This article is tourism topic.
This article says flying around the world (RTW, or "round the world").
Flying around the world is not as expensive as you might imagine. Each flight alliance has its own worldwide passport product that allows you to get around the ball at a reasonable price.
Terms
Flight passes around the world often have certain conditions.
- the last flight must return to the country of departure (but not necessarily to the point of departure).
- the journey goes either west or east, no (intercontinental) jumps back and forth.
- limited number of miles, typically 26,000 to 39,000 miles depending on price. However, the oneworld Explorer ticket has a limited number of continents, not the length of flights.
- the trip must usually be made within one year.
- minimum number of stops, often three. (A stop is usually defined as more than 24 hours long; changing a machine is not a stop.)
- maximum number of stops, depending on the price of five to thirty.
However, these vary by ticket type.
oneworld
The oneworld flight alliance has two different products: oneworld Explorer and Global Explorer. In addition to Finnish Finnair, oneworld includes American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malev, Qantas and Royal Jordanian. Strengths include good connections in the Americas and Australia. In Africa, connections are lower.
oneworld Explorer
Unlike many flight passports oneworld Explorer[1] not based on miles flown, but on the continents visited. Tickets are available for tourist, business and first class. You can visit 3-6 continents.
Prices vary depending on where the ticket is purchased and the trip begins. When buying from Finland, an economy class ticket costs 1750-3149 euros, depending on the number of continents. You can get a cheaper ticket if you can leave for a trip from Mauritius or Cairo, for example. [2]
Global Explorer
Global Explorer with a flight passport [3] in addition to oneworld, you can also use Aer Lingus, Air Pacific and Gulf Air. The price is based on the miles flown. In economy class, 26,000 miles purchased from Finland costs 1,749 euros, 29,000 miles 2,199 euros and 34,000 miles 2,699 euros. In business class, 34,000 miles costs 5,599 euros.
Star Alliance
The Star Alliance is the largest of the alliances and the most comprehensive in its network. Members include e.g. SAS, Lufthansa, Swiss, Thai, Singapore, United and Air New Zealand. World tours are available in lengths of 29,000 (RWSTAR1), 34,000 (RWSTAR2) and 39,000 (RWSTAR3) miles in all classes, plus a special "Starlite" that can travel 26,000 miles in economy class only and with up to five stops. Ticket prices vary significantly depending on the place of purchase, but there is no high / low season distinction.
Skyteam
Skyteam includes Aeroflot, Aero Mexico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental, CSA, Delta, KLM, Korean Air, Kenya Airways and Northwest Airlines. Connections in Australia are weaker than in other alliances, but good in Africa.
Round the World
With the Skyteam Round the World ticket [4] you can travel 26,000-39,000 miles in tourist, business or first class. The ticket can be obtained a little cheaper than other alliances.
Other world round tickets
Some travel agencies specialize in round-the-world travel, one of which is London-based Roundtheworldflights.com [5] with a wide variety and price of round-trip travel around the world combining flights of different airline alliances and non-airline companies.
If you want to travel around the world as cheaply as possible, these two options come into play:
- Air New Zealand RTW[6]- the only company flying around the world. from LondonNew ZealandTo Auckland will be flown Hong Kong through and back Los Angeles or vice versa. It is also possible to fly part of the trip with Air New Zealand's partner companies but the cheapest option is the above route. The price with taxes, surcharges and other charges is the lowest at around € 1,300 (spring / early summer) from London to London. Add to that a cheap flight from Finland to London and back, search for the cheapest hotels online, and you have a three-week trip around the world for about 2,000 euros! Round trip Australasia pay a couple hundred euros on top.
- Virgin RTW '[7] - The airlines are Virgin Atlantic and V Australia and the route is the same as above except that the Oceania stop is In Sydney. The cheapest price from London to London is around € 1,500 including taxes and surcharges.
- Emirates-Air Tahiti Nui[8]. Paris-Dubai-Southeast Asia-Oceania-Papeete (Tahiti) -Los Angeles-Paris € 1799 excluding airport taxes and local fees. Of course, those traveling from Finland will have a trip to Paris and back (at least € 54 per way on an easyjet from Helsinki).
Flights separately
Tips
- Use mile counter. Great Circle Mapper [9] can tell you exactly how many miles the trip will take.
- Favor direct flights. Flying through a bend consumes miles.
- Source from a cheap country. In 2005, Star Alliance’s RTW3 first class would have cost $ 16,509 purchased from London, but $ 7,929 - or a 52% discount - from Tonga. Prices are reviewed annually, but Bulgaria, Sri Lanka and Thailand, for example, are often cheap. (Surprisingly, the Nordic countries are often quite cheap compared to other European countries.)
- Source during the low season. For some tickets, the difference can be significant.
- Consider a trip in business class (or even in the first). Yes, you have to pay about 1.5-2x more, but when buying regular tickets the odds are 4-7x.
- Join frequent flyer utility. With the miles you fly, you are guaranteed a free trip or a pair when you return home.
- Beware of taxes. They are not included in the price and are often a significant item of expenditure, especially in Europe.
When considering items, consider whether RTW is the best way to visit them. As a rough rule of thumb, if a 29,000-mile trip costs € 3,000, then one mile of trip costs about € 0.10.
- Consider strange places you wouldn’t otherwise visit. Flights, for example To the top mountains or To Easter Island are wildly priced in general, but almost "free" with a round-the-world ticket.
- Consider using flights outside the alliance. For example, it is not very sensible to get from Dubai to Athens with any alliance, so a round-the-world flag should be hooked, for example, via Frankfurt, when almost 4,000 miles (~ € 400) go. A direct flight at Olympic or Emirates can depart for less than € 200.
- Consider low cost airlines for return journeys. For example, Bangkok-Singapore and back would be 2000 miles (~ € 200), but cheap flights can leave in less than ten.
If you need to squeeze a couple more miles somewhere:
- Use city codes, do not have airport codes. For example, LON covers Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City, and TYO covers Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda fields. Flying from Singapore, the SIN-TYO is 3294 miles, but the SIN-NRT is 3324 to 30 miles in savings.
- Stops on the same flight are not counted. If (and only if) Tromsø is not shown on the ticket, then the flight from Oslo to Svalbard is 1255 mi, not 1292 mi, even though the plane stops in Tromsø and the Star Alliance mile counter erroneously claims otherwise.
Low cost airlines
Widespread in Europe low cost airline concept has also spread around the world.
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