Does anyone have any experience with round the world flight bookings?

I haven't but I hear you can do it in 80 days !!! ?

What?! I didn't know Canadians could do them!!

Lol why would you think that?

I've only known Europeans who have done them! I would think it would be more common here. Now I must look into it immediately! So thanks for this post Steph
we can collaborate plans together

http://www.staralliance.com/en/round-the-world
There are other airlines that do it as well (oneworld seems to be a cheaper option) but they quote you in USD!
STARALLIANCE.COM
Round The World - Star Alliance

Thanks!

How did you actually book it? Did you speak with a rep at staralliance, a travel agent or on line. Is it a significant saving over booking as a normal multi-destination ticket?

I haven't booked anything yet but i'm meeting with the travel agent today actually, i'll let you know how it goes! I'm not going to rely solely on them, i'll do my own research as well.

Super! Thanks

Following!

A friend of mine did one years ago with air canada and affiliates. You had to fly in the same direction (ie go east), you were only allowed to make so many stops and the plan had to be used within one year.

You also have to start and end in the same country.

She started and ended in Canada. As far as I know she gave herself lots of time between segments so that she wasn't rushed.

Yeah it looks like you can only have 16 segments, which seems to be super hard when doing a longer trip since the majority of international flights have at least one if not 2 stopovers.

I'm more so wondering if the cost was worth it (i've seen anywhere from 3-8K depending on number of flights) and how flexible they are with changing your dates.

to my knowledge you only have to be sure of your exit and return dates.

You can always skip countries/cities and do shorter segments with smaller, regional, low cost airlines or use train or other means so you could maximize your allowed segments. I haven't done it yet but looked into it a while ago

From what i've seen even you travel by other means, it still counts as 1 segment :@

I guess if you could get back to your original destination however it wouldn't matter.

We purchased a round the world ticket 10 yrs ago and travelled for 11 months. We new our leave and return date and booked in between when we felt like moving on. We had alot of direct flights even for longer distances.

Well worth the $$, we thought. Easy to book with star alliance

We were in new zealand and took a local airline between islands and it did not count as a segment

Barb, that's awesome! How many destinations did you go to?

I would have to add them up, we drove all through western europe after flying originally to germany. Flew to Italy, greece, argentina, brazil, hawaii, new zealand, australia. All total we were in over 20 countries.

So just to clarify about the segments...from what you read Steph could you fly to Paris take the train to Berlin and fly out of Berlin onto your next segment or would you have to travel around Europe by train or other means and then fly out of Paris again onto your next segment? Otherwise flying out of Berlin would use up one of your 16 segments?? Thanks

I'm not sure how it works with star alliance but oneworld if you flew to Paris, took a train to Berlin then flew out of there, that's a segment. If you flew to Paris, took a train to Berlin and back, no segment. It's confusing! Haha

Steph That's what I thought. So you always have to return to the city that you flew into to depart from it if you don't want to use up all your segments in one go.

If you go to Star Alliance there is an option to book , stopping at cities you chose. All flights are Star Alliance airline members so you know you're getting reputable airlines

Yeah I did that but ended up running out of segments when I was only half way through

I don't understand? What do you mean you ran out of segments half way through?

You can only have 16 flights, if you're flying somewhere that has a stopover that's 2 flights, so it gets tricky when flying long distances. Have to get creative with your destinations to try and get as many direct flights as possible!

Thanks so much for the explanation! Currently, I'm only intending two destinations but will have at least one maybe two other stops I don't want, so adding a couple more to get best value shouldn't be a serious problem for me considering my true agend.

Incredible coincidence to me, having this come up today as I have it on my list of things to do "look into around the world flight options". Crazy.

i would recommend booking the flights separately, book the intercontinental flights and then use cheaper flight companies within a continent

You're quite right! Train travel in Europe is divine. Flights within SE Asia can be had for a song!

Sherryl yep, take advantage of aeroplane/air miles for you for long hauls

I meant getting the around the world ticket you can overcome the segments limit by utilizing other travel options when you're in different areas. As for me, I'm still 30,000 points short for the round-the-world ticket in business class. So I might have to pay the going rate. But I'll deal with seeing more places than the segments would allow by utilizing the other methods transport at certain locales.

