Round the World Flights

jeyre1

Hi all,

I am a student and am having a gap year next year. I am going to travel the world from Jan to August 08 and have planned/organised where and when I am going to be in each place. I am currently looking at getting my plane tickets and they are not cheap. Is there any way that I can help to reduce the cost of these tickets?

Thanks

alanrowell

Try the Gap Year branch of The Thorntree & use specialists like STA Travel.

Main way to reduce the cost if to keep your route as simple as possible to the places where 90% of backpackers go - ie Thailand, Oz, US

Red_dog_Sam

I was surprised to get my ticket cheapest from BA (albeit a few years back now). They do a round the world ticket. You can choose 6 stops anywhere (covered by them or one of their partners) but you have to keep going in the same direction. Internal flights don't count as stops so you can, for example, fly in to New York, fly to LA then leave from LA and it counts as one "stop". I think the ticket is valid for a year and you can pre-book your flights but the dates are flexible and can be changed if you want to stay somewhere longer. My ticket covered flights with BA, Qantas , USAir , Air Pacific and spanned London > NY > LA > Fiji > Auckland > Melbourne > Cairns > Sydney > Bangkok > London.
I pre-booked some hotels so I knew where I'd be for the first couple of nights. Got them through "Rainbow" holidays brochure at the travel agents. Not as cheap as hostels if you are backpacking but you can always find somewhere cheaper when you arrive.

Whatever - go for it - you'll never regret it!

markmat

jeyre1 wrote: »

I am currently looking at getting my plane tickets and they are not cheap.

How much are you expecting to pay? (roughly)

Many of the RTW tickets are priced based on mileage, so the longer your route, the more expensive the ticket. The One World (BA etc.) tickets are based on number of continents visited, so this may work out better depending on your destinations.

pintofmilk

hi Red_dog_sam,

Did you do it as a student or full paying adult? I want to take a round the world trip too but at 32 can't blag the student rates any more!

Defo want to go back to Oz so figure round the world makes sense for a bit more cash, as long as its not too much more!!

Ben

cundall

Done two RTW trips now and never paid over £1150 (one at £850).

Booked with Virgin for my last trip:
London>India>Singapore>Philippines>Oz>Nz>Fiji>Raratonga>LA>London

Did though though travelled over land to Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, HongKong, Japan and South Korea (all over land IE by boat or road)

Nickygoat

There was an interesting article in The Times a few weeks ago about using low cost carriers to go round the world. They got it to £500, although with only a few stops. Adding Australia bumps up the price, but it's worth a read:

Article.

pintofmilk

Are there any websites where you can price up rond the world or do you have to go to each airline individually? I would have thought going with someone like Star Alliance (can't rememebr the airlines but its a fair few) would be cost effective??

choccyface2006

I'm jealous, I wish I had the confidence and the money as a youngster to do this!

Have a wonderful trip!

Sarah x

markmat

pintofmilk wrote: »

Are there any websites where you can price up rond the world or do you have to go to each airline individually? I would have thought going with someone like Star Alliance (can't rememebr the airlines but its a fair few) would be cost effective??

You don't need to contact all the airlines individually. Someone like Trailfinders should be able to give you some quotes for the routes you're interested in.

Alternatively, have a look at the One World, Star Alliance and Sky Team websites. They all have links to information about their RTW tickets. In theory you can then book your flights with any one of the airlines in the alliance that you choose to travel with. I say in theory because RTW tickets (and their rules) are more complex, so not all of the sales people will know much about them (some of the airlines will have a seperate team that deal with these tickets).

With the Great Escapade the fares vary throughout the year, although I don't think that's the case with Star Alliance (not sure about the other two alliances). I don't think you'll find fares quoted on the alliance websites because the fare will be determined by the country in which you purchase the ticket and start your journey (if you're travelling in economy the UK is pretty much the cheapest place to start anyway). However, each of the airlines should be able to give you a price for the RTW ticket that suits your requirements.

The key thing is to have at least an idea of the route you want, and the places you want to stop. If you're dealing with Trailfinders or some other agent then this will help them recommend a suitable RTW fare. If you're going to book directly with an airline then you really need to have planned your complete itinerary in advance (although the actual dates aren't that important to begin with).

hope that helps.

Red_dog_Sam

Just come back to this so apologies for delay in adding to the thread. For what it's worth I didn't get a student rate. I'd been at work a couple of years getting the cash together. I'd been told to try STA and even drove to London to visit them but in the end my diy was through BA (flights) and was loads cheaper.
As a non student you may plan on using hotels rather than backpacker hostels. You can book your own hotels for some or all of your stay whenever you've got a fixed date and location in your intenerary. First night or two in a new place can take the hassle out of finding somewhere on spec. I had a (Rainbow Travel?) brochure from the travel agents with a list of hotels all over the place to take the strain out of finding them. Many do free transfers on shuttle buses from the airports as well. You can also check out the "Direct lines" set up in many arrivals areas. Apologies to anyone who thinks this takes some of the mystery or adventure out of travel - it's just that I never thought of kipping on a bench in the bus station as an unmissable part of life's rich tapestry!