RTW Revenue Tickets

[knagelli]

Hi Experts , We are planning to buy the RTW business class tickets for Sep/Oct 2024. We have checked different options from Australia and the price for pax is around 13K AUD. Are there any nearby destinations/ports where we could commence the RTW journey to reduce the price. Any pointers/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Cheers

 

[RooFlyer]

Which alliance? you can save a lot by having the round the world ticket ticketed on an airline other than the one you start off on. For instance, if it’s a OneWorld RTW, and your first flight is on Qantas from Australia, then it’s usually ticketed on Qantas 'paper'. However, a travel agent can ticket it on ( say) AA or JAL paper, which will usually result in vastly reduced surcharges and carrier charges.

I know of a Star Alliance RTW, where, for an identical itinerary including Australia, starting and ending it in Japan rather than Australia reduced the cost by I think over $1000. May have been more.

I havn't addressed your query of a cheap place close to Australia to start an itinerary, but the idea of not having it on an expensive carriers paper is worth looking at, regardless of the starting point.

Using a good travel agent is usually the best way to go in these sorts of matters.

 

[knagelli]

I havn't addressed your query of a cheap place close to Australia to start an itinerary, but the idea of not having it on an expensive carriers paper is worth looking at, regardless of the starting point.

Appreciate your inputs and that's a valid point.

I am inclined towards *A as I prefer Singapore airlines for my travel. However keen to explore other options if it mean we could save some dollars.

 

[bam71]

For our region I believe ex Japan is the better option $$ wise. CCPSTAR1 J class ex AUS is $9906.00 where as ex japan $7556, Oneworld is cheaper here, DONE4 ex Japan $8247 vs ex AUS $14986.00

 

[RooFlyer]

The StarAlliance RTW ( 16 sectors) I mentioned before involved ticketing on LH paper. Beginning and ending in Japan reduced the cost of the ticket by about $4K, compared to the exact same itinerary and carriers starting and ending in Australia.

Plan to position to Japan to start the itinerary, head west, then stop in Australia towards the end, and then head up to Japan to complete the RTW itinerary a few months later and then return by another ticket

 

[siri]

Hi Experts , We are planning to buy the RTW business class tickets for Sep/Oct 2024. We have checked different options from Australia and the price for pax is around 13K AUD. Are there any nearby destinations/ports where we could commence the RTW journey to reduce the price. Any pointers/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Cheers

Turkish airline now into RW using Star Alliance partners and its around $7.6k and pls call these people..
Turkish Airlines Business Class RTW Airfare | RoundAbout Travel

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

@knagelli are you using a travel agent to organise or self-booking?

 

[knagelli]

@knagelli are you using a travel agent to organise or self-booking?

Planning to do it myself at this point and dates are yet to be finalised.

 

[RooFlyer]

Planning to do it myself at this point and dates are yet to be finalised.

Are you planning to do it through the StarAlliance planning tool? When I used it to plan my upcoming RTW, I found really flaky in respect of keeping track on the validity of the itinerary and even booking certain ( valid) flights. I’ve heard others say the same thing; flakier than the OneWorld version for sure.

Might be gratuitous advice, sorry if so, but could I suggest you look at using a good travel agent? They are good at finding code shares for a given flight which will attract lower carrier charges and many other things to improve an itinerary. Plus, in this day and age of cancelled flights and schedule changes, they will have the responsibility to keep tabs on those and find alternatives, rather you standing in some airport, trying to call some airline call centre trying to figure out a change.

I give my TA the itinerary that I have planned and figured out and then ask, “can you improve on this?”

There will be a charge, small in comparison to the overall cost of the ticket and ss I mentioned, you get the ongoing backup if you need it.

 

[RTWtraveler]

Are you planning to do it through the StarAlliance planning tool? When I used it to plan my upcoming RTW, I found really flaky in respect of keeping track on the validity of the itinerary and even booking certain ( valid) flights. I’ve heard others say the same thing; flakier than the OneWorld version for sure.

Might be gratuitous advice, sorry if so, but could I suggest you look at using a good travel agent? They are good at finding code shares for a given flight which will attract lower carrier charges and many other things to improve an itinerary. Plus, in this day and age of cancelled flights and schedule changes, they will have the responsibility to keep tabs on those and find alternatives, rather you standing in some airport, trying to call some airline call centre trying to figure out a change.

I give my TA the itinerary that I have planned and figured out and then ask, “can you improve on this?”

There will be a charge, small in comparison to the overall cost of the ticket and ss I mentioned, you get the ongoing backup if you need it.