Am interested in this also!

Most airlines offer "stopover" options and some, like Cathay are as flexible as 2 FREE Stops in each direction. So you could do a a round the world ticket on one itinerary. Not considered a "Round the world" ticket but still achieve what you want it to do.

Lary, you have made an excellent suggestion. However, for my particular itinerary, Cathay doesn't fly from Calgary to Turkey. I'll have to check whether or not they fly from Turkey to Singapore, but if they do, it's probably still not working for me. I think I'm going to be stuck with air canada as my best option.

Cathay doesn't but british airways does, which is under the oneworld umbrella.
https://www.oneworld.com/flights/round-the-world-fares
ONEWORLD.COM
More Than 150 Countries Across the oneworld Alliance Network

For myself, I'd like to use only one carrier. I've had some small troubles in the past when using "partner" carriers. One example, being unable to make seat selection and ending up in middle seat.

Well, yesterday i went to flight center to try and squeeze some info out of them and the girl I was talking to said it's not always best to do a RTW ticket depending on your destinations. I'm going to try and lock down where I wanna go and do a full comparison!

Interesting situation for my plans. I need only 2 stopovers however the ARW plan requires a minimum of 3 stop overs. What to do? What to do? Interesting first world problem.

Is the round the world cheaper than seperate flights?

I sure hole so! ! ?

RTW tickets are great for a lot of stops and flexibility in changing dates for tickets that are valid for many months. IN your case, it may just be a multi-leg itinerary!
Start with the cities you want to fly to, then figure out who the dominant carriers are and there may be an easy trend to spot there, otherwise, it may require a little more digging.
cathay pacific is part of an Global Alliance called One World, so check that out and see what airlines are part of that group. Main airlines are american airlines, british airways, Cathay, japan airlines and Qatar!
As long as you stay within that group of airline, you should be able to built it!

I'm looking at star alliance. I'm thinking this might work because there's a stop to change planes in Toronto. I'd be flying air canada all the way except for one leg, which would be on Turkish Air. Lary, of course, I'd like to take more advantage with other stops but for this particular trip, timing is key. I'll still be away for a long time and doing other flights not in the star alliance as I'll be based at my 2 chosen stop overs and returning to them a number of times, which isn't allowed. Maybe I can work out an interesting stop on the return to Canada.

If you match Turkish and air canada, indeed they are both Star Alliance members. The key now is to figure out which airline stock your ticket will be issued on. If you first "long" flight is on Turkish across the Atlantic, they most likely would issue the ticket and seems like Turkish allows 4 FREE stopover, 2 in each direction in Toronto/Montreal or Istanbul.
What is your furthest point?

I'm working on a cellphone and so can't use star alliance's build a trip. It states I need to be on a pad or desk computer. (Annoying). My plan is to book air canada in all Business from YYC to YYZ then to IST and then to SIN and then back to YYC over the course of a few months. I'm not ready to get my travel agent involved, so I'm frustrated on finding a price/cost.

What does your travel agent normally do for you if he can't help you with this?

She certainly can, however , I haven't yet ruled out using points. I'd rather just get some idea of what it will cost too before I determine which to choose. Selected as a multi destination trip, it's coming in at over $8000. Ack

Sorry to say Sherryl but you won't be able to price this thing out without the help of someone who has the tools and more then a cellphone! Using points or paying cash for a flight, you still need to find the itinerary that works and then you can worry about how you paid for it - points or cash!
If you are dealing with one of those old school TA, I get why you wouldn't get her involve cause by booking the flight for you is how she makes her money so if that's the case, I'd strongly recommend you find someone who charges a fee for their work, meaning helping find the right itinerary for you and NOT an itinerary that puts the most money in the TA's pocket! Even if you pay a fee, guarantee it less costly in the end then do do it all yourself, bring it to that agent to book and having her all pissy cause you want her to book an itinerary that doesn't pay her any commissions and therefore, she's working for free!

That's my point! I just need to get on a computer somewhere and I'm sure I can do that. Just not today.