A round-the-world vacation which allows you to broaden your horizons and enables you to learn about other cultures and people? Sounds like a dream. In fact, there are airlines that offer passengers a one-stop-shop ticket where they can hop from one end of the world to another and experience the cultures, customs and lives of other people and places.
Here’s what you need to know about taking a round-the-world (RTW) trip on one ticket.
A round-the-world ticket allows passengers to book trips to cities across multiple continents on just one ticket. Trips must start and finish in the same country while passengers can fly east to west or west to east depending on their convenience. A RTW ticket is usually valid for one year from the first departure date. Flights can be booked with airlines that are part of organisations like oneworld and Star Alliance.
The benefit of an RTW ticket is the discounted airfares one gets when booking multiple flights. It brings down costs while allowing people to experience the world’s beauty in an epic lifetime trip. Fliers can amass frequent flyer miles since they will only be flying with partner airlines. They can even purchase part or all of their RTW ticket with relevant miles, where permitted.
As mentioned previously, the airline associations of oneworld and Star Alliance offer RTW tickets.
oneworld’s RTW tickets give passengers access to hundreds of destinations in 170 territories. They offer three types of trips: oneworld Explorer, a continent-based fare; Global Explorer, a distance-based fare; and Circle Pacific, an intercontinental journey to explore continents that border the Pacific Ocean. Travellers can visit up to 16 cities.
Travellers booking RTW tickets in any of these categories have to stop once in three “zones.” These are:
Zone 1: North and South America
Zone 2: Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Zone 3: Asia and the South West Pacific
oneworld RTW tickets are available across economy, business and first class. Two free pieces of 23 kilograms each are permitted. Itineraries can be modified to accommodate changes to RTW plans. However, oneworld does not permit the use of frequent flyer points to pay for a RTW ticket. The maximum number of miles permitted are 39,000.
Member airlines of oneworld are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and Sri Lankan Airlines.
As an example, a 31,646-mile trip in August 2024 on the New Delhi-Singapore-Tokyo-Sydney-Buenos Aires-New York-Paris-Dubai-New Delhi route starts from INR 416,531. Travellers are welcome to design their own itinerary according to the destinations they want to travel to provided it meets oneworld’s RTW criteria.
Star Alliance allows passengers to visit up to 15 cities. They mandate that passengers start and end in the same country; follow one global direction (east or west); cross both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; have a minimum of two stops; should not exceed more than 39,000 miles during their RTW trip; and keep their transits to within 24 hours and stopovers at 24 hours or more. The organisation also suggests itineraries based on the travel experiences you want to have. Baggage allowances vary from airline to airline in this grouping.
Member airlines of Star Alliance are Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Eva Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.
As an example, a 29,118-mile trip in August 2024 on the New Delhi-Singapore-Tokyo-Sydney-San Francisco-New York-Paris-Cairo-New Delhi route starts from INR 373,701. Travellers are welcome to design their own itinerary according to the destinations they want to travel to provided it meets the Star Alliance’s RTW criteria.
The differences between airline organisations offering RTW tickets boils down to whether they base their fare on stops or mileage; whether they require passengers to take a particular route (Star Alliance mandates that passengers cross the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans); whether they require passengers to stay at a place for a minimum amount of time before flying again; and whether they charge for changing itineraries or missing flights on RTW tickets.
Booking your RTW tickets at least four to six months in advance will get you the cheapest fares. Tickets also vary in price depending on your start city, so you could save by starting somewhere other than your home airport. Generally speaking, fares for RTW tickets remain consistent throughout the year. We recommend playing around with dates and destinations to see how it affects the price.
For those wondering how a multi-city DIY trip compares to a round-the-world ticket, this is what you should know. An RTW ticket is suitable if your trip lasts for less than a year; if you’re comfortable flying with budget airlines; if you have a set travel plan; if you’re buying tickets on behalf of a group or family members; or you’re part of a frequent flier program and can collect miles and perks.
Multi-city flights are suitable for those whose trips will be longer than a year; don’t have a set plan in mind; would like to use budget airlines wherever possible; are not part of a frequent flier program; and are doing a lot of overland travel.