Should You Buy a Round the World Ticket On OneWorld?
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Today I will address the question of whether buying a dedicated Round The World ticket makes sense, and I'll look specifically at the OneWorld offering.
One benefit of a global airline alliance is the ease with which a round the world ticket can be marketed and executed, and the OneWorld alliance had 2 main offerings which feature on their website. The OneWorld Explorer product is based on the number of continents traversed and the Global Explorer product is based on the mileage flown. These are the products I'll focus on.
I dig out the underlying pricing of these products, and then work through a sample itinerary in some detail. That analysis will look on the price competitiveness of the RTW ticket versus buying the flights individually. I'll also look at the price competitiveness if you relax the requirement to fly on OneWorld airlines, and also if you relax the requirement to fly directly between cities. And I'll look at both Economy and Business class travel.
And my conclusion is that for a relatively simple itinerary such as the one investigated, it makes little sense to buy a round the world ticket.
And I reveal what is probably the most interesting conclusion I've found in any of my videos!
Websites mentioned:
www.oneworld.com
www.expertflyer.com
www.kayak.co.uk
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:02 - Credentials
2:23 - OneWorld's Offering
5:05 - Why RTW fare may be competitive
6:00 - Is it good value?
9:40 - Interesting?
11:55 - How about making things more complicated?
13:23 - Small Print
15:31 - Buying Internationally
Another good un!
Some years since I did my last round the world. Had a cheapish First class ticket for a multi continental business trip. On the last leg my flight from Chicago to Manchester (UK) was in business with BMi (remember them?) which I was OK with as the only flight available to get me home directly. The gate agent was impressed as he had never seen a ticket with such a high booking class. Some time later he found me in the lounge and excitedly told me he could route me on Concorde via JFK and LHR.
I was tired and ready for home ASAP, so I thanked him for his efforts and declined. He was somewhat puzzled and deflated, but not as much as I am now when I regret never flying Concorde .
That's a great story - I can see the logic path - 1 flight versus 3. OK - one of the three would have been pretty speedy, but the direct one was still quicker...
Just catching up on your content as a recent subscriber and wow, seriously one of the best channels on RUclips. Sorry to only articulate it with a ‘wow’ but I’m speechless at the amount of incredible info in your channel. Thanks so much!
You are very welcome. Don't think MrBeast is looking over his shoulder that I'm going to overtake his subscriber count, but I appreciate the sentiiment nevertheless!
Very interesting video. Thanks for all this food for thought. Suggestion: As you are talking, keep the map up for longer periods - not that you're a bad-looking chap - but watching the map as you discuss travel leg strategies is helpful.
Thanks - good suggestion!
So much valuable information. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching! This video took a while to prep!
That’s another great video Matt. It’s crazy that for little difference in cost one could buy a return ticket. Thanks again for the video
You are more than welcome. Hope it helps!
Yet another excellent video, Matt, thank you. I'm sure you have many ideas for videos, but RTW tickets using miles could be an interesting topic to analyse some time. Keep up the great work.
Thanks - that would need a lot of points but would be a great way to use them...
Really solid video Matt and I am one of your new subscriber
Thanks Andy. Welcome aboard. A few more videos like this one in the back catalogue...
Hi Matt, I was recommended to your channel by a good friend of mine as we were discussing my thoughts on a RTW trip. You have not disappointed. I have learned much from this one video and will take great pleasure in exploring others.
Thanks Alan and welcome aboard! Glad you enjoyed it and I hope it helped. An exciting trip to plan!
Matt you are a legend. You are objectively answering all the questions I’ve ever had on one world.
Thanks! You're a legend for watching!
I was about to do this comparison but now no need because you have already done it. Brilliant work and I do like a spreadsheet👍😃
Thanks Wayne - glad it helped!
This is seriously useful and interesting. I am hoping to do an major bucket list rwt in the not too distant future, and the information here is gold.
Thanks - glad it helped! A RTW is an epic achievement...
Very interesting. I remember back in 2003 I went to Toronto for a week, and stayed in the youth hostel there. The notice board was full of return leg tickets up for grabs, and all you had to do was to call the airline and change the name, usually a $50 fee back then. So these students were waking up in a different city every day an choosing where to fly to the next day for 50 bucks!! Incredible
Those were the days eh? Doubt the airlines would make it that simple these days!
Well researched, thanks Matt.
