Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Together, those four things all affect a lovely thing called the “load factor.” Airlines want to fill their
planes and maximize profits, and they do this by calculating a plane's load factor, which is essentially the
percentage of seats sold on a flight.
On a U.S. domestic ticket, a flight might have ten to fifteen different price points. Airlines want to fill a
plane with the people paying the highest price and get maximum revenue. So they constantly change their
price to get bodies on the plane.
If the load factor and demand is low for a flight, an airline will increase the availability of cheap fares.
If the load factor and demand are high for a flight, the airline will raise prices.
Airlines have developed sophisticated computer systems that constantly compare booking trends to past
sales history and are always changing prices based on the load factor, time of year, and competitor behavior.
As a traveler, you have two options for flying: You can either buy a round-the-world ticket before you
go or pay for your flights as you fly from point to point. Neither option is better or worse than the other. The
one that is best is the one that suits your travel style and itinerary.
Round-the-World Tickets
Round-the-world (RTW) tickets can be a convenient way to fly around the world. They get you where you
want to go without having to worry about booking flights along the way. You prebook all your tickets in
advance, and by purchasing them in one giant bulk package, you can often save money off the total price of
all the individual tickets.
HOW ROUND-THE-WORLD TICKETS WORK (AND THE RULES!)
RTW tickets are actually airline alliance passes. You buy from an airline a ticket that can be used with them
and all their alliance partners. Each of these alliances offers you the ability to travel around the world on that
airline's partners. For example, if you book with United Airlines (Star Alliance), your ticket is only good
for airlines United partners with. If you topic with American Airlines (Oneworld), you can only use their
partners.
An airline alliance is a partnership in which airlines share seats on planes, passengers, and elite status
benefits. For example, American Airlines can't fly everywhere in the world, and you may need to get from
New York City to Nairobi, Kenya, a destination American doesn't serve. So while you may topic with Amer-
ican Airlines for that route, you will actually fly one of its airline partners on the portions American doesn't
fly.
The two largest airline alliances are Star Alliance and Oneworld. The Star Alliance (staralliance.com)
includes the following airlines: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand,
All Nippon Airways (ANA), Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca Holdings, Brussels Airlines, Copa
Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scand-
inavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss International Air
Lines, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines, and United Airlines.
Oneworld (oneworld.com) includes Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Fin-
nair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7
Airlines, TAM Airlines, and SriLankan Airlines.
