Advantages and disadvantages of the round-the-world ticket

Advantages and disadvantages of the round-the-world ticket

I'm at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, more than 3,000 miles from where I expected to be on our around-the-world trip for Atlas and Boots. In fact, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah are all unplanned stops.

I was expecting to be in South America in December 2014, but instead spent an extra month in Tahiti - and then boarded a luxury Pacific cruise that was definitely not on the itinerary. What I'm trying to say is that not buying a Round the World (RTW) ticket was a blessing for me.

We definitely considered the RTW option: we discussed and researched for hours, but gave up when we couldn't find a cost-effective route that worked for our unusual trip. That doesn't mean the RTW is without merit.

If you're torn between the options, take a look at the pros and cons of the Round the World ticket below and make a decision based on your specific trip.

Advantages

It may be cheaper

The biggest advantage that travel experts cite is that an RTW ticket is cheaper than planning while traveling. Depending on your mileage, route and number of stops, an RTW can cost between $2,000 and $10,000, possibly less if you stick to a very basic three-stop route.

The logic is that by using an alliance of airlines, you get access to cheap airfares well in advance of your travel dates that are not otherwise available.

Less stress on the road

With an RTW you know for sure that you will get from A to B because it is booked and confirmed; Most of the planning stress is done in advance. Booking flights on the go is a whole different kettle of fish.

In Samoa we booked our flights to Tonga at a beach fale using a weak internet connection via dongle while charging our laptop with electricity from the fale owner's house. A RTW ticket alleviates a lot of that stress.

alt=”Round the World Ticket Pros and Cons”>Hassle Free: A RTW means you don’t have to book your flights with a dongle in a fale after charging your laptop with the owner!

Allows for better budgeting

With an RTW ticket you know when your trip begins and when it ends. It's finite, so you know exactly how many days to plan for. With plan-as-you-go, your budget fluctuations are much greater as flights have to be absorbed into your daily budget.

RTW also has a psychological benefit: paying a significant portion of your trip in advance takes a burden off your shoulders. Once it's paid off, you can forget about it and focus on day-to-day budgeting instead.

Collect airline miles

Sticking with an alliance of airlines means you can rack up your airline miles fairly easily. It's not uncommon to earn enough miles for a long-haul flight. If you plan as you go, several different airlines from different (or no) alliances will be used, meaning your airline miles will likely be spread out.

Disadvantages

Lack of spontaneity

Flexibility is the most important reason to plan on the go instead of purchasing a RTW in advance. Part of the joy of long-term travel is not knowing where you'll end up. Maybe you fall in love with a country's culture and want to spend more time there, or you decide to take a trip to a neighboring country that isn't on your itinerary.

RTW tickets offer some flexibility in terms of dates, but incur costs if you change the destination. Planning as you go lets you go with the flow.

As mentioned above, if we had bought a RTW ticket, we wouldn't have spent an extra month in Tahiti, taken a 16-day cruise across the Pacific, climbed the highest mountain in the world, embarked on an American road trip from LA to San Francisco to Yosemite to Death Valley to Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Zion National Park (cover photo), or seen five of our old friends from the UK who emigrated.

alt=“Round the World Ticket Pros and Cons”>Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world – just one of many wonders we would have missed if we had booked an RTW ticket

In this context, it should be noted that in many countries you need an onward travel ticket in order to enter the country. If you want the greatest possible flexibility, we have good sources that allow you to circumvent this check with digitally modified ticket confirmations. Of course, as law-abiding professionals, we would never recommend this...

It's complicated

There are rules. Lots and lots of rules, at least on the larger networks, Star Alliance and Oneworld. The most important decision you need to make is whether you want a ticket based on kilometers or segments. Star Alliance offers standard passes of 29,000, 34,000 or 39,000 miles, each allowing up to 15 stops.

Oneworld offers a mile-based Global Explorer pass, available with 26,000, 29,000 or 39,000 miles as standard. The other option is Oneworld's "Explorer" pass, which is based on the number of continents visited: there's no mileage limit and you can visit up to 16 segments across three to six continents.

“If your round-the-world ticket is both cheap and easy, you’ll probably join countless other backpackers around the world”

In addition to the above, there are several other conditions that may apply to your ticket.

Examples include: You must cross both the Pacific and the Atlantic, You can only stop once in a city but can traverse up to three times, You can stop on a continent a limited number of times, You must use up your ticket within 12 months, You must start and end in the same country, You can change the date but not the destination, You must travel in one direction and there is no backtracking between continents, Your cross-country trip can count toward your mileage limit even though you are not flying, and your flight from, say, London to Malaysia with a stopover in Dubai can count as two segments instead of one.

As I said: complicated. There are some challengers to the old stalwarts that offer better flexibility, namely Indie from Bootsnall and Airtreks - but always check the terms before booking.

Follow the tourist trail

If your RTW ticket is both cheap and easy, you'll likely join countless other backpackers around the world. For example, if you do London, Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, LA, New York, London, tens of thousands of others will probably do it.

If you want to follow an unusual route (e.g. London, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, French Polynesia), you will probably need to book your RTW stops in larger hubs (London, Fiji and Tahiti) and find your own route between the other islands.

It doesn't actually get any cheaper

Contrary to popular belief, Round the World tickets may not be cheaper. Firstly, most do not include the major budget airlines such as Ryanair, Southwest, Air Asia or Tiger. Secondly, if you travel on an unusual route (see previous point), you may have to pay for additional flights between destinations.

Finally, it eliminates the possibility of finding super cheap transportation that is much easier to find when you are actually in a country or region (e.g. cargo ships, trains, hitchhiking, etc.). Simply put, RTW's greatest blessing may not be as pronounced as some experts would have you believe.

RTW OR NOT?

As with many things, the answer is: it depends. I would recommend a round-the-world ticket in the following circumstances: you have limited time (e.g. have taken a six-month break and need to be back by a certain date), you have well-trodden destinations on your itinerary (Thailand and Australia rather than Mongolia and Gabon), you are unlikely to change your route and/or you are traveling with children and therefore need some stability.

On the other hand, if you don't have a set deadline (other than "when the money runs out") and want to go with the flow, go with the plan-as-you-go route.

alt=“Round the World Ticket Pros and Cons”>Our unplanned trip to the US meant we were able to see old friends from the UK who had emigrated

Finally, I would like to say that there is something romantic about not knowing where you are going in the next few weeks. It leaves open the possibility of jumping on a boat, taking a last minute road trip, or settling somewhere for a while if the idea strikes you. Plan as you go is the most interesting way to travel for me.

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