maracle

I was looking at OneWorld RTW's a while back...I imagine the rules differ slightly on each alliance.

Anyway, with OneWorld they divide up the world into various zones. So USA/Canada might be a zone, South America is a zone, etc. The price of your ticket is based on how many zones you hit, you can go from 3-7 depending how many places you want to see. Then you get a flight from each zone to the next plus 1 or 2 flights within the zone and any cross-zone flight has to be traveling the same direction around the world (meaning no doubling back).

I don't know if that made a bit of sense or not. There are a lot of complications, but you can arrange your own ground transport or whatever and pick up a flight on your RTW ticket from a different place.

Their rules are actually pretty well explained, it isn't like the rediculous terms on a regular flight where you need a law degree to understand whether you can change your flight or not:
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-trave...world-explorer

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joe7f

To be honest Brett, I was kind of hoping OneWorld would come through and be convenient so I could visit Easter Island. Unfortunately limiting me to 5 stops in Europe/Middle East makes it really tough for me to complete my itinerary.

--Joey

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joe7f

Quick update. I thought I had a good deal cooking with Singapore Airlines. They have a 2200 USD RTW which is a lot better that 4069 with Star Alliance and Skyteam.

The Singapore Airline (SA) RTW is limited to only SA flights.

You can do a JFK-FRA-DXB-SIN-NRT-LAX* RTW for around 2000 USD less than a carte blanche 30k miles Star Alliance (SA is part of Star Alliance). Which sounds good except I need a Tampa-JFK flight ($100), Frankfurt-Malaga ($130), Malaga -Northern Europe ($200), Frankfurt-Istanbul ($200), Beijing-Tokyo ($1000), LAX-Tampa ($150)

Now suddenly the Star Alliance/Skyteam ticket is looking more attractive. I think part of this is because of the olympics that the flights are so pricey. I think I'll have a final decision in the next few days. If I pick Star Alliance I am making a swing by Longyearbyen, the most northern city with more than 1000 inhabitants. (Alert, Canada is the most northern permanent establishment).

--Joey

*New York-Frankfurt-Dubai-Singapore-Tokyo-Los Angeles for the airport code averse.

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millmuff

Also just a quick tip, it doesn't have a lot to do with the last few posts but I thought I'd throw it up here for ya joe.

I bought a RTW ticket with the Start Alliance last year. I am currently in SEA and so far things have been running smooth with it. Something that was a big worry about Star Alliance for me was that I had to set my dates and it would be a fee to change them. As long as you deal with the airline themselves ie. That, Singapore Airlines they will change dates and time for free. Which save what I think was a 100+ charge. It came up for me with visa problems becuase certain countries need proof that you will be leaving. I actually at first had to chnage dates back and forth just to get around this...what a pain!

Just something I thought I'd throw out there. Have a good one.

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joe7f

Thanks man. I decided to do an RTW in distance not in direction

I did a TPA-London flight a few weeks back for about 650 USD and then I'll go with a circle the pacific fare (roughly 2200 USD) from the LAX, SFO or other west coast airport for my Asia route and just leave out Dubai. The main advantage to me was that I didn't have to pay for everything up front and that I could be more flexible with my itinerary. I hate having to pay 100s to cancel flights that I don't need.

Starting in the "low season" also made my Euro leg a lot cheaper All told I am expecting to pay 3k for my plane tickets rather than 4k with Star Alliance. I feel like some of those stops like Dubai, Singapore, (I even toyed with KL but seriously is there anything there besides the Petronas towers?? Hwei, I kid I kid relax!) and others can be done later when I am working for a living

How's your trip going? Still planning on treking through Germany in the summer?

--Joey

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Next up: Mongolia, China

"I sought trains; I found passengers" - Paul Theroux

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millmuff

That sounds like a solid deal. It's tough but anyone looking to do a trip of such size has to go through each aspect on there own and find out whats best for them. When looking at flights for such large distances there's just no cooker cutter formula.

Yeah I'm still set to land in Germany in the start of July I believe. If I'm still alive.

Take it easy.

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joe7f

Yes definitely. For anyone else watching the conversation, if you are planning an RTW during the summer (for example, maybe a new teacher wants to travel during their time off) you will not want to go my route. I benefited by getting a cheap fare to Europe (low season), and not having too much of a desire to go much further east than Istanbul and not much further west (when traveling to the east) than China/Mongolia.

--Joey

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Next up: Mongolia, China

"I sought trains; I found passengers" - Paul Theroux

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