Round the world flights
Photo: Umedha Hettigoda, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Rather than buying separate flights from one destination to another, a flexible and sometimes cheaper way of international travel is via Round the world (RTW) tickets. A round the world ticket is a plane ticket allowing you to fly around the world, usually over a period of up to a year and with between 3 and 16 flights (segments) along the way.
Round the world tickets usually cost far less than the sum of the one-way tickets between each set of individual stops. (One-way tickets generally cost more than round-trip tickets on full service carriers and may be looked at with suspicion by security or border agents.) These tickets are usually slightly more expensive than a return ticket between destinations on opposite sides of the world (London and Sydney for example), but if you were planning two or more stops then you may find that a round the world ticket is the cheapest option, and allows you at least a side trip. Many travelers plan entire holidays using a round the world itinerary.
As a much more time-consuming alternative, see also Round the world overland.
Ticket typesThere are a number of ways to fly round the world. A "real" round the world ticket is issued as a single ticket, and comes with a host of conditions attached.
ConditionsConditions for round the world tickets often include:
Planning your tripPlanning for a RTW trip requires quite a bit of preparation.
Southern HemisphereIf you want to fly around the world completely in the Southern Hemisphere, the choice of flights and destinations is limited due to the lack of transoceanic routes.
On the roadEven for alliance-wide RTWs, the ticket will be issued by one airline.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Round the world flights" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Umedha Hettigoda, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons