Planning to go around the world – but don’t know where to start ??

[Buck Naked]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a long time reader of this site & first time poster as I really don’t travel that often and we are about to do the biggest trip of our lives next year & I thought if anyone was going to give me the best & most honest advice, it would be here.

Next year, I am planning to go around the world with my wife & three children (all aged between 10 & 15). I’m still roughly working out where we would all like to go, but at this stage we are thinking about going Melbourne – Hong Kong – Dubai – Rome – London – New York – Los Angeles – Hawaii & back home to Melbourne.

I have had a look at the Qantas/One World trip planner that allows me to plan & potentially book such a trip, but I question as if this is the best option to go ? I have also tried to look at potentially booking each flight via each individual airline in each country as well & the prices I was being quoted were roughly the same via both excercises, but I’m so unsure where to start. So my questions are :

• What do you (the experts) think is the best way to book an around the world trip – yourselves via the Qantas/One World site for example, via a travel agency or do it by booking each flight yourself around the world ?
• We are definitely doing this next year, but I’m also unsure as to when I should start booking it – do you think I should do that now or is there a better time in the year to book a trip like this that may allow us to get access to any specials ? At this stage we are looking to travel about this time next year (July).

I appreciate any directions or guidance anyone is able to give – many thanks in advance !

 

[djfuzz]

Can you elaborate a little on your plans? For example:

• What class do you intend to travel in? (Only ask because the bang-for-buck for different options varies considerably between classes; for example, booking business class RTW tickets is dear but is a sweet spot for value compared to individually booking each leg; on the other hand, that may not be as significant with economy or first).
• Do you have any points / status accrued with QF/Oneworld or any other airline?

Also, booking tickets / legs from certain countries can often be better value than booking them from here; for example, flights out of Asia are substantially cheaper than they are here. For RTW tickets, South Africa is also a good value proposition, but you have to factor in the cost of positioning flights.

 

[Buck Naked]

Thanks for the quick follow-up djfuzz - greatly appreciated.

To answer your questions, we will all be planning to travel via economy, as with myself paying for 5 passengers, anything more lavish than that will put a dint into our accommodation & playtime budget. When I did a mock booking via Qantas/One World, I was quoted around the $25K mark for flights. When I did a similar mock booking via the individual airlines, the final price came in around the $22K mark, so I’m getting into reality mode and accepting that this seems to be the price I’ll be paying for this type of trip for flights alone.

In regards to any other points accumulated – no, we’ve never left Australia before and this is our big once in a lifetime family trip – but I’m expecting to have heaps of points accumulated when we get back !


I did notice that when going direct to the airlines web sites overseas myself, the prices were a bit cheaper – I just wasn’t sure if booking direct here would cause me any issues, but from other posts I’ve seen on this site, I see many members recommend it as the way to go. Would you recommend on trying to book all this myself (as a novice, but I do know what I am looking for) or going via a travel agency, or perhaps even using the OneWorld type site and keeping the one booking all together ?

 

[JohnK]

If you do not care about frequent flyer programs or accumulating FF points then places like Best Flights or Flight Centre may be able to offer cheaper RTW airfares using a mixture of airlines.

 

[Grooba]

If the prices are relatively the same then I would book a RTW via the QF / Oneworld planner rather than all the flights separately. The reason for this is to get all your flights included in a single PNR. Basically this means you will be assisted by the airline if something goes wrong like a flight is cancelled or if there are delays etc.

 

[Alanslegal]

If you do not care about frequent flyer programs or accumulating FF points then places like Best Flights or Flight Centre may be able to offer cheaper RTW airfares using a mixture of airlines.

I agree with this. Give Flight Centre a call and just see what they can do and get an estimate, then come back here and we'll review it, analyse and give some feedback ；） im thinking the $3k pp mark will be the price point.One of the good features for an Oneworld rtw fare is having 16 segments and thus visiting alot of cities, if time permits.

 

[ermen]

Given the strength of the AUD, I was thinking you could possibly look at buying this in New Zealand (start your trip in AKL). I was playing around the QF RTW calculator and remembered that flights ex. AKL where much cheaper than ex AUS

Potentially some savings as it shouldn't cost too much to fly across to AKL from MEL?

 

[malmacdowall]

Check out best flights.com.au. They have a round the world section that outlines the different specials available with different carriers....

They have a star alliance fare from $3800 with five stops using many different carriers . A sample itinerary is Sydney - Auckland - Vancouver - Toronto - Paris - Istanbul - Dubai - Singapore - Sydney

Qantas and one world also have a midi fare to combat the star alliance one, it's based on miles flown and stops from $4100 for example 26,000 Miles
Sydney - San Francisco - New York - Madrid - London - Bombay - Sydney

Just somewhere to start and then call the airlines / travel agents to compare...

 

[djfuzz]

I'm surprised the cost comes out so high - as others suggested, I'd try out Flight Centre or similar first to get an idea, I'm sure they could do better than that; LONE4s from AKL are not a bad idea either (short stop on the way to HKG).

