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If you’ve ever dreamed of escaping the daily grind to travel the world, you are not alone! Depending on where you want to go and how long you have, a round-the-world ticket pass may just be what you are looking for. As a traveller myself, I know the importance travel has had in my own life, so I love the idea of putting together a series of flights to create one amazing trip. With all of your flights pre-booked, you will only be left securing annual travel insurance and accommodations before you’re ready to take off on an adventure of a lifetime! How it Works Round-the-world tickets are offered by airline alliances, a kind of partnership among groups of airline carriers. The three biggest alliances are Oneworld, Sky Team and Star Alliance. The alliance agreement makes booking round-the-world passes easier and usually cost-effective. Purchasing a round-the-world ticket from an alliance group also allows you to collect mileage points within the same group, resulting in a good accumulation of points by the time you return home (to be used on your next trip!). It’s also good to know that budget airlines such as Ryanair are not part of an alliance, so therefore are not included in round-the-world tickets. Depending on the amount of stops you intend to make, you may want to compare the price of a round-the-world ticket with individual flight segments on budget carriers to see what makes the most sense with what you have in mind for your trip. Conditions Most round-the-world tickets are good for one year from your first flight and require you to end in the same country you begin your adventure. Each alliance has their own rules and regulations regarding their flight passes, so you will need to look at each one carefully before booking. Some passes are priced based on total mileage, while others are valued according to the number of flight segments. There is a huge range in cost between passes, determined by the type of ticket, destinations, planned route and number of stops you intend to make. Your route should move in one direction, especially after crossing an ocean, as back-tracking will use up precious time and additional funds. Generally airline alliances allow for changes to tickets as long as your destinations stay the same. Booking Your Ticket Due to the different rules and conditions of each airline alliance and the variety of passes available, I would recommend using a travel agent or discount travel broker when booking a round-the-world ticket. Just like booking annual travel insurance, you are going to want the advice of the pros before purchasing. You could very well contact each airline, but because agents are dealing with all airlines all day long, including budget carriers, their knowledge and experience will help you in deciding what ticket is best. Travelling on a round-the-world ticket pass may seem at first like a pipe dream, but it can be a great way to see a bunch of places on one trip. You might be surprised at how affordable a simple round-the-world flight pass can be and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner! Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of InsureMore, an award-winning team of specialists in global single trip and annual travel insurance policies. Besides offering great deals on travel insurance, Patrick also collects and shares the best free travel competitions to help his clients get the most out of their holidays.
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