Round the World Ticket Help

[Carlous Moochous]

Hi,

I've been reading the forum for a while now, but now need some assistance in a round the world trip I'm trying to plan for my wedding / honeymoon trip.

The routing I would like to do is:

Melbourne, Aus - Calgary - New York - Reykjavik - Oslo - Surface sector until London - Singapore - Melbourne.

Ideally I'd like to go oneworld for both the SC and ff points (Plus I don't want to go United for the hop across the pacific) however they don't really serve canada, and i cant find any alliance that serves Iceland.. Any suggestions on the best way to book such a ticket with the least amount of backtracking would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Carl

 

[ryanbryan]

This will be quite an awkward itinerary with OW, as you are flying through a number of ports which are *A hubs, or at least, most commonly served by *A airlines. Additionally no alliance currently serves Iceland, and is unlikely to until Air Berlin join OW.

You'll either have to rethink your itinerary, or forget about point and SC accumulation with OW.

In terms of booking your stated itinerary, you would be able to book this ticket relatively cheaply and easily by booking all the segments seperately. Icelandair in particular has very good TATL deals that include a stop in KEF.

 

[straitman]

This will be quite an awkward itinerary with OW, as you are flying through a number of ports which are *A hubs, or at least, most commonly served by *A airlines. Additionally no alliance currently serves Iceland, and is unlikely to until Air Berlin join OW.

You'll either have to rethink your itinerary, or forget about point and SC accumulation with OW.

In terms of booking your stated itinerary, you would be able to book this ticket relatively cheaply and easily by booking all the segments seperately. Icelandair in particular has very good TATL deals that include a stop in KEF.

You could always book an around the world ticket with a separate side trip to Reykjavik and Oslo.

 

[samh004]

Additionally no alliance currently serves Iceland, and is unlikely to until Air Berlin join OW.

Delta will be servicing KEF from June 2011 from JFK, and as you say, Air Berlin does seasonally, but they’re not part of 1W just yet, and not from the US.

Seems to have a heavy Star Alliance presence from Europe, but nothing from the US.

 

[ryanbryan]

I don't think Austrian serves it in its own right - codeshares with Icelandair. Calgary may present a slight problem as well - not impossible, but again, slightly awkward routing. All the Europe ones bar Icelandair seem to be seasonal as well.

In any case, on the topic of the original post, unless you are willing to leave out Iceland, I would forget about a RTW with any alliance.

 

[wingspan]

Try booking the Trans-Atlantic leg with Icelandair. They have free stopovers in Iceland and very reasonable prices for the their America - Europe routes.

 

[Boris spatsky]

Can do most of this on OW.

Can get to Calgary via ORD on AA ( Eagle).

Route MEL-LAX-ORD-Calgary.

Then two options. Either ORD-JFK on AA then JFK-LHR on AA or BA. Can't get to KEF on OW so take icelandair or Iceland express LCC. Both of these also fly direct from mainland US. They also fly KEF-OSL or if you want OW then go back through LHR and pickup BA to OSL. SAS also are a QF affiliate but you only get points on certain legs.

Then home on QF. Not as bad as it sounds, except OW can't get you to Iceland.

 

[Boris spatsky]

Another option for Calgary is LAX-SEA then Calgary but you end up on a Dash8 for the Seattle to Calgary leg on Horizon (Alaskan) so didn't mention it!

 

[dfcatch]

Also LAX-DFW-YYC on AA, probably 757.

 

[Carlous Moochous]

Hey thanks for the advice.. I think we will probably try and use Icelandair for the atlantic hop, then pick up OW again on the other side... We have used Alaska/Horizon via Seattle last year (i wasn't the most popular on the dash 8 during a storm.. but i don't mind the dash 8's).. Might go via ORD next time tho so I get the SC's (alaska you don't get them)..

Anyway, thanks again for the fast advice.. Any more is always appreciated

Cheers
Carl

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi,

I've been reading the forum for a while now, but now need some assistance in a round the world trip I'm trying to plan for my wedding / honeymoon trip.

The routing I would like to do is:

Melbourne, Aus - Calgary - New York - Reykjavik - Oslo - Surface sector until London - Singapore - Melbourne.

Ideally I'd like to go oneworld for both the SC and ff points (Plus I don't want to go United for the hop across the pacific) however they don't really serve canada, and i cant find any alliance that serves Iceland.. Any suggestions on the best way to book such a ticket with the least amount of backtracking would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Carl

There's a Canadian Airline called Westjet which has a reasonable network not only within Canadian but also to Mainland USA, Mexico & Caribbean. We were going to fly the SFO/YYC but ended up changing plans & didn't go to YYC but a couple of possibilities are:

MEL/HNL QF/JQ
HNL/YYC WS
YYC/EWR WS
JFK/KEF FI
KEF/OSL FI
LHR/SIN QF
SIN/MEL QF

The $64,000 question is what fare type for the above. It might be worth calling the Icelandair (FI) office or GSA for them in Australia & asking what fare combinations they have ex MEL with other airlines.

Is it possible on a return fare to Europe to fly MEL/HNL QF or JQ surface then JFK/KEF/OSL on FI on the outbound fare then fly QF LHR/SIN/MEL on the inbound sector. You would then just pay sector fares HNL/YYC/JFK on WS?

