Advice on the Best Value (Cheapest) around the world ticket

GAMAN

Hiya,

Any Recommendations on the best around the world ticket to buy?

Thanks very much

TommyGun

Does anyone have any ideas on this one?

Ritchi

Well, where do you want to go to? The more stops, the more expensive.

dory

They're all pretty much the same. STA travel have some good ones. They have a cool trip planner on their website and you can get a quote online.

RATM

All depends on what destinations/ how many stops. If you want to go to more off the beaten track spots you're most likely better doing it independently.
Check out my article on doing RTW yourself and cutting out the middle man

http://www.therecord.ie/content/view/139/79/

Sites like www.attitudetravel.com and www.skyscanner.net are quite useful for seeing can you do it cheaper than the travel agents best offers.

dory

RATM wrote: »

All depends on what destinations/ how many stops. If you want to go to more off the beaten track spots you're most likely better doing it independently.
Check out my article on doing RTW yourself and cutting out the middle man

http://www.therecord.ie/content/view/139/79/

Sites like www.attitudetravel.com and www.skyscanner.net are quite useful for seeing can you do it cheaper than the travel agents best offers.

Interesting article. Should add though that Oasis went under. So that's Vancouver out of the plan...

TonyD79

Booked a RTW ticket with trailfinders there on saturday for Jan 17th -bangkok-Aus-New Zeland-Fiji-Hawaii-San Fran- New York-Dublin for 2200. Think thats good for january....

RATM

dory wrote: »

Interesting article. Should add though that Oasis went under. So that's Vancouver out of the plan...

Yeah I know, feckin embarrassing, they went under 4 weeks after I published the article:eek: I was about 5 days away from booking a Hong Kong to London flight with them myself, just glad I held off or I would be kissing over 200 spots goodbye right about now.

Still though its amazing how many budget airlines have popped up, when you can get bargains like Kuwait to the Maldives ( traditionally a pricey place to fly to ) for 120 euro on Jazeera Airways it makes you realise that doing it independently can save you money and offer a hell of lot more flexibility than a RTW ticket. Its well worth researching before stumping out 1500-2k on a RTW ticket.

cashback

Just booked with STA travel and was at least 300e cheaper than any irish companies. Cost me 2076e. It's worth giving them a ring.

Ritchi

RATM wrote: »

Yeah I know, feckin embarrassing, they went under 4 weeks after I published the article:eek: I was about 5 days away from booking a Hong Kong to London flight with them myself, just glad I held off or I would be kissing over 200 spots goodbye right about now.

Still though its amazing how many budget airlines have popped up, when you can get bargains like Kuwait to the Maldives ( traditionally a pricey place to fly to ) for 120 euro on Jazeera Airways it makes you realise that doing it independently can save you money and offer a hell of lot more flexibility than a RTW ticket. Its well worth researching before stumping out 1500-2k on a RTW ticket.

Cheers, I may have a look at that. Would I be right in saying that you can't change the dates as easily with independent travel? We were told that we can change them easily enough with a RTW ticket. Actually I'm not sure what kind of charges there is. I'd like to be very flexible with it.

TheNibbler

RATM wrote: »

All depends on what destinations/ how many stops. If you want to go to more off the beaten track spots you're most likely better doing it independently.
Check out my article on doing RTW yourself and cutting out the middle man

http://www.therecord.ie/content/view/139/79/

Sites like www.attitudetravel.com and www.skyscanner.net are quite useful for seeing can you do it cheaper than the travel agents best offers.

Are you likely to come up against visa problems or other issues getting into particular countries doing it independently (ie. needing to show proof of onward flights on arrival)? Or is it just the case that it's better to do it independently but still book all of your flights in advance?

RATM

Ritchi wrote: »

Cheers, I may have a look at that. Would I be right in saying that you can't change the dates as easily with independent travel? We were told that we can change them easily enough with a RTW ticket. Actually I'm not sure what kind of charges there is. I'd like to be very flexible with it.

