Booking a RTW ticket (a.k.a. The eternal stuggle)

I’m not gonna lie. Booking an around-the-world airplane ticket is a bitch. There are tons of questions – How do these tickets work? What are the rules? Cost? Can you change dates/countries? How long is it valid for? It’s enough to make you want to curl up in a fetal position and cry yourself into a fitful sleep.

Our first step was figuring out where we wanted to go. We sat down and put together a dream itinerary which included Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. Timing was also a huge consideration since we wanted to avoid seasons with oppressive heat and rainy periods. We also knew that we would do lots of overland travel, so only needed flights to get to us into far flung regions.

In terms of the airline ticket, there are several options:

• book an around-the-world ticket
• buy a few flights and play the rest by ear
• purchase individual segments, just getting yourself from A to B each time

While a fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants approach sounded appealing, it just didn’t make sense for us in terms of cost or time. We knew where we wanted to go and wanted to solidify a route. With this initial plan in place, we started calling around to the airlines (American, United, Delta) and RTW travel specialists. The major airlines offer RTW and regional tickets with varying rules and regulations. Normally, each carrier is affiliated with an alliance and you can only travel with them or partners. You can either choose tickets based on a maximum number of miles or regional tickets with several local flights. Most specify that travel must be in the same direction with no backtracking. Every airline is different so weigh all the options and see what works best for your specific itinerary. We also called Airtreks, a RTW ticket specialist, to see if we could create a more personalized, yet cost effective, flight plan. With the specialists, you aren’t restricted to any one carrier or partner and have more flexibility.

As expected, we had to cut down our itinerary to fit our budget and because of impractical or expensive routes. Africa was eliminated altogether because the cost of flights alone added $1,500 to the ticket. With expensive daily costs and pricey activities (safaris, climbing Kilimanjaro), we decided to leave Africa for another trip. TD and I discovered that the cheapest tickets follow the most popular routes, leaving you in regional airport hubs (London, Bangkok, Santiago). From there you travel within the zone, making your way to the next hub in order to catch a plane to the next destination.

In the end, we booked through Travel Nation, a UK-based agency. After extensive research, we found out the fares there were far more competitive than in the US. The only catch was that our RTW flight had to depart from London, so I used frequent flyer miles to get us there from San Francisco. We booked a OneWorld alliance ticket which is affiliated with American airlines. Our particular ticket allowed us to travel within 4 regions (Europe, Asia, Australia+New Zealand, South America) with 2-4 local flights per area. We couldn’t change the routes but could change the dates for a fee of $20. With the pound at a 27-year low against the dollar, the ticket came out to about $3,700 per person. Not bad, considering that I was quoted $3,900 for a 3 region ticket on American’s 800 number.

Be patient when booking this type of fare. I had to calm TD down after our agent dropped the ball several times. He never seemed to read our emails or follow through with our requests. To add to our frustration, we were in different time zones and had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn for a live conversation. Adding to the entire debacle was the fact that it took A FUCKING MONTH to charge our credit card. Meanwhile, we watched nervously as the British pound gained and lost against the dollar on a daily basis. Nice job, buddy.