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RTW Flight Ticket Review Articles

Designing Your Own Round the World Itinerary

Monday, February 20th, 2012

We recently completed a research project where we shopped 3 round the world itineraries from 8 different companies who sell RTW tickets. The following is a guest post about the DIY method of buying plane tickets as you go for your RTW trip.

In January 2010 I quit my job, sold everything I owned, and bought a one way ticket from Los Angeles to Bangkok. It was the beginning of a year-long round the world adventure that brought me to 20 different countries on 4 continents.

When I left on my trip I had a vague plan of the destinations I wanted to visit, but it was very important for me to have flexibility as well. I considered buying a pre-packaged round the world ticket, but decided to go the DIY route instead.

The main reasons I chose DIY were the flexibility and the price.

Flexibility

Most round the world tickets limit your travel time to 12 months. In my case this was an immediate deal breaker. I knew I may be gone for over 12 months. Even if you are planning a shorter trip, you never know what might happen.

You might take a job at a bar on the Mekong and linger in Laos for a few months. You may discover your new-found love for ice climbing in Norway and want to stay through the winter. The point is that with extended travel, flexibility is key.

The other main downside to round-the-world tickets is that by and large they require you to pick an itinerary including dates and destinations in advance. Having that kind of structure can only hurt a traveler’s journey.

Price

My trip around the world trip included 12 flights connecting South East Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the United States. I covered a total of 38,000 miles at the bargain price of $3,256. That’s only 9 cents per mile—cheaper than driving! I have yet to find one round-the-world airfare quote for the same itinerary that can beat that price.

My DIY Round-the-World Itinerary

I booked this itinerary using only one-way airfares found by searching the web. While I racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles on the way I paid for all of these trips out of pocket. On average I bought the tickets I used about 2-3 months in advance for long haul flights and up to the very last minute for shorter flights.

The table below shows a summary of my flights. The mileages listed include the stopovers as indicated.

All said and done I took 12 flights and visited 4 continents. A little over half of these flights (7 of 12) were on budget carriers and were short distances. All of my long haul flights were on standard carriers. My most expensive flight on a cost per mile basis was my flight from Bucharest to Kos, Greece. This was probably due to two factors: one, I booked the flight evening before it left; and two, the leg from Athens to the island of Kos was on a tiny prop plane.

Looking back on it I flew a lot, and some of the time it wasn’t necessary. Had I wanted to save a little money I could have easily gone overland throughout South East Asia (skipping the Bangkok-Krabi and Bangkok-Phnom Penh-Bangkok flights and the flight within Indonesia from Denpasar to Yogyakarta). Had I skipped these flights I would have saved $245 on airfare.

Tips for Keeping on Budget

The best thing you can do to stay on budget is to be flexible. Flexibility in time and precise destination will go further and save you more money than any number of hours of searching the web for the cheapest fare.

One possible pitfall to booking independently is the trend towards egregious markups with long haul one-way fares. I found this was the biggest problem with flights between the US and Europe. You can usually find a way around it if you keep looking. Sometimes if you buy a refundable round trip ticket with plans to refund the second leg you can save some money.

While packaged round the world tickets may be perfect for some travelers, nothing beats the flexibility of relying on your own creativity and bargain hunting skills to create a round-the-world itinerary on the fly.

This was a guest post by Briana from Roll Global. For further reading you can look at her monthly budget for the entire trip here. You can also read more about her adventures, traveling, rock climbing and bicycle touring around the world on her website RollGlobal.org.

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Shopping for RTW Tickets – Route 1 Dates and Itineraries

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

During our RTW flight research project, we came up with three different round the world routes to shop among eight different companies. If you haven’t seen them already, here are the the RTW Plane Ticket Reviews from our secret shopping project.

Below you will find the itinerary and dates for the first route we shopped to give you a better idea of our findings. Remember that we posed as customers for this project in order to get the most accurate experience of what it’s like to shop for RTW plane tickets. We also shopped all three itineraries leaving from three different cities around the world – New York, London, and Sydney.

