Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In that sense, booking with a third-party booking site like Airtreks is a much better option because of the
increased flexibility, but as nothing is ever 100 percent in travel, it's important to price out your ticket using
all the options.
HOW MUCH DO RTW TICKETS COST?
RTW ticket prices generally average $2,700-10,000 USD, depending on your mileage, route, and number of
stops. However, a simple two- or three-stop RTW ticket might cost as little as $1,500 USD. Here are some
sample round-the-world ticket prices, including taxes and fees, based on a search in February 2012:
New York-London-Athens-Johannesburg-Bangkok-Sydney-Los Angeles
Star Alliance:
$6,600 USD
Oneworld:
$7,700 USD
Airtreks:
$4,051 USD
As you can see, booking directly with the alliances costs a lot more than booking through a third-party
agent. Simply put: Use Airtreks or another similar agent, like STA Travel (statravel.com) or Flight Centre
(flightcentre.com), instead of booking directly with the airline. If you do purchase a RTW ticket via the air-
lines directly, do so using the miles gained through credit card bonuses and methods discussed in the next
section. That will cut the cost from thousands to a few hundred dollars.
As we saw above, RTW tickets can cost a lot of money. Spending $7,000 to fly around the world is
simply not a realistic figure for most people, and it's certainly not going to allow you to travel for $50 USD
per day. If you do decide to purchase a RTW ticket, do so on miles if at all possible. As discussed in Chapter
4, there are plenty of ways to jump-start your frequent-flier-mile balance right away. In the upcoming section
on point-to-point flights, we'll discuss non-credit-card-related ways to increase your balance even more.
SHOULD YOU BUY A RTW TICKET?
RTW tickets are perfect for people with a set schedule. If you know your travel dates and destinations and
don't plan on changing your trip very much, a RTW ticket will save you a lot of time and a bit of money.
As Steve Kamb puts it, “I knew I was going to continue traveling, as I had some obligations to return home
for later in the year, so I knew that one way or the other I'd be returning. If I had plans on just traveling
nonstop without having anything to return home for, booking a one-way ticket and figuring things out as I
went might have been a better option. However, for me the RTW made perfect sense.”
But these tickets are rigid, and that is why I don't use them. Your dates are already set, and they can be a
problem to change sometimes, as you are subject to limited availability. If you decided to change your dates
and times, you might find they don't have a flight for you. And while date and time changes (so long as
the destination remains the same) are free, other changes are not. If you decide to change the route of your
flight, you will have to pay a fee of around $125 USD.
Since RTW tickets are valid for only one year and you need to finish where you started, if you decide to
go away for longer, you're essentially throwing away the last leg of your trip. Once the year has passed, any
flights not used become invalid and you just wasted a lot of money.
