Booking a RTW Ticket: Airtreks

Posted in Planning| RTW
I’m still on a high after finally buying a Round the World (RTW) ticket earlier this week.  Now it’s for real! No more wishes and dreams. Instead it is planning and organizing with a real departure date on the calendar. 44 days to go!

A lot of people have asked me about how I booked my ticket and how much it cost, so I wanted to touch on that today for anyone who’s thinking of doing the same thing or who’s just interested in the whole process.

There are basically three ways that you can book a RTW ticket. Book each airfare individually (lots of 1 way tickets for ultimate flexibility), go through one of the airline alliances (e.g. One World, SkyTeam, Star Alliance) or use a consolidator like Airtreks to book your ticket. I ended up going with Airtreks and here’s why.

Benefits of using Airtreks:

Good pricing:  I tried using Kayak.com (an online site I like) to book the flights myself. Since Kayak only lets you price up to 6 flight segments at a time, I just researched a price on half of my trip and it was already above what I paid for the whole itinerary with Airtreks.

Easy to use:  I just went to the Airtreks website, typed in the cities I wanted to visit and gave Airtreks my contact info. They called me to get more info on my dates and then within 24 hours I had an estimate of how much my ticket would cost. From there I had a few more back and forth emails/calls with the agent until I had a solid idea of my itinerary.  Then I had a final 1 hour call to choose each flight and seat assignment and to pay for my ticket. It couldn’t have been easier.

Good customer service:  I worked with a woman named Sarah and she was very prompt in responding and helpful as I tried to select cities and dates for my trip.  I’m sure I tested her patience a few times going back and forth on my itinerary, but she never let it show.

Frequent Flyer Mileage Accrual: You can still accrue Frequent Flyer miles on your flights as long as you provide your membership numbers. I just sent my contact at Airtreks my FF numbers and she applied it to the appropriate flights.

Full disclosure: They clearly state up front what the restrictions are and how much things like changing your flight dates will cost you. It is fairly expensive to make a change through Airtreks, but they don’t try to bury the details in the fine print. You know exactly what you’re getting into.

Free Travelers insurance included with ticket price:  When you purchase a ticket, Airtreks includes travelers insurance which will cover medical needs and emergency flights. I’m not 100% convinced it will cover everything I need…I still need to read the details…but it is definitely a good start for a girl who may soon be without any insurance!


Benefits of Airtreks over Airline Alliances:

No restrictions to use certain airlines: If you book with the different airline alliances, you are restricted to using the airlines within the Alliance (makes sense, of course).  When I did a quick search on One World website, there were cities they simply could not get me to because there were no airlines in their alliance that flew to those locations.

No restrictions on flight segments: When I tried to book the ticket I wanted through the Oneworld Alliance, I was not able to complete my itinerary because I went over the limit for the number of segments I could have.

Do not have to travel in only one direction: Many of the alliances require you to only fly east or west – no back tracking. So if you fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo, you could not turn around and go to Honolulu.  With Airtreks you can backtrack without any restrictions. 
Cons of using Airtreks:
You must pre-select your travel dates:  If you are totally up in the air about when you want to go and where, this may not be the best company for you to work with.  I believe the airline alliances (Oneworld, Sky Team, Star Alliance) allow you to book your dates as you go. You only have to commit to the first flight on your itinerary and the others you can schedule as you go.

Change fees do seem fairly high: Airtreks charges $100 on top of what the airlines will charge for a date change.
So, with flights to 8 different countries (including free travel insurance) my grand total for the ticket came to $3772.00.  And this includes flights in the middle of summer in Europe – the high season.  From what I have heard, I thought this price was quite reasonable.

All in all it has been a good experience pre-take off. I’ll have to provide an update on how things go once I start the actual trip. Knowing how things go, I’m sure I will have to make at least one adjustment to my ticket once I’ve started traveling, so that will be the next real test to the Airtreks product.

Have you researched or purchased RTW tickets recently? If so, how did you book your trip and how was your experience compared to mine?  Please leave me some comments below.

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6 comments… add one
  • KLWilliams February 17, 2012, 7:21 am

    $3772 seems to be a fair price condition what groupon was offering a few months ago. Congrats on booking your RTW and we look forward to reading about your adventures.

    • Nailah February 17, 2012, 9:06 am

      Groupon did a RTW deal? Wow – they do everything! Thanks for stopping by for a read!

  • QLittle* February 17, 2012, 10:49 am

    I flew with One World from 06-07 and a coach 16 segment rtw was $4100 and you had a year to finish all the segments. I booked in business, so it was $8200 but when you break down the fair into 16 segments, it still is a good price. I was able to change without penalty (which I did often) but I was unable to backtrack. But I was still allow enough freedom that accommodated my schedule should I decide to take a train instead. I flew into HCMC, took a tour that ended in Bangkok. I fell in love with Thailand and ended up staying 5 months. Break a leg on your rtw trip and if yours is anything like mine was, be prepared to meet a whole new you!

    • Nailah February 17, 2012, 6:58 pm

      Thanks for sharing this info! Sounds like it was quite a trip. I went on my first RTW trip 10 years ago (gasp!) and I am so ready for my second. And I totally agree on the fact that I’ll come back with a whole new perspective. That’s one of the best things about travel.

  • LadyLittleFoot A May 5, 2012, 3:19 pm

    Wow! I so want to do this now. I’m going to start saving immediately for this. After grad school would be perfect!

    • Nailah May 6, 2012, 10:56 am

      I think a post graduation trip would be fantastic! Start saving and planning where you want to go. Let me know if I can help at all.

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