Route 1 – 4 leg Hub City RTW

Dates: We searched all three of these routes using the same dates. We shopped each route between mid-November – mid-December 2011 – about 3.5 – 4.5 months before the first flight.

Flight 1: 04/01/12
Flight 2: 05/01/12
Flight 3: 06/01/12
Flight 4: 07/01/12

Routes

New York — London — Delhi — Bangkok — New York
London — Delhi — Bangkok — New York — London
Sydney — Bangkok — Delhi — London — Sydney

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DIY (Do It Yourself) RTW Ticket Review

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

We shopped prices for RTW plane tickets from eight different companies and rated each company based on five criteria – price, search options, customer service, date flexibility, and route flexibility.

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

For the DIY option, though, some of these ratings criteria don’t apply. Since we were doing it all ourselves, we didn’t deal with any customer service reps. We used Kayak exclusively for searching these one-way flights, and because you can’t book directly through Kayak, we did click through to the site necessary to book to make sure the price was accurate and there were still seats left.

Note: Keep in mind that we searched these flights all at once. In a typical Round the World scenario, the traveler would be booking flights as he or she went, and we all know how prices fluctuate, so use this only as a guide. We also only searched Kayak, so there could be better deals to be had on smaller, regional airlines that Kayak doesn’t cover.

Price

Pricing for doing it all yourself and buying one way tickets as you go was very competitive to other options. For the simplest route that only had 4 flights to major hub cities, the DIY option was cheapest leaving from New York and London. It came in 7.2% higher than the lowest price leaving from Sydney. For the second, more complicated route, DIY was on average 9.13% higher than the lowest options. For the most complicated route, DIY offered the lowest price from London and was an average of 9.03% higher than the lowest price from New York and Sydney.

Search Options

We stuck to online searches using Kayak, which we’ve all most likely done before. Because you can’t book directly through Kayak, we did click through to the site offering the lowest price to make sure the price was accurate and the flight was still available.

Customer Service

Not applicable.

Date Flexibility

This option obviously provides the most flexibility in terms of dates because the traveler ultimately decides when he or she wants to book. The main downfall is that if you wait too long, the price could go up dramatically. But on the flip side, you can also find last minute deals.

Route Flexibility

Again, choosing this method gives you the ultimate flexibility in routes. But it pays to do some research before leaving. For example, getting from South America to Southeast Asia or Australasia can be complicated and expensive even when you do it on your own, so it pays to know ahead of time which routes/destinations may be pricey.

If you have used the Do It Yourself method for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

Posted in RTW Flight Ticket Review | 3 Comments »

STA Travel RTW Ticket Review

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

STA Travel can only offer their special pricing for students, teachers, and those under 26 years of age. RTW tickets are bookable through one of their agents.

Price

For the most part, STA Travel rated highly when it came to pricing, though their reps didn’t get back to us on two of the routes (more on that later). We searched three different routes leaving from three different cities (New York, London, and Sydney), and for the simplest, 4 flight hub route, STA Travel came in at 11.6% higher than the lowest rate leaving from New York, 19% higher from London, and they had the lowest rate leaving from Sydney. On the second, more complicated route (13 legs – 9 flights, 4 overland), STA Travel had the lowest price leaving from New York and came it at 12.13% higher than the lowest price leaving from London. They didn’t get back to us with a price leaving from Sydney. For the most complicated route, they again had the lowest prices leaving from both New York and Sydney, but they never gave us a quote leaving from London.

Search Options

We found the online booking tool a bit complicated with too many options. If a first-time traveler, which many students are, was trying to figure this trip planner out, we would guess that all the questions and pop-ups would be confusing and frustrating. If you find the trip planner frustrating like we did, then you can send in an enquiry using their Request a Round the World Flight Quote page. There are also chat options and a toll free phone number if you want to go either of those routes. If wanting to book from the UK or Australia, STA Travel has separate sites for their UK and Australian branches.

Customer Service

STA Travel’s USA branch did a great job on the customer service front. They were very responsive to our enquiries and follow up questions. We did have a few minor issues with the chat function. We tried using it and no one responded, but we also had good experiences with the chat function at other times. The reps we were in contact with were very helpful in working with us to obtain the lowest prices. They suggested several ways to change our trip around to make it even cheaper, which was nice.