As regards date changes it all depends on the individual budget airlines, check their policy before booking if you think this is a situation that could arise. Some are cool with date changes ( though they won't be free ) and others dont do them at all.

With RTW tickets some give you the first change for free and then subsequent changes are charged at 50-100 euro and sometimes even more than that. One major headache with changing a RTW is getting the date you want. RTW are the cheapest class of package ticket available, in travel agent speak that is Class Y as far as I know. A 400 seater jumbo may only have 5-15 Y class seats available on it so if they are all taken up on the date you want to shift to then you are out of luck and have to select a different date. This even applies if other classes of seats are available, they wont budge on that. So in theory you could request a date change and they'll have space but if they're not class Y seats then you're not flying. This has happened me a couple of times but in both instances I wanted to fly within the following 3 weeks, if you give them plenty of notice then generally its not a problem.

RATM

TheNibbler wrote: »

Are you likely to come up against visa problems or other issues getting into particular countries doing it independently (ie. needing to show proof of onward flights on arrival)? Or is it just the case that it's better to do it independently but still book all of your flights in advance?

Yeah some countries have this policy of having an onward ticket, Colombia comes to mind in this regard and some say it depends on what mood you get a customs official in when entering Thailand as to whether they'll implement it or not. Philippines is another stickler, they made us go down to the ferry office, buy a ticket to Borneo ( where we had just come from ) then back to customs to show the ticket and then we went back to the ferry office to get a refund on the ticket we had just bought. It really all depends on where you are going? Some border posts play it by the rulebook, some will take evidence of a flight out of another country, some wont even ask.

Often if the worst comes to the worst ( and if you are at the immigration desk in an airport ) they'll facilitate you to buy a one way flight out of there which ( hopefully ) can later be refunded. The bigger problem presents itself if the country of entry holds the carrier airline responsible for the status of the ppl they let on the plane. Thats worst case scenario but it can involve a check in agent not allowing you to fly without proof of onward travel.

Like I said though different countries have different policies on this one, is there a particular place you are worried about ?

TonyD79

cashback wrote: »

Just booked with STA travel and was at least 300e cheaper than any irish companies. Cost me 2076e. It's worth giving them a ring.

what month are you flying out with that ticket and what 6 countries/stops does that cover?

dory

To the person who asked about changing dates on independent travel flights: it is possible. I changed my flight with Tiger Airways and it only cost me the difference between my ticket and the new one, which was E20 more.

I've done both, got a half rtw to take me from Ireland to Aus via Brazil, then got my own flights to from Aus to Asia, and then home. It's working out about 1000 euro for the first leg and about 600 back. I just couldn't find any cheap flights form South America to Aus so I had to get the half rtw ticket.

TheNibbler

RATM wrote: »

Like I said though different countries have different policies on this one, is there a particular place you are worried about ?

Planning on going away for about 7-8months from July or August. Everything is very last minute as I'm sitting my finals at the moment so haven't had much time for planning! Hoping to go to: India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Australia, New Zealand and possibly America depending on funds. As it's all a bit up in the air was thinking booking flights as we go would be the best way to do it especially as we want to leave as early as possible. Do you think any of those countries would present a problem with regard to having no onward ticket? From what I've heard so far, India and Thailand could the most troublesome?

RATM

TheNibbler wrote: »

Planning on going away for about 7-8months from July or August. Everything is very last minute as I'm sitting my finals at the moment so haven't had much time for planning! Hoping to go to: India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Australia, New Zealand and possibly America depending on funds. As it's all a bit up in the air was thinking booking flights as we go would be the best way to do it especially as we want to leave as early as possible. Do you think any of those countries would present a problem with regard to having no onward ticket? From what I've heard so far, India and Thailand could the most troublesome?

I can only tell you from my experience. Ive flown into Delhi 2 years ago on a one way and then a few months later I flew from KAthmandu to Bangkok on a one way where I bought a one way home. Both times I wasn't asked for proof of onward ticket. I have heard of ppl been asked to provide this at land borders though. But if you want an up to date answer to this Id head over and ask it on the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, you'll get advice off ppl who have done the same trip more recently than I have.