 

[Cynicor]

Have a chat with some travel agents, flight centre may be a good starting point but never book through them. STA travel also sell a few round the world fares to start you off. Bear in mind that you often trade cost for convenience.The LONE4 option is good to maximize stopovers, distance and flexibility but with mostly big name cities on your list you'll probably be able to fInd something cheaper. Also, if you aren't completely set on some of the cities it may help- Dubai and Hawaii may limit you more than London and new york for instance so keep an open mind for substitutions. Maybe a Pacific island instead of Hawaii, singapore instead of Dubai etc.Once you have some quotes and an idea of what carriers are being offered let us know.

 

[drron]

Also you might not need to get an RTW fare.EG-do a circle pacific fare-MEL-HKG-HNL-LAX-MEL which comes in just under the 21000 miles for the lowest fare class for this product.Then add-LAX-NYC,an NYC-LHR then maybe train london-Paris-Rome and fly FCO-DXB-LAX.
I really dont know if this would be cheaper but just another option to consider.
Also I would try avoiding HNL-Australia on QF as they use the 767 or you may find yourself on JQ and a codeshare.Flying to or from HNL to HKG will require a transfer in Japan but the combination of CX and JAL should be better than the Aussie sectors.Jal uses a 767 from NRT-HNL but a 777 from NGO or HND.

 

[Buck Naked]

I've just logged back onto the site today & 24 hours later have multiple responses to my question already. Big thank you to all who have provided some fantastic tips & advice - this is greatly appreciated. I'll digest all of this and post a further reply once I start to get some official quotes in for my trip for all who have requested to review.

Many thanks again

 

[Robert K]

Remember to check creditcard processing fees. Flight center wanted to charge me 5%. Ended up paying via bank transfer which I regret now missing out of 25k of point from my CC.

Not sure if the oneworld site charges a fee for CC

Edit: flight center also quoted me $2000 more than if I just booked through the oneworld site. I told them not to worry as I'll be purchasing via the website, and they matched it.

 

[Alanslegal]

Remember to check creditcard processing fees. Flight center wanted to charge me 5%. Ended up paying via bank transfer which I regret now missing out of 25k of point from my CC.

Assuming points earn is at 1.5 per $1.00 spent, then your 25K points earn would have been on a total spend of ~$16,667.

At 5% surcharge on $16,667, that equals $833.33.

So the $833.33 question is ...... is it worth 25K of points?

To me ... the answer is definitely not

 

[Robert K]

Assuming points earn is at 1.5 per $1.00 spent, then your 25K points earn would have been on a total spend of ~$16,667.

At 5% surcharge on $16,667, that equals $833.33.

So the $833.33 question is ...... is it worth 25K of points?

To me ... the answer is definitely not

That does seem like a really cough deal...

 

[travelislife]

• What is the timeframe for your trip?
• Do you need to be flexible with your iternary or are you going to be set with where/when you go places?
• I feel you should be able to do what you want for the $3000 mark per person, so circa $15000, $25000 seems crazy.
• RTW is definitely an area where a good travel agent can help you, so go get some quotes and come back

 

[gumpy]

If the prices are relatively the same then I would book a RTW via the QF / Oneworld planner rather than all the flights separately. The reason for this is to get all your flights included in a single PNR. Basically this means you will be assisted by the airline if something goes wrong like a flight is cancelled or if there are delays etc.

in fact even if there is a price premium i'd do this for the reason above. Any delays or missed connections and the airlines will look after you.

Also i agree with others consider ex AKL. I cant be cheaper. Leave the last flight open and have a NZ holiday with the family 10 months later.

 

[rechoboam]

Remember this is a novice o/s traveller. Stick to one world so you'll be taken care of in case of volcanos etc. And don't try to fit TOO much in, stop to take in the culture and experiences (but enough flights to get your money's worth).

 

[Point Hunter]

Assuming points earn is at 1.5 per $1.00 spent, then your 25K points earn would have been on a total spend of ~$16,667.

At 5% surcharge on $16,667, that equals $833.33.

So the $833.33 question is ...... is it worth 25K of points?

To me ... the answer is definitely not

I agree with you answer to the $833.33 question.

 

[Point Hunter]

I'm on a similar quest. Looking for RTW for 2012-13. Something like Mel-LA (surface) NY-European City-SE Asia-Mel.

Pretty flexible with cities. Direction must be travelling east though. US for two months first, Europe for 6-8 months then SE Asia and home. 10-12 month trip I suppose. However, remaining in Europe long enough to catch Ashes 2013 would be a treat, but I doubt you can get a RTW extending over a period of around 15-18 months?

I don't have status. I do have around QF 150k points and few EK miles. I'd like to save those I suppose and build upon them for now.

One world booking function has only produced expensive results 5-6k+ per person and it only goes up until Aug 12. Engaging a couple of agents at different places to see what they can produce. At this stage the 26,000M Qantas and OW deal for 4099 seems the best