We were able to obtain pricing from London and Sydney from their US branch for the simplest route, but when we tried to enquire about the two more complicated routes, they pointed us to their UK and Australian branches. We submitted trip itineraries through their email enquiries pages and received responses within a day, but then it went downhill. Both branches asked us follow up questions, but then they seemed to disappear for a while. We ended up receiving a quote from the UK branch on one of the routes 6 days after initially filling out the enquiry. We received a quote from the Australian branch on one of the itineraries as well, but 5 days after initial contact. We never received a quote from the other two routes.

Date Flexibility

Many of STA Travel’s Student Exclusive tickets offer special date change and refund rules just for students and youth. Ticket changes start at just $50, but you may be charged a fare difference if there is one. Each customer will have their own travel expert to work with, and the travel expert can help with any changes you may need to make after booking your ticket.

Route Flexibility

STA Travel didn’t seem to have many issues when obtaining a price on all three routes. The only issues they did have, which was common from other carriers, was getting from Sydney to Easter Island. The only way to do this was to fly to Santiago first, then get a round trip ticket from Santiago to Easter Island, which added about $1200 to the trip. For the most complicated route, the rep informed us that the flights to Fiji and the Cook Islands made the price significantly more expensive, but they could accommodate us if we wanted to go forward. They did provide us with a lower price if we chose to eliminate one of those destinations and also suggested different routing that would make more sense and be even cheaper.

If you have used STA Travel for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

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Round About Travel RTW Ticket Review

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

Price

Round About Travel is an Australian based company who we used to shop prices on all three routes leaving from Sydney. They were extremely competitive compared to the other options, offering a price that was only 3.65% higher than the lowest price for the first route, which was a simple, 4-leg hub RTW trip. For the second, more complicated route, they had the lowest price. But they did fall a bit behind for the third route, which was a massive 18-leg trip. The quoted price for the final itinerary was 18.64% higher than the lowest price.

Search options

The online booking form can get a bit complicated if your trip doesn’t fit into its parameters, and for some with a more complicated route or one that goes through regions that Round About Travel doesn’t cover, it is easier to call or send an enquiry through one of their many forms. We liked having many options available for booking, but their online search tool just isn’t up to par with most other companies we looked at. There is no map, and the process just isn’t as user friendly. That being said, it does get the job done. They do have phone numbers to call as well, for both people living in Australia and internationally.

Customer Service

We ended up sending queries through their basic enquiry form and received responses back within a day for all three routes we searched. There were a few issues trying to get prices on the exact itineraries we wanted, but the customer service reps were great and worked with us to meet the needs of the trip we were searching. They always responded immediately, answered all our questions, and suggested changes to the itinerary that would be cheaper and easier.

Date Flexibility

Round About Travel acts as more of a travel agent rather than having their own product to sell. They work with other companies, airlines, and alliances selling tickets. Because of this, making changes once you have already purchased your ticket will depend on a variety of factors. For two of the routes, Round About Travel actually used oneworld Alliance to book the fare, so the same change rules would apply, meaning that it was necessary to book the first international flight, but all subsequent dates could be left open and changed for free. But they may not always use one of the alliances, so making changes will vary based on each individual’s trip.

Route Flexibility

As mentioned above, Round About Travel acts as more of a travel agent than selling their own round the world ticket. So overall, this gives them the advantage of having a variety of options that should be able to accommodate any itinerary. In the two more complicated itineraries we shopped, they actually used oneworld Alliance to get a price for our trip, which was interesting considering when we contacted oneworld directly, they were unable to accommodate such complicated itineraries.

Round About Travel rated on the high side when it comes to route flexibility because it seems like they don’t have many limitations when trying to accommodate each customer. We did have to change our itinerary around a bit to fit into the parameters of the ticket, but we never had to cut out any destinations to make it work. It was only necessary to change the order of the route at their suggestion. One of the main problem we had with the alliance tickets was getting from Australia/New Zealand to South America, but this was no problem with Round About Travel (perhaps because they are based in Australia?). Regardless, they were able to accommodate all our itineraries and obtain pricing in a quick and efficient manner.