Another option might be to do a train trip in Canada eg YYC to YYZ then ex YYZ on AA via ORD to the Caribbean & use AA ex BGI/SXM/CUN via MIA to LON & do FI/BA/SK to KEFor OSL ex European gateway rather than ex NYC.

Definitely look into a xONEx fare & compare fares as you might be better off with a round world fare.

Seeing as though it's your honeymoon a destination in the Caribbean might be a bit of wow factor & definitely not the mundane. On the return you could fly LHR/BKK & purchase a separate ticket BKK/SGN/SIN then fly SIN/MEL.

Sector fares are so cheap in Asia & Vietnam accomm is cheaper than in SIN.

Route map

 

[docjames]

How about an "open-jaw" MEL-JFK on QF, LHR-MEL on QF (bookable on QF website, plus then it's priced as "return" so no one-way costs).

Then add NY-Calgary (+/- return to NYC) on Westjet or AirCanada,
Icelandair will easily be the best option to go to Reykjavik from Europe. Overland within europe back to LHR.

Alternatively MEL-LAX, then LAX-Calgary-LAX, then LAX-JFK as part of the QF ticket to NYC (you'd have to travel on AA) or a seperate AA ticket oneway (not overly more expensive than half a return akin to Austrlain domestic.

So look at using a QF "open jaw" into either LAX or New York, with the return ex-LHR. Then filling in the middle with a candian carrier +/- icelandair.

 

[browski]

My feeling is a Skyteam RTW pass or a Star Alliance RTW pass are your best options.

I'm guessing you will need to book this through Delta or Korean Airlines for Skyteam and Air Canada or Singapore Airlines for RTW.

So it would be .......
SkyTeam
Delta SYD-LAX-Salt Lake City-Calgary-Minneapolis-NYC-Reykjavík (JFK-KEF from June 2, 2011).
Then pay a One-Way fare on SAS or IcelandAir from KEF-OSL
Then LHR-Seoul-MEL on Korean Airlines
Obviously, you'd need another side ticket if you really wanted to include Singapore.

Star Alliance
Air Canada: SYD-Vancouver (YVR)-Calgary-Newark
Then pay a One-Way fare on Iceland Air (or Delta) JFK-KEF
Then either SAS from KEF-OSL (or maybe Lufthansa via Hamburg)
Then LHR-SIN-MEL on SQ.
Prices just under AUD $4000 + JFK-KEF leg

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Carlous

What dates are you looking at doing these flights. Have you got a budget in mind for airfares? I'm assuming it's economy. :?:

 

[Carlous Moochous]

Yep unfortunately it is in economy, and budget is as low as possible (although RTW came in at $9k for 2).

With Dallas now on the Qantas Network I was thinking of this routing.. as it works out cheaper..

MEL-SYD-DFW on QF
DFW-YYC-ORD-JFK on AA
JFK-REK-Oslo on Iceland air
LHR-JFK on AA or BA
JFK-DFW on AA
DFW-BNE-MEL on QF

I spoke to qantas who said i could use the oneworld north america pass for the internal north american flights.. I'd then add the atlantic hop onto it..

With the current sale for DFW its not badly priced (e.g the MEL-DFW-MEL section is under $1k return pp).

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Carlous Moochous]

How about an "open-jaw" MEL-JFK on QF, LHR-MEL on QF (bookable on QF website, plus then it's priced as "return" so no one-way costs).


So look at using a QF "open jaw" into either LAX or New York, with the return ex-LHR. Then filling in the middle with a candian carrier +/- icelandair.

How do you do an open jaw on the QF webpage?

 

[blackcat20]

How do you do an open jaw on the QF webpage?

Click the multi-city (international) link under where you would select return or one-way.

 

[JohnK]

When did BA stop flying to Reykjavik? From memory they had flights 2-3 days a week a few years ago.

 

[Carlous Moochous]

Ok so after a few hours of trawling the internet for fares, this is what I think I'm going to book (prices shown are for 2 adults)

Ticket 1 QANTAS: $1995.45
DEP 13 AUG / RETURN 5 OCT
MEL-SYD-DFW/DFW-BNE-MEL

Ticket 2 AMERICAN: $1745 (Using OneWorld North America Pass)
DEP 13 AUG / DEP 20 AUG / DEP 5 OCT
DFW-YYC / YYC-ORD-JFK / JFK-DFW

Ticket 3: ICELAND AIR: $1803
DEP 24 AUG / RETURN 4 OCT
JFK-REK-OSL / LHR-JFK

Total Cost: $5544 (for 2 adults)

Just a few questions..

If i were to book that is it aloud? E.g. leaving a country on a different ticket to what you arrived on, then coming back to leave on your original return ticket?

I couldn't get the open jaw to work on the qantas webpage (kept saying that it was an invalid route)..

Anyway, advice appreciated.. Sale ends 20th so will need to decide this weekend.

 

[JohnK]

If i were to book that is it aloud? E.g. leaving a country on a different ticket to what you arrived on, then coming back to leave on your original return ticket?

Yes it is allowed. Should not be a problem to enter the USA on one ticket and leave on another.

A number of members on AFF do it quite regularly on their SC runs.