6 Continents

Does anyone know of any airlines- or airlines- that have around the world packages? Can you give me info on them if you have used them, how much do they coast and could someone give me a good itinerary for my trip?
Thanks alot!

kh

Hi, I've made a great many RTW trips and they are super. You need to find a good travel agent to help you get the ticket booked. Essentially, these itineraries require that you travel in the same direction with no backtracking and that you make a minimum number of stops. Airlines offer these tickets in cooperation with one another (NW and KLM was last one I used). It's a bit tricky and that's why a good travel agent is essential.
Don't know where you are - that will determine where you can go.
You will find that the cost of a RTW business class ticket will surprise you and suggest you look at one of them. Mine have always been cheaper than a point to point ticket! Of course, you have to factor in cost of hotels and meals but it's a wonderful way to go. You can do it in economy and first class (where it's available and that's another sticky point). Why not call Cathay Pacific, Qantas or KLM and ask to talk to someone about their RTW tickets first? BYe!

John

Look here: http://www.oneworld.com/products/explorer.cfm

Marilyn

Do check on the cost of a biz class ticket. For an extended trip it is not exorbitant. Good friends of mine did this and were glad they spent the extra thousand dollars. Not only do you fly more comfortably, but you get to use the airport business class VIP lounges and sometimes you go through expedited immigration and customs lines.

Vicky

We have been using rtw tickets for 7 years. We are on United which has the use of Lufthansa/Singapore Airlines/New Zealand, etc. I have never used a travel agent. I just call United and book the trip. They do allow one back track. We just returned from LAX/NRT/SIN/Manila/SIN/FRA/BCN/FRA/JFK/
LAX. Did it all on the phone. It is MUCH cheaper if you are on 1st class or business. Don't know about coach.

hanna

Don't know how much you paid Vicki, but I priced a RTW with the airlines directly and with a travel agent and the agent was a couple of thou less expensive. I call the airlines to get there figure and use that for my benchmark. No use paying more than necessary.

Maurice

For the complete newbie, how much are we talking about? $5000 (ha ha)? $10,000? $15,000?

How does this compare to economy for the same trip?

How many stopovers?

Marilyn

Maurice, I'm not sure what it would be now, but a few years ago (maybe 5?) my friends paid no more than $5000 per ticket (I think). I sure know it wasn't $10,000! And since they were traveling for a full year, the cost was not so bad.

As I recall, they figured that they would not be spending any more on living expenses for that year (including airfare) than they would spend staying at home. Since they traveled mostly (but not entirely) in the 3rd world, their food and lodging costs were less than at home.

I once flew SF-Hong Kong-London-SF and the round-the-world ticket was by far the cheapest way to go, although I felt very frustrated that I couldn't take advantage of all the allowed stops as I was on a business trip.

JP

The cheapest ones, with very limited stops and patched together on various airlines, start around $1200. Go to http://www.airbrokers.com/ and click on "Deals" to get some examples. The NY Times and LA Times travel sections are also full of RTW ads.