If you have used Round About Travel for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars to rate.

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Round the World Flights RTW Ticket Review

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

Round the World Flights is a company based out of the UK and acts as more of a travel agent. They don’t have their own product, but they can sell RTW tickets through many other companies and alliances. You can book through one of their agents.

Price

Round the World Flights is a company based out of the UK, and when shopping prices, we only used them for the three routes originating in London. They were very competitive when it came to price. Round the World Flights’ price was only 1.3% higher than the lowest price for the first route, a simple, 4 leg hub RTW trip. They had the lowest price for the second, more complicated route, and their price for the third route, a long, 18-leg journey, was 27.95% higher than the lowest price.

Search Options

Trying to use Round the World Flight’s online booking tool for the first time was a bit complicated. It was easy to get into, but the exact rules weren’t clearly stated anywhere. In order to use the online search function, you had to have a minimum of 4 stops and a maximum of 6 stops, which made searching online limited.

They have a contact us page with phone numbers, an address, and email addresses. They also have a personal itinerary form to send in an enquiry, but it’s difficult to find. It can only be accessed after entering a trip in their trip planner. Once you enter your trip, the program will suggest a few pre-determined RTW tickets based on the cities you entered. If none look good to you, you can click No Match? Click here, and that will take you to the personal itinerary form where you can enter your exact trip details for a quote. If you live in the UK, there is also a phone number to call and they have an office in London.

Customer Service

We did receive a quote back the same day after entering our trip into the personal itinerary form, and the communication was prompt and friendly. We asked a few additional questions and received answers almost immediately. The reps were nice and seemed very knowledgeable when we were emailing back and forth with them. After sending them our most complicated route, they were able to get us a quote within 3 hours, whereas most other companies needed at least a day.

Date Flexibility

Making changes when booking with Round the World Flights may incur a fee, but it depends on how far in advance that change is made and other specifics regarding the change. They didn’t seem to have a firm policy in place for making changes, which would make me a bit nervous as a consumer. They did mention in an email that the best way to change a date is at the airport with the airline. That would give you the best chance of not having to pay extra. In my experience, though, dealing with the airlines is typically not the best way to get things for free.

Route Flexibility

Round the World Flights provided plenty of flexibility in routing as they were able to accommodate all three of our itineraries and gave us a price within 12 hours each time. There was no emailing back and forth or no calls, just a request by us and a price given by them, which leads us to believe that they have access to a large number of airlines and routes.

If you have used Round the World Flights for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

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AirTreks RTW Ticket Review

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

AirTreks is a company who focuses on multi-stop international travel and enables travelers to create customized itineraries. You can book tickets through one of their agents.

Price

Overall, the price from AirTreks was competitive with the lowest prices on the three itineraries we searched for this project. On average, AirTreks came in at 15.3% higher than the lowest price for each trip. If you want to have your flights set before leaving, going with AirTreks would be a good idea.

Search Options

The online booking tool is about as easy and simple as it gets. And with no strict rules, terms, and conditions to worry about, crafting your itinerary is extremely easy. AirTreks was able to accommodate all three routes we searched, and they were extremely responsive in each case. After filling out the trip planner and submitting the form for a more accurate quote, we received a quote back from a rep the following day. There was a minor glitch when searching one of the routes, but after re-sending the itinerary, we received a quote back in about three hours. If you don’t want to search online, you can call a toll free number and speak to a customer service rep. They have toll free numbers for those living in the US and Canada and a long-distance number for those living outside of North America. AirTreks also has an office in San Francisco where customers can set up an appointment.

Customer Service

We were in constant communication with their representatives, and they always answered our questions in a timely manner. One of the pluses of working with AirTreks is that each customer is assigned a personal travel consultant to work with, and they really do try to accommodate your travel needs. Compared to the alliances, where it was difficult to even get a hold of a person to answer questions, this was a nice treat. Each rep was prompt in their responses and was friendly and knowledgeable. We even chatted with one rep for about 45 minutes after sending in our most complicated itinerary. We were impressed by the amount of time and thought that she put into our trip. We talked quite a while about the itinerary, what could make it better or worse, and what the best options would be for this particular trip. The personal touch was nice.

