Round The World?

Nick_C

I'm planning on going to Hawaii next year, and was thinking about extending the holiday and going RTW.

I've been looking at the Star Alliance and OneWorld websites, and RTW itineraries are coming out at around £3000 each.

Does anyone have any tips for finding cheaper RTW tickets on line? (I realise I may have to bite the bullet and go to a specialist TA such as Trailfinders, but I prefer doing things myself).

Thinking of going late May, London, SF, Honolulu, possibly Sydney, a few stops in the far east, then back home.

Any tips on reducing costs? Should I plan flying east instead of west? Is there any way to reduce the APD by starting in Europe in stead of the UK?

Brian8888

Have a look at STA travel and also look at some direct airlines. Some airlines specialize in tickets like that. Make sure to stop by Kauai island (part of Hawaii)

Doshwaster

Also talk to Trailfinders who are also RTW experts: http://www.trailfinders.com/around-the-world

RTW tickets can be a good deal but they are very restrictive with complex rules so aren't a good idea if you want to keep your options open.

CountryGoose

If you're prepared to put in the legwork, then a trip to flyertalk.com may be in order. Browse the alliance forums and look at other RTWs.

Also, starting from the UK may not be best - it can be cheaper to get a RTW flight somewhere else and fly from the UK to start the trip.

No harm in asking Trailfinders and STA to price trips for you.

Another option is AirNZ, even though they have now stopped flying UK-HKG-NZ, you can still get tickets through Asia and the USA with them on codeshares, so routing UK-USA-(Hawaii)-NZ-HKG-UK is not an issue for around £1200 in the cheap seats. You can add on low cost carrier fares in the USA and HKG to explore the local area.

Party_Animal

The first time we did this we used ANZ. We flew from the UK to Raratonga, Fiji, Auckland, Hawaii, LA and UK. At that time you could stop anywhere on route, provided you didn't go back on yourself. Good airline too.

DazzaDazza

Have you tried calculating the cost via sites such as Kayak or Skyscanner? You may find it cheaper flying east to west, via India or Bangkok, but if you calculate each flight individually on the above sites, you may have some luck with reducing the costs. Travel companies can be great in my experience (especially STA as they have a FlexiPass option which allows you to change your flights at short notice), but as you say it is often cheaper to book each flight independantly.

I know it was a few years ago but in 2009 I booked London - Bangkok, (overland to Singapore) - Singapore - Sydney - Cairns - Sydney - LA (overland to New York) - New York - London for around £1500. Hopefully you can find a similar deal. Good luck!