This article is a travel topic.

Rather than buying separate flights from one destination to another, a flexible and sometimes cheaper way of international travel is via Round the world (RTW) tickets. A round the world ticket is a plane ticket allowing you to fly around the world, usually over a period of up to a year and with between three and ten stops at different airports.

Round the world tickets cost far less than the sum of the one-way tickets between each set of individual stops. (One-way tickets are generally a poor value compared to round-trip tickets, and also may be viewed with suspicion by security or immigration personnel.) They are usually slightly more expensive than a return ticket between destinations on opposite sides of the world (London and Sydney for example), but if you were planning two or more stops then you may find that a round the world ticket is the cheapest option, and allows you at least a side trip. Many travellers plan entire holidays using a round the world itinerary.

Airline alliance round the world deals

Because few 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. The major RTW offerings available worldwide are:

• Star Alliance Round the World Fare, [1]. Covering 16 airlines, 139 countries and over 800 destinations, this is the unmatched champion for sheer number of destinations and routing options. The pass is available in 26000 (Starlite, economy only), 29000 (RWSTAR1), 34000 (RWSTAR2) and 39000 (RWSTAR3) mile versions in Economy, Business and First Class. The price of the ticket varies — sometimes quite significantly — depending on your starting location, but there are no high/low season changes. Backtracking allowed. Land legs count towards your mileage allotment.

• OneWorld Global Explorer, [2]. A close second to Star Alliance. As LAN Chile is a member, this is the only alliance which goes to Easter Island. Poor coverage of Africa and Central America.

• SkyTeam Round the World, [3]. A distant third, whose major limitation is the lack of flights in South America and Australia.

• World Journey (aka Flying Dutchman). Northwest, KLM and Malaysian band together a large number of smaller carriers to offer good coverage in Africa, India, South America, and the South Pacific. Available in 25000/30000/35000/40000 mile versions.

• The Great Escapade, [4] 29,000 miles and unlimited stops throughout the Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines/SilkAir network — great coverage in South-East Asia and the Pacific, but spotty elsewhere. Backtracking allowed.

• Four Corners. Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Virgin Atlantic. Similar to Great Escapade, but with better coverage in Europe/Africa and worse coverage in South-East Asia.

• Big Planet Tour. Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand, plus Lufthansa/Austrian if departing in Germany/Benelux.

Single/partner airline RTWs

A few airlines, including Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand, offer RTWs valid only on their own flights.

Quite a few more sell two-airline RTWs, with some examples being:

• Air New Zealand and one of Cathay Pacific, El Al, Gulf Air, Lufthansa, KLM, Royal Brunei
• All Nippon Airways and Virgin Atlantic
• Singapore and one of Continental, LAN Chile, United
• Thai and one of Continental, Virgin Atlantic
• United and one of Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Saudi Arabian, South African

These can be cheaper than full alliance RTWs, but your choice of routing is severely restricted and tickets can only be purchased in certain locations, not across the network. Enquire with the issuing airline for details.

Conditions

Conditions for alliance round the world tickets often include:

• returning to your departure point (or, at least the country of origin) on the last leg of the trip.
• travelling in one direction (east or west) only.
• a strict mileage limit. Typical limits range from 26 000 to 40 000 miles, depending on the ticket price. "Land legs" -- travelling between two airports without using the ticket -- will typically count towards the mileage limit, so you cannot have a longer trip by doing this.
• a time limit in which to make the journey. This is usually the same as an open-ended return ticket, that is, 12 months after your date of departure.
• a minimum number of stops (including your return home): often three.
• a maximum number of stops: five and up, depending on the ticket price.
• a fixed series of stops determined at the time the ticket is booked (date alterations are usually allowed).

Not quite round-the-world

If you want to do a long, circular itinerary that isn't quite all the way around the world, there are a number of interesting alternative options also available:

• OneWorld Circle Explorer, [5]. A do-it-yourself kind of fare where you pay for the number of continents visited (minimum three, maximum four). Note that a stop in Africa is obligatory.

• OneWorld Circle Pacific, [6]. 22,000 to 29,000 miles around the Pacific Rim, covering Asia, Oceania, North America and South America.

• Star Alliance Circle Pacific, [7]. Allows you to loop around the Pacific Rim, for a total trip of 22,000-26,000 miles. Excellent coverage in Asia, but in the Americas you can only visit the United States.

• Star Alliance Circle Asia, [8]. 15,000 or 18,000 miles all around Asia. Your journey must cover all three regions, defined as "South-West Pacific", "North Asia" and "South-East Asia".

Circle Atlantic and Circle Pacific fares are also offered by some individual airlines, such as United and Malaysian.

If you book an intercontinental round trip flight on an alliance airline you are eligible for passes that give discount flights in the destination continent.

• Sky Team offer passes [9] for Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
• Star Alliance have passes [10] for Europe, North America, Brazil, Asia, Japan, Brazil, the South Pacific, and sub-saharan Africa.

