Totally Loco RTW ideas??

[Natt]

I am going to put this in the playground as its rather an odd one (like me!)

Heres the plan - March 2010 :

2 people + 8 months off work = RTW fun???

Where I need help - I need information - all those little pearls of wisdom, insider tips - cheap places to fly into/out of I want them all

Limited RTW fares seem to start at 2.5K-3K per person - so I am thinking that instead I would like to buy tickets from the best priced provider at the time.

Any means of travel is on, providing its well priced and safe, although obviously more comfortable the better

After looking at 2 for 1 jetstar starclass sale the Sydney-Honolulu sector looks interesting - AUD$1630 for 2 pax

Next I have found that Alaskan Airways flies from Honolulu-Seattle - AUD$670 for 2 people

Thats perfect as we want to head up the alaskan marine highway (although exactly where is a tad vague)

And thats as far as I have got - so I reckon we will be someone in alaska around april 5 then looking to fly to out (anyone know a cheap city to get out of)

las vegas or los angeles (around 3 weeks in the desert)
May 1 head to the east coast of the US by air (short break - one week?)
May 8 ish UK - other than scotland I just don't have a clue (6 weeks)
and from there it just becomes really vague although Greenland looks interesting

Hmm maybe I should be finding a travel agent, anyone know one that thrives on confusion

All help gratefully accepted. Even though it seems forever away - the fares specials are starting to come up now - so I better get my skates on!

Apparently I am even flying in the "wrong direction" but why does that not surpise me :shock:

 

[Keith009]

One thing to note with mini RTWs is that often you'd have to buy intra-continental flights yourself as these fares generally cover you for only the intercontinental segments and very limited regional flights.

However with the reduction in segment allowance of the major alliance RTW products and corresponding rise in costs, that might not be such a concern.

And since this is FF, I'd also advise you to identify a preferred carrier and its partners, and structure your travel accordingly so you can gain some miles for future use and/or status.

For your needs you might want to look at oneworld's Global Explorer product, the mileage-based product oneworld offers which also includes a range of non-oneworld carriers that cover your destinations such as Alaskan. You're well covered by AA and AS for your desired destinations within mainland USA. Then BA across to Scotland via London, and you can generally wing it and find intra-Europe flights cheaply online once you're there. Finally, QF/BA/CX back home via Asia, you can even throw in a stop there to stretch out your 8 months. I am not familiar with the rules of this fare but it seems you're limited to 2 stopovers per region on the cheapest 26k fare as well as 5 (or was it 4??) stops in total - so I'd pay a little more for the 29k version.

Star Alliance mirrors the Global Explorer offerings with its RTW fares, all mileage based but employs a greater range of carriers. Star Alliance does cover Greenland but you will have to backtrack on SAS via one of the Scandinavian cities (CPH i think) to get there.

The continent based oneworld Explorer could also work out for you as it is more flexible segment wise (4 segments per continent, 6 in North America, capped at a total of 16), and the fare level depends on the number of continents covered which in your case is 4 as your itinerary inevitably touches Asia at some stage (the plane only has to land somewhere for a continent to be included in the fare calculation regardless of whether you're stopping over or changing flight numbers or not). But you only have AA to go on in North America which is not v convenient for getting to SEA or ANC unless you plan on spending lots of time getting to know DFW and ORD (not such a bad idea if you're nuts like me ).

There's also the very good value LH mini-RTW fare. The cheaper version only covers LH, TG and UA, whereas the more expensive one has a few more carriers such as SQ and AC. I believe in each instance, you have to find your own way around the US, but they do throw in 2 intra Europe segments into the fare via FRA or MUC.

SWISS and SAS also have similar offerings to LH I believe.

These can be much cheaper than the full RTWs but in most instances you'd also be spending a fair bit on intra regional flights.

I hope that helps you get started with the planning. Have a great trip - all sounds v exciting.

 

[Natt]

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These can be much cheaper than the full RTWs but in most instances you'd also be spending a fair bit on intra regional flights.

Have a great trip - all sounds v exciting.

Thanks for the extensive info on RTW airfares, I have done a little looking and yes it looks like addon flights can get quite expensive - especially the US

Is it completely silly to look at just flying one place to another with no preferred carrier. I am leaning towards that given the veritable treasure trove of low cost carriers.

Of course no loyalty points but!

 

[Keith009]

Thanks for the extensive info on RTW airfares, I have done a little looking and yes it looks like addon flights can get quite expensive - especially the US

Is it completely silly to look at just flying one place to another with no preferred carrier. I am leaning towards that given the veritable treasure trove of low cost carriers.

Of course no loyalty points but!

