Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Natalie]

I would appreciate anyone's experience and/or opinions on World Tickets. I'm looking at both tickets provided by Sky Pass and Star Alliance, but they have some conditions that I'm not completely happy about. The main issue is restricted flexibility. For example, both require exact destinations to be specified and if a change of location (ie flight path) is made, there is a fee of about $100US or $200US. Flight dates/times are able to be changed for free, which is good. Anyway, any info. on other tickets/experiences/research would be appreciated. Cheers

[bbb0777]

I've always read the cheapest around-the-world tickets could be purchased in Thailand. Sorry not to be more specific/certain, perhaps someone else can expand upon that.

[runthegauntlet]

There are a dozen threads like this one on the thorntree forum at the lonely planet website, so that will give you a fairly comprehensive list of the good and bad about RTW tickets.

Personally, when I did mine last year I ended up just buying one ways. I spent about 2100 for 6 flights and I figured it worked out a bit cheaper doing it that way with the destinations and time frames. I'm doing another one next year and will just book all my own tickets as well since I'll be doubling back a bit.

Also, if you're going to be spending a long amount of time traveling, just getting somewhere and then booking your ticket once you figure out how long you want to be there might be far more appealing than having a setschedule you must adhere to.

[opthomps]

I got a RTW ticket last year, and regretted it. I reckon that I could have bought individual tickets more cheaply. The only place where its hard to find cheap flights is south america. I wouldnt ever buy a RTW again. Just my advice, take it or leave it.

[korea.teacher]

I got a Sky Pass and traveled in 2008. I met some Australians along the way who told me they compared and got a better deal on an RTW in their country but I don't know the name of the program. When I compared the cost of purchasing separate tickets, though, I couldn't beat the cost of my rtw. My ticket was $3,000 plus taxes.

The reason for laying out your itinerary in advance is to make sure you fall within your mileage limit.

The tricky part in using my Sky pass wasn't listing destinations in advance but being able to book departures. I ran into difficulty leaving Bangkok because my departure coincided with university students going on break who were also flying to my next destination, Paris. I learned to plan early.

Warning: I learned alot of things along the way, like there's a big difference between a real travel agent and a ticketing agent. My travel agent was of no help once I started traveling. A good travel agent can help prevent and get you out of jams.

I found that when I worked directly with Korean Air in Korea I got better customer service than in the USA which would take weeks to respond.

Warning: Making changes iscan be difficult if there isn'y a local Korean Air office near you. Once, when I poposed a change when I was traveling, there was no JAL office nearby and I was told to mal $100 along with teh requested change to KAL in Korea?

If you knowledge up and have a good travel agent, I think with advance planning the ticket can work, example, knowing when to travel, etc.

On my initial rtw, for example, I was able to book Bangkok, then follow-up with Western Europe, continue to South America, then Central America, on to the U.S. and then return to Korea.

Warning: some carriers are not flexible, like COPA Airlines, my Panama carrier. In my case, I was traveling in S. America and wouldn't allow me to change my departure city from Lima when I was in the north, even though I was closer, making me come all the way back to catch a flight.

My carrier American carrier was the opposite (NW). With the excess miles left on my ticket, for $100 Korean Air said I could city hop from the east coast to the west coast (several cities).

Hope this helps.

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

statravel.com

They have RTW tickets. I've been playing with itineraries and it's so cheap. I had 21 cities at one point and it was less than $3,000. I think you have to be under 26 to get it though.

[korea.teacher]

Oops! Sorry about the mispellings in my previous post (from when I was in a PC Bang earlier in the day. I must have more tired than I thought).

Try this link to wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/Rtw.

Lists: OneWorld Explorer, OneWorld Explorer, World Journey, The Great Escapade, Four Corners. and World Walkabout Plus tickets.

Also suggests "not quite round-the-world" alternatives: OneWorld Circle Explorer, OneWorld Circle Pacific, Star Alliance Circle Pacific, and Star Alliance Circle Asia.

[Natalie]

Thanks everyone! This advice has almost confirmed for me my 'latest' gut feeling which is to wing it and buy one-ways. Flexibility is my biggest concern so that makes sense and to be honest I'm too lazy to do too much more research

Its the fineprint and rules that frustrate me the most while traveling, especially when tired, jetlagged and stuck in an airport abroad. If I knew for certain it was a significant money saver I'd look into it more, but it seems this is not necessarily the case.

Cheers!