8621 where any of our agents
will be happy to assist in making a booking. If you are not in the US,
please contact the local Virgin Atlantic Contact Center for Assistance.
Those number can be found on our website at www.virgin-atlantic.com.

Thank you for choosing Virgin Atlantic and we look forward to hearing from
you soon.

Best Regards,

US Ticketing Services

So it seems like from the US, VS/MH is still the cheapest for Business Class travel.

The prices seem high, however anything I may have not seen?