Date Flexibility

The only place where AirTreks rated poorly was the ability to change dates. Once you are ready to book, it’s necessary to book all your dates. If you want to change, then it will cost a fee, which changes depending on a variety of factors and would cost anywhere between $50 and $250.

Route Flexibility

Where it loses points in date change flexibility it makes up for in route and destination flexibility. AirTreks focus more on multi-stop international travel as opposed to traditional RTW tickets. According to their website, AirTreks “enables travelers and travel agents to create customized itineraries — with an unlimited number of destinations — and receive instant online price estimates with one click.” AirTreks doesn’t have any rules and regulations. You can travel any which way you want. You can start and end anywhere. You can travel overland without it counting against any mileage or segment limit because there are no limits. In short, you can craft the exact itinerary you want. And there is no time limit to your ticket.

If you have used AirTreks for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

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SkyTeam Alliance RTW Ticket Review

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

SkyTeam is a collection of 15 airlines from around the world and offers RTW tickets bookable from any of their member airlines.

Price

In order to properly rate companies selling RTW airfare, we shopped three different routes. Because of the rules connected with a SkyTeam Alliance round the world ticket, we were only able to obtain pricing for the simplest route. The price of SkyTeam’s RTW plane tickets were not competitive with other companies for that route. The price for a RTW ticket from SkyTeam was 54.15% higher than the cheapest option. If a traveler wants to offset the high cost of these RTW fares, the best way to do so is to have miles from an airline in SkyTeam’s alliance.

Search Options

The online trip planner that SkyTeam offers is simple and easy to use, at first. SkyTeam gives an option of having their program automatically choose the best route to fit into their terms and conditions, which was extremely nice considering the convoluted rules. That feature wasn’t necessary for a shorter route, but it could be nice for more complicated itineraries. The problems arise after entering the itinerary, choosing dates, and picking flights. Instead of providing a price, SkyTeam requires customers to call one of their member airlines. We were on the phone for 35 minutes (on average) trying to get a price after spending time entering everything in the online tool. The program provided an itinerary number at the end of the online process, but it was necessary to email that number (while on the phone with the agent) in order to get the process started. Then we had to sit on hold and wait while the customer service rep rounded up a price, which made the process time consuming. It would be much nicer to have them take your email address/phone number down and get back to you instead of making you sit on hold for so long.

As with the other alliances we searched, there were issues trying to obtain pricing for larger, more complicated itineraries. Error messages would pop up when the rules were not met, but unlike the error messages that came up with other alliances, these were actually helpful in telling the customer what terms they were violating. If you don’t want to use the online trip planner, the only other way to obtain pricing is to call one of SkyTeam’s member airlines, which may not be a bad idea considering you have to call anyway after entering a trip in their trip planner.

Customer Service

If you have questions as a customer, there is no way to email a rep with SkyTeam, so contacting one of the airlines in their alliance is the only way to ask questions and get clarification. We called Delta, and the rep was nice and helpful, but she informed us that we would simply have to adjust our itinerary to fit within the rules of the ticket. Again, like the other alliances we shopped, they sounded ambivalent about getting our business considering we were searching airfares that cost upwards of $6000US. While the reps were friendly, they didn’t put forth any type of effort to try to get our route to fit within the rules of the ticket.

Date Flexibility

Like the other alliances, SkyTeam Alliance rates high for changing dates, which are generally free. The only time you may have problems is if you wait until the very last minute. If you book a RTW ticket with SkyTeam, booking the first international flight is necessary, but after that it’s possible to leave the dates open.