Not silly at all if you are on a tight budget. I have friends who manage to string together RTWs in the manner you described. However do give yourself some time between flights - as you wouldn't be protected across separate itineraries and in the case of LCCs you might not be protected at all even if all flights are on the same itinerary if one flight gets delayed etc. Best to not have connecting flights if possible. Or maybe I'm just paranoid. :shock:

I don't know if you need to be a student/teacher/under 26 (apologies if you actually are one of these ) to qualify for the special RTWs that STA Travel offers - but I'd look into them. They're often much cheaper than the ones I described, and you get to travel on some nicer carriers than LCCs at a marginally higher if not same price!

LCCs in the US actually seem rather pleasant btw, I'd look into Virgin America. It's the European ones like RyanScare I'd be wary of.

 

[docjames]

You may find that by the time you string a series of "Low cost carriers" together, it winds up costing the same or more than an RTW fare with either OW or *A. Generally speaking, availability of seats to RTW tickets may be better than availability of LCC super cheap seats. FF points etc is a bonus afterwards.

 

[notzac]

Is it completely silly to look at just flying one place to another with no preferred carrier. I am leaning towards that given the veritable treasure trove of low cost carriers.

Not completely silly - but is the price going to be much different? Remember that LCC's generally charge extra for anything and everything - for example, how much luggage are you going to be taking? Another one - if you want to be seated together, quite a few carriers will charge you for reserved seating.

Another thing worth thinking about will you be stringing flights together? LCC's generally don't do connections, so you could potentially miss a flight (and have to pay the walk-up price to get on the next available flight).

Having said all that, there's nothing inherently wrong or unsafe about a LCC, you just need to be aware of what you're getting in to. Enjoy your trip! Planning it is all part of the fun.

 

[Keith009]

Remember that LCC's generally charge extra for anything and everything - for example, how much luggage are you going to be taking?

Good point - I imagine one would have a fair bit of luggage on an 8 month trip? I know I would.

 

[Natt]

Not completely silly - but is the price going to be much different? Remember that LCC's generally charge extra for anything and everything - for example, how much luggage are you going to be taking? Another one - if you want to be seated together, quite a few carriers will charge you for reserved seating..

Great points - we are aiming at around 15 kilos a piece + 5 kilo carry on -so the weight should not be an issue (yes I know thats tiny for that long but I hate dragging gear around and we have all the good merino stuff and ultralight camping goodies)

As for sitting together - hmm we have been married for quite a while so 2-3 hour flight in different seats does not worry us

Of course I would love to fly business class RTW - but all this trip is self funded

I might edit this to say we did Malaysia on 20 kilos for 2 people - 3 weeks - and overpacked!

 

[dajop]

The other thing to take into account if you do go down the path of RTW, where to buy???

For economy the differences aren't that great, but still worth checking out. For example the oneworld global explorer mentioned above 29K mileage is $1000 cheaper if bought in Fiji or $700 less if bought in NZ. Go to the 34K mileage and it's $1200 cheaper in Fiji and $1000 cheaper in NZ (couple with cheap 1way Jetstar or Virgin Blue flight to start the trip). Just something to complicate things more.

 

[Natt]

The other thing to take into account if you do go down the path of RTW, where to buy???

For economy the differences aren't that great, but still worth checking out. For example the oneworld global explorer mentioned above 29K mileage is $1000 cheaper if bought in Fiji or $700 less if bought in NZ. Go to the 34K mileage and it's $1200 cheaper in Fiji and $1000 cheaper in NZ (couple with cheap 1way Jetstar or Virgin Blue flight to start the trip). Just something to complicate things more.

I noticed the differences between AUD & NZ at the oneworld site - so I suspect if I do the RTW it will be from NZ.

still no closer to having a clue - found a rather interesting site though - hope its OK to link Optifly | Say Goodbye to Flying Blind!

New York to Iceland actually looks doable or something odd like the UK via south america and africa

How I am going to narrow things down I'll never know :mrgreen:

 

[Skyring]

You've come to the right place for expert advice. I echo the advice given about stringing together a series of low-cost fares. By the time you've got a RTW itinerary planned, it's probably going to be about as much as a LONE4 from oneWorld, and you won't have the security and flexibility that product offers.

You also can't be assured of flying into a city's main airport with some low cost carriers - any savings on the base fare can be quickly eaten up in extra transfer costs, not to mention extra travel time and inconvenience.

Picking an airline alliance and sticking to it means that you accumulate airmiles and status levels, which can be handy later on in getting free flights or upgrades.

The xONEx RTW ticket gives you sixteen flights in total, and it would be hard to string together sixteen low-cost fares, including transatlantic and transpacific sectors for the same cost.

 

[SeaWolf]

I'm playing around with a Star Alliance Economy special, which has been an interesting experience, I'm a bit nervous about how much I'm going to get hit for taxes and surcharges when I send it off and about how easy it will be to sort out the booking/payment over the phone since I'm pretty much used to doing it all online instead.
Shame that Star Alliance haven't caught up with oneworld allowing you to book the whole thing online easily.