Once in a LifeTime trip - Round the World Business Class 4 people!

Bolt1234

I know - not necessarily money saving but if I can get this right I could well save £££!

We are looking to travel for 3 weeks London to Australia via the Far East.  June 23. Would prefer to stay for a few days in say Japan and on the way back somewhere like Bangkok.  Flexible though.  The other alternative is going via the USA but I really dont want to use the US airlines.  

Would really like to use a mixture of say Emirates Biz Class, Qatar, Singapore Airlines of perhaps ANA.  The top tier airlines.  I have been looking around and via Skyscanner there is a lot of options to mix it up.  What are the disadvantages of this?  I have also spoken to Trailfinders and they say mixing airlines is expensive and its best to use ONE airline like say Emirates who can then offer very cheap internal flights using Qantas around Australia. 

If we do need to use just one airline as long as its a very good one I would be open to that.   

I have been also travelled many years ago on Virgin Upper class (Lounge at Heathrow was fab) which was nice but dont want BA unless its the new Club Suites.  The old style Biz Class on BA is not worth the extra.

I am an experienced traveller but this is getting too complex for me.

Could anyone assist.  I was googling and saw a company called World Airfares who I got via Skyscanner but I have never heard of them  Good reviews though.

Thank you.

zagfles

The trouble with making multiple bookings is that if one airline cancels the flight and as a result you can't get the next flight on another booking then the second airline has no obligation to refund/rebook you. Look at the number of cancellations there've been recently, BA have just announced a load more.

You could try Trailfinders, not used them recently but they're good at this sort of thing.

Archie_Duke

zagfles said:

…

You could try Trailfinders, not used them recently but they're good at this sort of thing.

2nd paragraph of OP:

I have also spoken to Trailfinders and they say mixing airlines is expensive and its best to use ONE airline 

zagfles

Archie_Duke said:

zagfles said:

…

You could try Trailfinders, not used them recently but they're good at this sort of thing.

2nd paragraph of OP:

I have also spoken to Trailfinders and they say mixing airlines is expensive and its best to use ONE airline 

Oops missed that!

Caz3121

you would be best to stick to one Airline Alliance, eg Star Alliance or OneWorld (SkyTeam is the third)
ANA and Singapore Airlines are part of Star Alliance
Qatar is part of OneWorld
Emirates are not in an alliance
Maybe look at the RTW tickets for the alliances as a starter
https://www.oneworld.com/world-travel
https://roundtheworld.staralliance.com/staralliance/EN/round-the-world

eskbanker

OP - if you buy some (or all) accommodation alongside the flights then that creates a package, which offers increased protection via the Package Travel Regulations, so in the event of issues with either flights or accommodation, the package organiser is legally responsible for stepping in and resolving, whether or not you use a variety of airlines.

JGB1955

Surely RTW means that ?  Round the world - not Far East and back?  Both of my children had gap years and had RTW tickets (westbound) and could change/book tickets at random.  Very much doubt that that can be combined with Business Class though!

zagfles

JGB1955 said:

Surely RTW means that ?  Round the world - not Far East and back?  Both of my children had gap years and had RTW tickets (westbound) and could change/book tickets at random.  Very much doubt that that can be combined with Business Class though!

Trailfinders offer BC versions. They don't give prices, would imagine ridiculously expensive!

https://www.trailfinders.com/flights/around-the-world

Westin

Bolt1234 said:

 I have also spoken to Trailfinders and they say mixing airlines is expensive and its best to use ONE airline like say Emirates who can then offer very cheap internal flights using Qantas around Australia. 

They are correct and make a good point.

Or, as Caz3121 said, stay with one airline alliance.

Trailfinders would IMO be a perfect agent to put this together for you.   Please don’t get pulled in to  using some shonky online seller that Skyscanner has advertising on their site. 

SiliconChip

Although the OP doesn't specify the entire route the use of Round the World in the title suggests that either that is what they want or they don't realise that the term has a specific meaning.

When I bought my RTW ticket in the dim and distant past (1990) you had to pick 2 airlines to fly with, I chose BA and United and travelled Auckand (I was living in NZ at the time), San Francisco, Vancouver via Seattle, Toronto via Chicago, New York, Heathrow, Delhi, Kathmandu (train/bus/extra flights), Bangkok (extra fight with Thai), Sydney, Auckland. In those days it would have been impossible to fly with one airline because nobody flew across both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, I think that may no longer be the case but the two big alliances now mean there are more choices of airline to fly with anyway. I certainly think it's possible to buy RTW tickets outside of economy class and while it'll be more expensive if that's what the OP wants to spend their money on then why not?

bagand96

Bolt1234 said:
I have also spoken to Trailfinders and they say mixing airlines is expensive and its best to use ONE airline like say Emirates who can then offer very cheap internal flights using Qantas around Australia. 

If we do need to use just one airline as long as its a very good one I would be open to that.   

Do you want/need the flexibility that the traditional "Round The World" tickets offer?  If you're happy to fix you're flight dates then it can just be booked on a multi-city itinerary like any other flight.  As pointed out above, airlines work in alliances and offer codeshares so it won't need to be stuck to one airline.