Route Flexibility

We had three separate routes we tried pricing – from an ultra simple, 4 leg hub city RTW trip to a long, 18-segment trip. When trying to find prices from SkyTeam, we were only able to obtain prices for the first trip as the other two itineraries didn’t fit into their rules. As with other alliances, the terms, rules, and regulations make this type of ticket inflexible if you hope to book a longer, more complicated RTW trip. When searching SkyTeam for a price on one of those more complicated routes, we were able to get within the 16 segment limit that had given us problems with Star and oneworld. However, this time we were way above on the mileage, nearly 10,000 miles more than the max of 39,000.

The main reason for the high mileage was trying to get from Australia to South America. SkyTeam has no partners that fly between the two continents, and after talking to a customer service rep at Delta (a member of Sky Alliance), we found out that the same applies for Asia. In order to get from Asia, Australia, or New Zealand to South America, it’s necessary to fly through the United States, which obviously sends that mileage soaring.

If you really want to use SkyTeam Alliance (or any alliance for that matter) for your RTW airfare, we would advise going through a travel agent as they can maneuver around many of the rules. If your RTW trip is a short, simple one, then doing it yourself is quite easy, though much more expensive than the cheapest option.

If you have used SkyTeam Alliance for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

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Star Alliance RTW Ticket Review

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

We shopped prices for RTW plane tickets from eight different companies and rated each company based on five criteria – price, search options/ease of search, customer service, date flexibility, and route flexibility.

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

Star Alliance is a collection of 27 airlines from around the world and offers RTW tickets bookable online or through any of its member airlines.

Price

We tried searching three different routes when pricing RTW plane tickets. Because of the terms and conditions involved with Star Alliance’s round the world fare, we were unable to obtain pricing for two of the routes we searched. The one route we were able to obtain pricing for was not very competitive with other companies. On average, Star Alliance’s price was 54.23% higher than the cheapest option. As a traveler, if you want to offset the high cost of their RTW fares, the only way to do is if you have miles built up from an airline in their alliance.

Search Options/Ease of Search

When searching online for a simple round the world route, it was quick, easy, and painless. If the route is not complicated, the entire process can be done online, and their Book and Fly tool is simple to navigate. As long as your route fits within their rules and regulations, you can get a price online. If you try to search a more complicated route; however, finding a price becomes more difficult. When trying to search a 13 leg trip (9 flights and 4 overland segments), it quickly swelled to 19 because of the connections. All connections are counted against their 16 segment limit. Because of this, Star Alliance was not able to provide us with a price for the two more complicated itineraries. If you don’t want to search using their online tool, the only other way of obtaining a price is to contact the reservation center of any of Star Alliance’s member airlines.

Customer Service

Even though we couldn’t obtain a price online for the two more complicated routes, we figured that inquiring further would be a good idea, so we sent a message via their online enquiry form. They informed us that if we needed further assistance to call one of their member airlines and gave us the number for Lufthansa. We pushed for more information from the Star customer service rep, asking if there’s any way to book a trip with more than 16 segments.

The rep was responsive, and here was the email she sent us about booking a trip with more than 16 segments:
“If you would like to purchase additional flights you have to book them separately. 16 segments are the maximum permitted amount within a Round the World ticket. Any additional flight you have to book through the operating carrier directly.”

Basically, this means that if you don’t adhere to the rules of service for Star Alliance, it’s not possible to book a trip with them. You would have to adjust the itinerary to fit within the rules. The rep was nice and responded in a timely manner, but didn’t seem interested in working with us directly and was quick to pass us off, despite the fact we were searching fares that cost upwards of $6000US.

Date Flexibility

Like other alliances, Star Alliance rates high for changing dates, which are generally free (it could be more difficult if you wait until the very last minute). If you book a Star Alliance RTW ticket, you have to book your first international flight, date and all, but after that it’s possible to leave the dates open.

Route Flexibility

The problem with route flexibility comes with its terms, rules, and regulations, which makes it difficult if you are looking to book a longer, more complicated RTW trip. On the plus side, Star Alliance does have the widest coverage compared to other alliances, particularly in Europe and Asia. As mentioned above, customers have a 16 segment limit, meaning you can only have 16 legs to your trip. Each flight or overland journey counts against that limit, connections included. For example, if flying from Los Angeles to Sydney you have to connect in Fiji, that will count as two segments. We had three separate routes we tried pricing – from an ultra simple, 4 leg hub city RTW trip to a long 18-segment trip. Because of the rules and regulations, when trying to go through Star, we were only able to price the first trip as the other’s didn’t fit into their rules.

