Guide to Oneworld Explorer Round-The-World Tickets

Did you know that the Oneworld alliance offers a special round-the-world airfare?

You can use the Oneworld Explorer fare to fly around the world on all Oneworld airlines, including Qantas, with up to 15 stopovers. This can be very good value if you maximise the inclusions. It’s also relatively flexible, with the option to easily change your travel dates as you go.

Plus, you could easily earn Qantas Platinum status with a Oneworld Explorer ticket in Business Class!

The Oneworld Explorer product is offered in Economy, Business and First Class. Although Oneworld does not offer a Premium Economy round-the-world ticket, you can upgrade individual sectors of an Economy itinerary to Premium Economy for a surcharge.

The ticket price is based on your class of travel and the number of continents that you visit.

Star Alliance also offers its own round-the-world airfare.

Which airlines are part of Oneworld?

You can fly with any of the Oneworld member airlines as part of a Oneworld Explorer itinerary.

These airlines make up the Oneworld alliance:

What routings are possible with a Oneworld Explorer ticket?

This is a very flexible fare. Many routings are possible, but there are some rules that you need to follow. This PDF from the Oneworld website contains a full list of routing rules and allowances.

As this is a round-the-world ticket, you would need to travel in one continuous direction, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean exactly once each. You can’t generally backtrack between continents.

Other rules include:

• You must end in the same country where you started the trip (there are some exceptions to this).
• Maximum 4 flights within any single continent (except North America, where you are allowed 6 flights).
• Maximum 2 stopovers in the continent of origin.
• Surface sectors are permitted.
• The whole trip cannot take longer than one year.

You can do some “backtracking” within continents, but there are some limitations. For example, you can only include one trans-continental flight within Australia on routes between most cities on the east coast and Perth, Broome or Karratha. You can also only include one flight between Melbourne, Sydney or Canberra and Darwin – although you could fly more than once between Brisbane-Darwin or Adelaide-Perth.

AFF member JohnM has flown over a dozen Oneworld Explorer itineraries! For some inspiration, you can check out one of his trip reports on the AFF forum: A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018

Oneworld Explorer Continents

Here are the Oneworld Explorer continental zones:

Your base fare is based on the number of continents you visit. That said, Oneworld defines “continents” fairly loosely.

This creates some interesting loopholes! For example, if you visit countries in the Middle East or northern Africa, Oneworld considers these as part of Europe for the purposes of a Oneworld Explorer ticket. So, a side-trip from Spain to Morocco won’t add any “continents” to your airfare.

How to Book a Oneworld Explorer Ticket

You can book a Oneworld Explorer ticket with most travel agents. Alternatively, you could easily plan and book your own trip on the Oneworld website.

The online tool is intuitive and easy to use.

Oneworld is currently working on a new booking engine that uses an AI chatbot to build your itinerary. If you’d like to use this to book, the beta version is currently available to the public.

Oneworld Explorer lingo

We love our abbreviations on AFF! On our forums, Oneworld Explorer tickets are often referred to as xONEx fares.

The first “x” represents the fare class (RBD). In this case it’s “L” for Economy, “D” for Business or “A” for First Class. The second “x” stands for the number of continents. So, for example, a “DONE5” is a 5-continent Oneworld Explorer ticket in Business Class. (This is also the official fare basis, used by travel agents.)

How much does a Oneworld Explorer cost?

As a rough guide, here’s a sample 4-continent itinerary we put together starting in Melbourne:

At the time of writing, this trip would cost:

• $6,051 in Economy
• $14,704 in Business Class
• $23,299 in First Class

These prices comprise of the DONE4 base fare for the chosen cabin class, plus all taxes & carrier charges. The taxes and charges depend on your routing and the airlines flown.

Note that First Class was not available on most of the flights in this particular itinerary, so booking First wouldn’t be great value here. But if you wanted to book a First Class round-the-world ticket, you could maximise the value by choosing airlines and routings with the product available.

These prices may sound like quite a lot of money. But it’s almost certainly cheaper than buying all of the flights individually! Don’t forget, a key benefit of the Oneworld Explorer is also the flexibility. You can change your dates free of charge after finalising your booking (subject to availability).

Start your trip overseas to save money

The above prices apply if you started your trip in Australia. Trips that begin overseas are priced differently – and are sometimes cheaper. In fact, you can often save thousands of dollars by starting your trip in a country such as Japan, Mauritius, South Africa or Egypt.

If you were to start the above trip in Tokyo, rather than Melbourne, the price (converted to AUD) would be:

• Economy: $5,336 (12% cheaper)
• Business: $9,840 (33% cheaper)
• First: $13,957 (40% cheaper)

Oneworld Explorer vs Oneworld Classic Flight Reward

The Oneworld Explorer product is not to be confused with the Qantas Oneworld Classic Flight Reward.

The Oneworld Classic Flight Reward is a frequent flyer redemption ticket that you could use to travel around the world with Qantas Frequent Flyer points. It is subject to different rules and is not actually a round-the-world ticket, so backtracking is allowed.

If you’re considering booking a Oneworld Explorer ticket, be sure to check out this thread on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum where our members discuss ways to maximise the benefits:

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.