Thanks for watching
This video is fantastic Matt. Thank you so much for posting it. It will definitely help with planning of my RTW. I’ve watched many of your videos. All great stuff, I’ve liked them all and also subscribed. I’m working now on getting my TP up to silver before I book my RTW so I could select my seats at the time of booking the flight. Is this right? Many thanks!
Thanks! Indeed - silver will allow seat selection when you book. It can be a bit fiddly across different oneworld airlines but you should be able to get there!
Matt….first time viewer and now subscribed. Wow the amount of research you have put in is amazing. Thanks for your efforts. Great video
Thanks Steve. I had some time on my hands during lockdown!!!! Thanks for the kind words - I quite enjoy receiving value and get annoyed when I see others not receiving value so this kind of video is hopefully helpful!
@@MattsPlanet certainty was helpful….is a public holiday weekend in QLD this coming weekend I can see myself binge watching your earlier videos…cheers
This was so helpful, thank you!
You are very welcome!
Great video - enjoyed your analysis. Looking forward to get travelling again soon. Liked, subscribed and commented!
Thanks! RUclips gold star for Scott!
That was a great video Matt going to save this one for future reference once things start to get back to normality
Thanks Peter. Still a bit frosty so some garden projects are on hold here...
Great stuff Matt - and glad you did the comparison on what the difference was between one-way and return tickets, as that was a question that popped into my head as soon as I started watching.
Pleased to have anticipated your question! Finding time to do 1 RTW is a challenge, not sure how many people will have the time to take 2... Good to know the options though!
@@MattsPlanet I know - you'd be limited to a degree by doing it within the 330ish days limit of how far ahead some airlines publish their timetables. Might be useful through for anyone looking to renew stats over two separate years if they timed it right :-).
Fantastic vid , very educational. I’m going to start saving .
Flying = fun! Save away....
Hi Matt. Thanks for another great, well explained video. I’m really enjoying your in depth look into the more ‘expert’ areas of travel and I love the clear and concise way you pack all the details in.
Personally I would find tutorial videos on ita matrix and expert flyer immensely useful. I don’t find either of them particularly intuitive or user friendly and I’m sure I’m not maximising their potential.
Thanks for all the effort you put in these videos - much appreciated!
Thanks very much Julie. I've promised an advanced Matrix video and have pencilled it in for this week - been called for my 2nd vax jab tomorrow morning so provided I don't end up in bed for 3 days with side effects then it should be out next Sunday! Expertflyer is another interesting topic, but its a subscription service so I'm not sure how many people would actually use the information as it requires a financial commitment... There is a 5 day trial period though so it probably would make sense...
@@MattsPlanet That's great Matt - thanks for your reply. Hope you're ok after the jab!
this was very helpful! thank you!
Hope it helped!
EXCELLENT..Many, many Thanks. This is very valuable to us. Will certainly help in planning our trip. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍
Hope it helps - let me know what you plan - I'd be really interested!
@@MattsPlanet will do 👍
I liked your comment at the end about different prices for different countries. I got in a fight with Qantas one time when I had to make an unscheduled flight home from Australia. The published fair from where I was in Aus was exactly half the price I had to pay coming from the US. So I tried to book it. I was in Australia I’d pay in Australian dollars, but because I had a US passport they would not honor the Australian price. They made me pay the American price which was double. And what made that even worse is it was double if the Australian dollar was trading even with the US dollar. It wasn’t, at the time an Aussie dollar was worth 50 cents meaning I was actually paying 4 times as much as an Australian would for the same seat on the same plane going to the same place. Last time I ever flew Qantas.
That's not great... I try to force bookings through online so as to conceal where I really am - bought an Egyptair ticket online with a VPN and paid less for Business than I would have from London for economy...
WHOA! That interesting secret is something else! I won't post a spoiler alert, but i will definitely try that when I have the time to enjoy it.
Good luck!
Excellent itineraries , well done . My next rtw itinerary will be hybrid , heading east using LCC s with multiple stops to ,BKK/ SIN then using Zipair business to the USA and premium on Norwegian back to Europe , for me this hybrid approach is the way forward
Noel Philips recently did a RTW on low-cost carriers. Think he completed it in 80 hours and he looked pretty rough when he got off at the end but at a slower pace it is eminently manageable to travel that way!
Muy buen video, gracias! Saludos desde Argentina.
Muchas gracias!
Great content , thanks
Thanks!
Fascinating insight into something that's certainly on my bucket list! Thanks again for all the hard work! Quick question: did you try to use itamatrix at all to price any of your routes?