Specialist travel agents

It is possible to put together a round-the-world route by combining one-way tickets on various airlines. This is more flexible than restricting yourself to what an alliance offers and, if you get good discounts on some hops, pricing can be competitive. The only practical way to do this — since it requires both knowledge and contacts — is to go to a travel agent who specialises in round-the-world itineraries. These can be found in major cities that are transit hubs — London, Bangkok, New York, San Francisco [11] etc. Expect the process to take several weeks; these agents will get parts of your ticket issued by their contacts in other countries and couriered to them. This can save you money, but it takes time.

Planning your trip

Planning for a RTW trip requires quite a bit of preparation.

Some ways to get the maximum value from your ticket are:

• Use a mileage calculator to maximize your route. The Great Circle Mapper is an excellent tool, but be sure to set the display to "mi" (miles), not "nm" (nautical miles).
• Use direct flights whenever possible. Be flexible with dates; routes off the beaten track are often not flown daily.
• Start your trip from a low-cost country. RTW pricing depends on where you issue the ticket, so you can achieve significant savings by starting from places like Bulgaria, Sri Lanka or Thailand. As an example, in April 2005, a Star Alliance RTW3 in First would have cost you $16,509 if purchased in the United Kingdom, but only $7,929 (a savings of 52%) if purchased in Tonga.
• Start your trip in low season; in some cases this lowers the overall fare drastically.
• Consider flying business class (or, for a real splurge, first). Yes, you'll pay about twice as much for the ticket — but business class usually costs 4-7x more than economy, so it's a comparative steal, and it makes all that sitting around in planes so much more tolerable.
• Join a frequent flyer program before you fly. With all the miles you rack up from your RTW, you'll earn enough to make another trip for free when you get back.
• Watch out for taxes and surcharges. These are not included in the base cost of the RTW, but can easily add up to hundreds of dollars, and some countries (eg. much of Europe) are much more expensive than others (eg. most of Asia).

When choosing your destinations, consider whether an RTW is the best solution for visiting them. As a very rough rule of thumb for gauging costs, assuming a 29,000-mile ticket for $3000, one mile of an Economy RTW costs (on average) around $0.10.

• Consider some offbeat, once-in-a-lifetime destinations. For example, regular flights to Svalbard, Easter Island, or much of Oceania and Africa are horrifically expensive, but virtually free (only miles needed) when using a RTW ticket.
• Consider taking non-alliance airlines for routes less travelled. As an example, suppose you'd like to fly from Dubai to Athens. You'd be hard-pressed to find a good route with most RTW tickets, as neither Emirates nor Olympic participate in the major programs, and would have to detour through a hub like Frankfurt, racking up over 4000 miles (~$400). On the other hand, direct flights on non-allied airlines cost as little as $196.
• Consider taking discount airlines for return excursions. For example, Bangkok-Singapore return would set you back 2000 miles (~$200), but on this heavily competed sector full-service carriers regularly offers fares under $100 and low-cost carriers promotions can be under $10.

Some tips to consider if you need to squeeze in a few more miles:

• Use citywide airport codes instead of airport-specific ones. For London, LON covers Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City, while for Tokyo, TYO covers both Narita and Haneda. SIN-TYO clocks in at 3294 mi while SIN-NRT is 3324 m — a difference of 30 miles.
• Stops on the same flight don't count. If ticketed so that Tromso doesn't show on the ticket, a flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen is 1255 mi, not 1292 mi, even though there is a stop at Tromso. (Note that the Star Alliance mileage calculator does not handle this correctly.)
• You (usually) don't need to start and end your journey in the same city, as long as you end up in the same country. For example, starting in NYC and ending in LAX, then using a cheap, separately purchased one-way ticket to get back to NYC would free up a few thousand miles.

Southern Hemisphere

If you want to fly around the world completely in the Southern Hemisphere, the choice of flights and destinations is limited due to the lack of trans-continental routes in the South Atlantic, South Pacific, and southern Indian Ocean. The mandatory segments would be (any starting point and either direction):

• Johannesburg, South Africa
• São Paulo, Brazil
• Santiago, Chile
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Perth, Australia

Although the flight from Johannesburg to São Paulo does not continue on to Rio de Janeiro, short connection flights are available. The distance is only 228 mi (367 km) and takes about an hour. From there, you can get a direct (one-stop) flight to Santiago, Chile (or vice versa, in the other direction). Another option is to fly non-stop to Rio from Luanda, Angola (or vice versa), which in turn has flights to/from Johannesburg. However, you may not be able to avoid São Paulo or Johannesburg, no matter which flight over the South Atlantic you choose.

Those wishing to visit Easter Island, Chile must also stop in Tahiti to avoid backtracking. Additional stops are also available in the South Pacific and the east coast of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, etc.) Cairns, Australia is much closer to the equator, and it's a popular destination of those wanting a tropical holiday.