It was difficult to use their online trip planner to obtain a price for a longer RTW trip, and Star Alliance couldn’t accommodate some legs of the proposed trips. Adding in a destination like Easter Island from Australia was really difficult as many of the flights go through the US, making for long flight times and adding more segments to their 16-segment limit.

If you really want to use Star Alliance for your RTW airfare, we would advise going through a travel agent as they can maneuver around many of the rules. If your RTW trip is a short, simple one, then doing it yourself is quite easy, though much more expensive than the cheapest option.

If you have used Star Alliance for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

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Oneworld RTW Ticket Review

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

Oneworld Alliance is a collection of 12 airlines from around the world and offers RTW tickets that are bookable online or from any of its member airlines.

Price

We tried searching three different routes with oneworld. Because of the rules associated with a oneworld RTW plane ticket, we were only able to obtain pricing for the simplest route. The price of oneworld’s RTW plane tickets were not competitive with other companies for that route. On average, their price was 53.73% higher than the cheapest option. The only way to offset the high cost of using oneworld Alliance for a RTW fare is by using miles from an airline in their alliance.

Search Options/Ease of Search

Oneworld Alliance’s online booking tool is easy to figure out and navigate and the interface is user friendly. Searching a simple RTW flight itinerary (less than 10 legs) is easy. It is possible to get an immediate quote online, which is really nice and convenient for someone just looking to shop prices. It’s certainly simpler than having to call one of the airlines and navigate all the automated systems before getting to a person to help you like some other companies. Searching online is the easiest way to get an immediate price from oneworld if your route is not really long or complicated. The only other way of obtaining a price is by calling one of their member airlines, which is much more time consuming.

Service

If you are looking to book a more complicated route, the rules and regulations make it difficult to do so. Oneworld is a collection of different airlines, so as a customer, if you have any questions or need any help shopping prices or booking a ticket, it is necessary to contact one of the member airlines. It would have been nice to just pick up the phone and call someone, but there is no phone number for oneworld, only the airlines affiliated with oneworld. We even sent a message via their online enquiry form, and we never received a response.

Date Flexibility

Oneworld rates high for changing dates, which are generally free (it may be more difficult if you wait until the very last minute). When initially booking a oneworld RTW ticket, you have to set your first international flight, but after that, you can leave the dates open.

Route Flexibility

While oneworld does have access to over 750 destinations in nearly 150 countries, their terms, rules, and regulations make it difficult if you are looking to book a longer, more complicated RTW trip. We had three separate routes we tried pricing – from an ultra simple, 4 leg hub city RTW trip to a long 18-segment trip. When trying to go through oneworld, we were only able to price the first trip as the other trips didn’t fit into their rules. Customers have a 16 segment limit, meaning you can only have 16 legs to your trip. However, each flight or overland (bus, train, etc.) journey counts against that limit, even if you have to connect. For example, if flying from Chicago to Amsterdam you have to connect in London, that will count as two segments even if you only have a few hour layover in Amsterdam. When trying to shop a trip involving 13 legs (9 flights and 4 overland), it quickly swelled to 20 segments because of the connections, making it impossible to get a price because it didn’t adhere to the rules. As mentioned in the service section, we sent an enquiry asking if there was any way around this, and our email was ignored.

It was difficult to use their online trip planner to obtain a price for a longer RTW trip, and oneworld was deficient in some areas of the world. For example, getting to South America from Australia proved a problem (which we saw from many carriers). When trying to add either Easter Island or Santiago into the itinerary, they had us flying through the US, which was not permitted since it was the country of origin.

If you really want to use oneworld for your RTW trip, we would advise going through a travel agent as they can maneuver around many of the rules (unless your RTW trip is a short, simple one). Doing it yourself can prove difficult and frustrating, and the support offered is less than satisfactory.

If you have used oneworld Alliance for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.

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