Hi there. No Matrix on this occasion - the OneWorld website is pretty good at showing options and you probably don't want to be taking convoluted routings on this kind of itinerary. The fare codes are pretty good with a rtw fare so availability was abundant - enough for this video at least!
how did I just find your channel? Super interesting content!
Finally! We thought you'd never get here....
Very interesting study! I've considered the idea of a round-the-world for years now but never quite got around to planning one. I have usually thought I would try to use FF miles, rather than cash, to purchase the ticket, and I notice you didn't mention that option. I would be interested in your analysis of an award ticket for round-the-world. Another video perhaps?
Cheers Bruce. Not a bad suggestion actually - I know star alliance quotes a points price - which is significant - so a summary of those plus a valuation against the cash prices available may be interesting...
Cheers matt , iam retiring soon and first on my get on a plane and go subject to the pandemic of course is a trip around the planet . I like most enjoy flying and using as many airlines and routes as possible , your views and advice came in very handy. It will be interesting to see how the pandemic affects airline travel and air tickets prices in the future .
Thanks Steve - a retirement trip is a great opportunity to relax and see the world. Planning an equivalent video for Star Alliance, which has similar products so I'd suggest you determine where in the world you absolutely have to see and pick an alliance accordingly - Star has 26 airlines versus OneWorld's 19. Unless of course status dictates one over the other!
Matt thank you so much for reply. Just one last thing because iam sure your inundated with fellow travellers wanting to pick your brain airline ticket issues . But I was looking around for various ticket prices and the ITA Martrix Airfare search was suggested. You cant book on it but it supposedly gives you various air tickets prices that are not generally seen on airline sites . This I found from an American guy . And he found really goid return tickets in the likes of premier economy to business class with the likes of Lufthansa who most of us would classify as a high end carrier . Are you aware of this ITA Matrix search site matt , and have you used it ! Again many thanks for your time stay well .
Hi Steve. Scripting a ITA Matrix video right now! Should be published on Sunday. No, WILL be published on Sunday! It's a great resource for finding and optimising flights, but its only looking at inventory that's available through the normal booking systems so you're not going to find anything there that isn't available through the airlines. It'll allow you to search stuff and put conditions on flights that airline systems won't easily allow you to do, but they're both drawing from the same source.
Upgrade availability may be what you're referring to, where you'll need ExpertFlyer which will show availability in the fare buckets which govern upgrades - these aren't generally visible on airline sites. Planning a video about that too, although it is subscription based so probably quite a limited audience.
I did cover experflyer to some degree in this video: ruclips.net/video/TO6qrBfU5m4/видео.html which might give you a start!
@@MattsPlanet Morning matt , again many thanks for your quick reply . I look forward to watching sunday . I cant wait to get started on a round the world trip . Matt have a great day stay well and thank you .
Great stuff Matt. I did a round the world 20 years ago when I was oblivious to tier-point runs. And things like expertflyer didn’t exist! I think a video digging into expertflyer would be a great addition to your channel. Keep going the videos are great and informative.
Thanks Mark - my first rtw was in 1996 which was before the 3 global alliances were even formed. Comprised flights on KLM, Air New Zealand and Cathay which are now spread across those 3 alliances! Expertflyer video pencilled in for this week actually.
hi mat, thanks so much for yet another amazing video , although you failed to mention where do you actually buy the tickets once you're all set to do so? and also how do you buy/price up a return RTW?
Ha! Great point!!! You can actually book through the Oneworld.com website - it seems to flow through quite effectively once you've picked your flights. Or by calling BA.
Great video! I have been looking at these Alliance based RTW trips. I got a quote for Jan 2021 (it was a while ago) for eight cities/3 continent trip across 4 weeks with OneWorld Alliance in economy (on as many airlines I could do) and I got a £2400 quote.
Sounds about right! The question is whether you have the time and patience to see what it would cost bought separately! 8 cities is probably around the break-even point!
@@MattsPlanet It depends, I would do the 8 cities using OneWorld airlines and maybe add a few day trips to other neighbouring cities using other airlines. Example being I got 3 days listed in LAX, but as I've done LA before recently, I'll do 2 days there and fly off to San Francisco or Las Vegas for a day?
Sounds great. I'd throw San Diego into the mix for a day from LA. Driveable, lots to see and do and the best bit of California, if you ask me. I lived there for 3 years so I may be a bit biased though...
I'd love you to price up all my holidays! 👌
I think my hourly rate would be prohibitive...
Good stuff
Thanks!
