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Airline alliance round the world deals in Round the world flights
Airline alliance round the world deals in Round the world flights
Because no individual airlines offer truly global service, round the world tickets are often associated with an airline alliance and allow you to travel with any airline that is part of the alliance. Note that the specialist travel agents mentioned below can book these flights as well as providing alternative deals.
The major alliance RTW offerings available worldwide are:
Star Alliance Round the World Fare, . With 28 airlines, covering over 162 countries and 975 destinations, this is the champion for sheer number of destinations and easy routing. The pass is available in 29,000, 34,000 and 39,000 mile versions ? in either Economy, Business or First Class ? each with up to 15 stopovers. There is also a special "Starlite" Economy-only fare for 26,000 miles, but this is limited to a maximum of 5 stopovers. As in most of these fares, Star's rules require passengers start and end in the same country, but not necessarily in the same city. Some backtracking is allowed, though not over oceans. Backtracking, surface sectors, and transits/connections all count against the mileage total. As for where in the world you can go? Almost anywhere: in addition to the usual suspects, Star has a near-monopoly stranglehold on some regions including Micronesia and the South Pacific. South & Central America are also covered now, after Brazil's TAM joined Star Alliance on May 13th 2010. Panama's COPA and multi-national TACA (with hubs in El Salvador, Costa Rica and Peru) are scheduled to come aboard at some point. A black spot includes domestic flights within Australia, although there are plenty of international flights to the major cities.
- Regions with good coverage: The entire world, except...
- Weak Areas: Russia, Australia.
The 11-member Oneworld alliance offers two types of RTWs :
- The unique OneWorld Explorer is based on the number of continents visited (from three to six) and has no maximum mileage limit. Up to 16 segments, as opposed to stopovers, can be included ? in any class of service. However, because of that flight (or "segment") ceiling, this fare can be more limiting than it first seems. (Also, only two stopovers are permitted in the continent of origin.) On the other hand, routings that require major backtracking (ie: from Europe to Africa) are more easily accommodated here, than they are in mile-centric fares. Travelers are free to change the dates on their ticket at no extra charge.
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Global Explorer is Oneworld's more conventional, mileage-based RTW (26,000, 29,000 or 39,000 in Economy class only; 34,000 in Economy, Business or First class). While the OneWorld Explorer is limited to the full members of Oneworld, several non-Oneworld alliance airlines (including Aer Lingus, Air Pacific, Alaska Airlines and its affiliate Horizon Air, Gulf Air, S7 Airlines and Kingfisher and affiliate Kingfisher Red (for its domestic Indian flights only). Qantas code share flights operated by Air Tahiti Nui, Jetstar, South African Airways and Vietnam Airlines can also be used.) can be used with the Global Explorer. For this reason, travel to certain regions -- e.g. many South Pacific islands -- is easier with Global Explorer than with Oneworld Explorer. Surface segment rules are particularly rigid and constraining on the Global Explorer, and the 16-segment restriction applies. As with the Star Alliance mileage-based RTWs, all miles are counted, including surface segments. Each surface segment also consumes one of the 16 permitted ticket segments.
- Regions with good coverage: North America, South America (including the Galapagos and Easter Island), the Caribbean, Easter Island, Europe, Middle East, Eastern Asia, parts of the South Pacific (Global Explorer), Australia, India and Russia.
- Weak Areas: Intra-Africa, India, the South Pacific (OneWorld Explorer).
Skyteam Round the World, . This 11-airline alliance runs a distant third, and has lost even more ground after Continental defected to Star (with COPA possibly following). Regardless, SkyTeam has singular strengths in Russia and central Africa, and the addition of China Southern Airlines provides vast new options in China and around some of Asia's more interesting nooks. Mileage and rules are similar to Star Alliance's RTW. With the addition of Vietnam Airlines in 2010, coverage of Vietnam and surronding countries of Cambodia and Laos is very good.
- Regions with good coverage: North America, Europe, central Africa, Russia, China, Central and Eastern Asia.
- Weak Areas: South America, the Middle East, India, Australia, Micronesia and the South Pacific.
The Great Escapade, 29,000 miles and unlimited stops throughout the Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines and SilkAir network ? great coverage in South-East Asia and the Pacific, but spotty elsewhere. Backtracking allowed. The maximum number of stops within mileage is about 10, eg. London - Delhi - Bangkok - Bali - Australia Stop - New Zealand Stop - Fiji or Rarotonga - Los Angeles - London. Prices are good value and start from £1025 including tax.
- Regions with good coverage: South Pacific, South-East Asia
Four Corners. Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Virgin Atlantic. Similar to Great Escapade, but with better coverage in Europe and worse coverage in South-East Asia.
- Regions with good coverage: South Pacific, Europe
Discovery tickets. Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Air Pacific, British Airways, and most Qantas codeshares. This is probably the 2nd biggest selling RTW out of the UK, allowing 29000 miles and 6 stops. However an extra 1500 miles can be bought for £100, or 3000 miles for £200. This choice is a lot cheaper than the Global Explorer and the One World, with similar routings, including Africa and South America, and from £765 plus tax.
- Regions with good coverage: Australia, Asia.
World Walkabout Plus tickets. Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Air Pacific, British Airways, and most Qantas codeshares. This is the biggest selling RTW out of the UK, allowing 29000 miles and 7 stops - 4 can be in Australia including the point of turnaround - within a wide variety of itineraries using the joint Qantas and British Airways route networks. Basically you're allowed 7 stops (including up to 3 in Australia and 3 in New Zealand) and you must travel out and back via Australasia sticking roughly to the routings of the airlines involved.
- Regions with good coverage: Australia, Asia, United Kingdom.
Discontinued tickets include Big Planet Tour and World Journey (Flying Dutchman).
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Round the world flights Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.