Roundabout travel and airfare geeks have provided us several years of good service. But with the high airfares I have started looking at starting in an Asian city, too. Found a cheap first class return from BKK to ZRH on Swiss.

 

[petef]

I haven't done an RTW for a few years now, but previously it was beneficial to start in Indonesia or Thailand.

Pete.

 

[TheEqualiser]

I have booked two RTW itineraries this year, both *A on UA. Neither itinerary was "available" on the the *A planner, but I booked them both with UA, one online and one over the phone and both were priced as RTW tickets.

It doesn't help with better starting points but it goes to show that you cannot trust the planner.

As for nearby starting points, Bali and even Singapore are usually cheaper, and Manila is often cheapest of all.

 

[bam71]

Tokyo seems to be cheaper by around 2K AUD

 

[CaptJCool]

Not that I want to do a round the world trip…
From what I gather the cheapest places to start are in Asia
KL
Manila
coughet
Jakarta
Bangkok

Japan hadn’t been on my radar but that deal looks good (subject to re-positioning)

One of my mates takes the daytime flight to KL
THEN a daytime QR or EK tic to Europe
And one could fly daytimes back to Australia or the last leg is an overnight and straight to bed upon arrival home

Fly more, pay less
Hidden city legs are often less too so you could in theory fly to a place you didn’t particularly prefer and backtrack on a short Y fare to the higher priced location which you passed through on the way….

And we see it here like where Syd-Mel flexi is higher than flying via Syd to Melb from other places

 

[pyffii]

Last month I booked a DONE4 ex Tokyo through AA and paid just under $10K for only 10 sectors instead of our usual 16 sectors....great value !!

 

[kiwitripper64]

Last month I booked a DONE4 ex Tokyo through AA and paid just under $10K for only 10 sectors instead of our usual 16 sectors....great value !!

Did you book this yourself or through a TA?
We havent done this in years. If we did book, can I go onto the oneworld explorer site and choose my "preferred airline" to get AA? We had a good TA then, but she has gone. The one I spoke to last week didnt know that starting in different countries could be a lot cheaper

How do I then get QF points. Is it automatically credited with ff number?

If we start in Japan, can we fly to our home port and not use the last connection? Or is there a rule against this?

Thanks for help

 

[RooFlyer]

If we did book, can I go onto the oneworld explorer site and choose my "preferred airline" to get AA?

I believe it will automatically ticket on the airline that you first fly on. I stand to be corrected, though.

How do I then get QF points. Is it automatically credited with ff number?

Yes, if you put QFF number in. You can actually credit to different FF programs on different legs, if you wish.

If we start in Japan, can we fly to our home port and not use the last connection? Or is there a rule against this?

In my case (beginning and ending my StarAlliance RTW ticket in Japan), I'm stopping in Australia after sector 14 (of 16 total, ending the 'RTW' trip). Four months later, I'm starting a new trip to Japan by flying the last two sectors of the RTW ticket MEL-SIN-HND and then I'm coming home with Award flights via HKG.

I think when you book (at least using a TA), you can leave the last 2 sectors unallocated so make your mind up later. I guess they can go totally unused, but if you have booked them, make sure you inform the airline you are a no-show, eg if you became ill just before flying.

 

[pyffii]

Ring the AA RTW desk via skype ( free call ) and book for eg. HND...../ HND....you get 4 sectors in OZ and our first sector for this DONE4 is on JL but the whole ticket is plated on AA....and remember that your last sector can be 360 days after the first flight back to Tokyo and then you can begin your next RTW

 

[Claire#1]

I believe it will automatically ticket on the airline that you first fly on. I stand to be corrected, though.



Yes, if you put QFF number in. You can actually credit to different FF programs on different legs, if you wish.



In my case (beginning and ending my StarAlliance RTW ticket in Japan), I'm stopping in Australia after sector 14 (of 16 total, ending the 'RTW' trip). Four months later, I'm starting a new trip to Japan by flying the last two sectors of the RTW ticket MEL-SIN-HND and then I'm coming home with Award flights via HKG.

I think when you book (at least using a TA), you can leave the last 2 sectors unallocated so make your mind up later. I guess they can go totally unused, but if you have booked them, make sure you inform the airline you are a no-show, eg if you became ill just before flying.

May I ask approx cost of *A RTW your EX: Japan? Looking @ doing the same.

 

[pyffii]

this years 16 sector DONE4 ex HND was just over $10K incl taxes whilst next years 10 sector DONE4 ex HND was $9900 incl taxes