Thank you Matt, I am hoping to find a good cheap deal for a tier point run to get silver or gold.
You're welcome! I made a series about tier point runs a few months back which might be a useful watch if you're specifically focussed on achieving status.
Hi Matt. just watched your video for the first time, and found it excellent and very informative. I am thinking of planning a RTW trip next year which would include, London, san Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, and back to London. OneWorld are quoting, £2700, for the trip. Is this a good price, or is there a more economical way to do it. Kind Regards
Welcome aboard! I think that price is the standard one - good for 15 legs or for the 6 you're contemplating. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to find navigate around with separately bought flights for less, but that's a lot more hassle and work. If you're contemplating something like that, I'd be really tempted to get as mush value as possible by adding more stops on your way round... The price won't change much - just extra fees for each extra airport you transit.
WOW...mind blown 🤯🤯
Great info...it would take me longer to work all this out than it would to get around the world 🤣
Thanks! Trying to work out how accurate that is... Probably quite a close call if you didn't have any stopovers! Thanks for watching.
@@MattsPlanet LOL...trying to work it out! Typical accountants...we're all the same 👍
Two for the price of one? Well done for alerting us to the possibilities.
It's certainly possible!
If you have frequent flyer miles, you might want to use them for positioning flights to cheaper RTW origins. Due to difference in currency and market reasons, RTW tickets purchased and starting in certain countries can cost less.
Thanks - excellent point... I have debated whether its worth the time to go through various starting points to find the best.... Perhaps you've already done it???
Might be an idea for a future video to look at a more cost effective RTW (or RTW and back again return) using an ex-EU jumping off point?
Absolutely - great point. A chunk of those taxes come from the APD from starting in the UK. I checked the base fare from FRA with half an eye on this. Thinking that an equivalent video on Star Alliance might be a logical next step, then after that, one that looks at both schemes from different EU starting points.
MELBOURNE ,AUSTRALIA viewer ,Yes very good content and you can see you business background. I have a pretty similar background having travelled much like yourself but haven't been international traveled for a surprising myself, 10 years! .
Covid restrictions are glacially coming down. I imagine there will be a boom in travel by Christmas 2021 so i expect airlines will bump by the prices in 2022.
I don't know about you but I'm always a non stop guy ,airports are just time wasted, just do my head in.
QUESTIONS:
Have got any thoughts on the Covid world assuming a 4-5 WEEK ,March 2002 One Way or flexible RTW itinerary based on 2 people.
Secondly, any experience with web based specialist business class bookers.(i found one for US entry only specialist that had a fare drop of more than 50% drop for a Rome-Philadelphia leg for example).
Thirdly, Is it worth going with a worldwide hotel booking chain ?
This is the very first vid I saw, VERY HELPFUL.
Thanks , Be interested in your thoughts.
Cheers Oscar and thanks for watching. March 22 may still be tricky through Asia - I fear that may be one of the last places to open back up fully. Transits should be ok but SIN, TYO, KUL may be tricky. But its very hard to predict what's going to happen.
Re bookers - I have never used them as I've always known more about booking stuff than the people I spoke to when I dipped my toe into third party booking agents years and years ago. Having said that there are occasionally some really tricky bookings that only an agent can force through and Propeller travel is the go-to team to use. I think Daniel over there is the main man. I tried to do something quite weird a few years back and even Daniel couldn't make it work - something to do with the elapsed time of travel exceeding a ticket criteria - I had something like a 60 hour string of sectors with lots of 23 hour transfers (not stopovers!) and it just wouldn't work. But Propeller tried hard!
Thirdly I made a video about hotel booking engines which I think will answer that question!
Hope this helps and best wishes
It's hard to find connections using OneWorld. The website fails to find a solution even when I use their airline hubs to find a simple plan that works. They can't even find business class flights from LA to Sydney, or LA to Tokyo. How ridiculous is that? These are extremely popular and busy destinations and OW has Qantas, JAL, and American Airlines as members. How can they not fly to Tokyo or Sydney? EDIT: Flying out of Dallas might be a solution.
I suspect the issue is the website rather than the flight schedules? I know JAL flies to lots of places, although they tend to limit the availability they share with partners which may be the issue....
Hello Matt, just starting to look at OneWorld RTW tickets in Business Class. Truth be told, I am a retired airline employee with significant options for Standby travel. So I am curious about the difference in price based on the starting country. To save $1-2K USD, I would preposition myself to start the trip in the cheaper starting point. Call me frugal or maybe cheap, but are there preferred starting cities that are the cheapest? Are there destinations to avoid due to high taxes? I would love to fly on A350-10 where possible, ideally with Qatar. Cheers and enjoyed your videos.
