round the world flights

If you are travelling half way around the world, you might as well continue flying the other way around to get back home. It will only cost you slightly more than a return ticket to continue flying the rest of the way around the world. It won't take you any more time and you may have the opportunity to see another part of the world which you wouldn't necessarily see.

This section sets out how you can find the best round the world flights as a budget traveller or backpacker.

General requirements

The general restrictions for a round the world flight are:

• you must generally fly east to west or west to east. (ie no backtracking. However, once you land in a continent, you may be able to take flights within that continent that actually go "back" as long as you do not return to the same destination)
• you may be restricted to certain airlines or a certain alliance (ie Oneworld or Star Alliance)
• you must have a stop in specified continents (ie North America, Europe or Asia).

How many miles?

The major price difference with round the world flights is how many miles you are flying.  The cheapest ticket is a 26,000 mile round world ticket. Besides the 26,000 mile ticket, you can also choose round the world flights with 29,000, 34,000 or 39,000 miles. Two examples of routes which fall within 26,000 miles and have actually been flown by jafatravel.com writers are:

Example 1: Melbourne, Auckland, Los Angeles, Boston, London, Paris, Singapore, Melbourne.

Example 2: Melbourne, Auckland, Santiago (make your own way to Sao Paolo), Sao Paolo, London, Bangkok, Melbourne.

Of course, the more miles you choose on your ticket, the more flights you can take and the more internal flights within a continent you can make.  The examples above fall within 26,000 miles and do not give any flexibility to have internal flights within a continent. If you are choosing round the world flights with more than 26,000 miles, you will have the mileage to take internal flights within a particular continent. The rules that apply to these flights give you the flexibility to "backtrack." However, you are not allowed to fly back to the same destination. This will by handy to cut down on travel costs after you start travelling.

You need to be wary that tickets may include land travel components as part of the calculated mileage.  ie, in the second example above, the land component of Santiago to Sao Paolo will be included in the calculation of the 26,000 mile limit.

For greater detail about the restrictions that apply read the information provided by Star Alliance and Oneworld.

Destinations and Carriers

The destinations that you visit will largely determine the airlines and alliance which you choose.  Practically there is very little difference between the Oneworld alliance and the Star Alliance.  The Star Alliance does have more members and more options, but you still should be able to fly wherever you want with either alliance. 

In certain circumstances, you may be able to fly with only one or two carriers.  I have flown Melbourne, Auckland, Santiago (land to Sao Paolo), Sao Paolo, London, Bangkok and Melbourne by Qantas and British Airways only.  This ticket is possible due to the code sharing arrangements Qantas and British Airways has with LAN Chile (my Auckland to Santiago flight was operated by LAN Chile but was coded as a Qantas flight).  As only two carriers were used, the round world ticket was approximately 10-15% cheaper.  For this kind of ticket, it is important that the flight is coded either BA or QF. Otherwise, the flight won’t qualify for the round the world flight.

Frequent flyer points

This is a minor consideration but you'll obviously build up a fair few frequent flyer points after circumnavigating the globe.  However, depending on the carrier, you might not be able to use them unless you earn more points due to the limited short flight options available from the carrier.  ie, you're an Australian who has flown around the world with Lufthansa and its affiliates. However, Lufthansa only flies long haul to/from Australia meaning you are required to have enough points for a long haul flight before you can use your frequent flyer points.  However, this problem may be alleviated as frequent flyer programs may be flexible enough to be used with other airlines.

How many stops?

Round the world flights are also advertised as containing a certain number of stops around the world. It is advised that you should firstly decide where you want to go and then obtain the suitable ticket that allows you to do it.  Don't be worried about the number of stops. Consider your budget and our desired destinations and modify your trip to fit this.

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