Thanks Patrick. I've not done a heap of research on where the best starting point is but its relatively quick to do on Expertflyer - you find the fare code you're interested in and cycle through the fares based on purchase city. I did a video on Expertflyer some time back which you should be able to find on the channel. Anything departing outside of the UK should have the advantage of not starting with the UK Air Passenger Duty, although if your first leg is short haul, then the APD is not that bad and you save the inconvenience (and cost) of positioning... Shouldn't be too hard to get on an A350 although surprisingly few airlines operate the -1000 version...
Thank you for info so imma just go to Copenhagen 🙂
Part of the way round the world!
@@MattsPlanet yea xD then Spain next year
You've done a tonne of legwork. I'm in Ottawa. Have any tips, apart from starting in NYC.
Cheers - this one took a while! The RTW fares are agnostic as to where you start so Ottawa shouldn't be a handicap per se, but if Canada is an expensive place to start any trip then Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto are all poor choices. So starting in the US may be best - even Buffalo as there'd be no handicap from starting somewhere outside the major centers. I love Ottawa - really enjoyed a few days there a couple of years back...
New subscriber. March 2024. X
Welcome aboard!
I'm coming to this vid very late but one Q. The UK has very high taxes on departing business class. So, did you ever look at booking a RTW, originating in say Amsterdam or Paris or similar and then all the way back to the UK . Or perhaps a short flight from the UK to Paris etc, thus still evading a high business class tax for a longer haul flight out of the UK and only paying it ona shorthaul?
Absolutely. I regularly start non-RTW trips outside the UK to swerve the UK taxes - Dublin has been popular recently. If I was to book a RTW ticket I would look at starting outside the UK although the taxes are a relatively small part of a relatively expensive ticket so it wouldn't make so much of a difference.
Wow
Indeed!
Is the southern hemi just not feasible for this kind of budget travel.
Once again the starting country is the critical thing.
How long can one stay at each stop? And how long if you do the crafty return flights as to circumnavigate twice for the cost of once??
As long as you want!!! I think the ticket needs to be completed within a year but you can stay months at an intermediate stop. And with the crafty return option you can stay as long as you want too - need to keep your wits about you to make sure the flights line up in the right order across the two tickets...
Thanks for the travel idea. Do you know if it is possible to book from the EU and get the price from Australia via a VPN? Or is it hard locked?
That's a great question... The pricing I checked (and showed in the video) was bought in SYD but also started and ended in SYD. I just looked on ExperFlyer and a LONE3 fare code bought in SYD but starting and ending in LON priced at £1,800. So no saving.
It's been a while, but I remember when I looked into this years ago that you typically needed to use a credit card from that country. If I remember correctly, South Africa has some of the best prices, but again to get those prices you need a credit card based in S. Africa.
Good question. I know you can (generally) convince a US site to accept a non-US credit card by tinkering with zip codes but I haven't attempted other jurisdictions.
I did look at this but didn’t figure out if this is worth it as a TP run.
It's tricky - you can scoop up a few 140tp legs but perhaps not as many as you might first think as you can't backtrack... But the price is going to be high - £6k+ means you'd need ?? 3,500 tps at least to make it competitive, which is probably impossible
Hi,
Can I book the origin of the Round the World ticket outside of my country of residence?
You certainly can! You'll need to position to catch up with the first flight but its a great way of saving some cash
I’m an emerald status on one world due to status with American Airlines. Will they take your status into consideration when booking a oneworld round the ticket to enjoy the benefits? If not it doesn’t seem worth it
Hello Esther. Status doesn't make any difference when booking - they'll take your money regardless of how important you may be! But when travelling the status will benefit you on every flight. Obviously if you book a OneWorld rtw ticket every flight will be on a OneWorld carrier so you'll get the benefits on every leg. For example you should be able to reserve seats straight away after booking. I think that answers the question?
has anyone seen that BA are selling airline food straight to your door?
I did see that. If I recall, the First meals still needed a significant amount of prep? Which kind of defeats the object?
Still so confused about round the world. It is so tricky
All really epic trips start out tricky!
I have done ten round-the-world trips with the OneWorld alliance on business for work reason. However, it is no longer an interesting option since Latam Airlines left the alliance as coverage in this continent is now practically non-existent.
That must have been fun! No alliance seems particularly strong in S America these days...