ROUND-THE-WORLD-FLIGHTS – PART THREE

CHOOSING THE ALLIANCES AND AIRLINES

While there are a few specific round-the-world (RTW) trips that can be put together using an ad hoc selection of airlines, most RTW fares are based on the programmes offered by the three main alliances. When planning your trip, you need to look at which alliance has the best set of flights to the destinations you want and the best airlines for those routes. All the alliances have a mix of airlines, from some world-leading names to some that we would prefer to avoid. RTW tickets are not cheap and you should plan carefully to ensure not only that does the alliance you choose serve the destinations you want but also that it does so with the best airlines. Every RTW trip is likely to involve between three and five long flights; these are the ones you should concentrate on. It would be terrible to pay £4,000 for an RTW ‘trip of a lifetime’ in Business Class and find yourself flying all the long sectors with second-rate airlines offering inferior service and facilities. Here are some options and our suggestions:

The Great Escapade
This is not a formal alliance but a grouping of three airlines – Air New Zealand, Virgin and Singapore Airlines –who have various other marketing links (including frequent-flyer programmes). Since there are only three airlines in the grouping, the choice of flights is limited. The big weakness is that, with no US airline, you have few options to travel around the US. However, you could quite easily buy one of these tickets and, for example, fly to Los Angeles from New Zealand (with a stop in the Pacific) and then return from Chicago with Virgin. You would have to buy the domestic flights separately but, with careful shopping, these could be quite cheap.

This combination can be recommended for a number of reasons. All three airlines fall into our ‘good class’ category. Air New Zealand has won praise for its service in all three classes and the other two airlines are well up to normal industry standards. The grouping is ideal for anyone who wants to make a fairly simple trip covering the Far East, Australasia (and the Pacific Islands) and the US. Singapore Airlines has an extensive network in the Far East so, for example, you could begin by flying with Virgin to India or Singapore and then take a variety of flights through Asia to reach Australia.

Fares start at £860 in Economy and £3,996 in Business. Only Singapore Airlines has First Class, and so that is not really a viable option; having said that, both Virgin and Air New Zealand allow you to add individual upgrades per sector to Premium Economy.

Star Alliance
This is the biggest alliance and therefore has the widest choice of airlines and routes. The problem is that not all the airlines are of a high standard. You would certainly need to take care in selecting airlines for the longer flights and also remember that some airlines are poor in Economy and good in Business or vice versa. The top-quality airlines in the alliance are Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Lufthansa (slightly depending on class and route), Swiss and, maybe, Thai. It is hard to recommend United and US Airways, while other members such as SAA and Turkish Airlines may be useful to fill in missing parts of an itinerary but would not be our first choice. Air Canada also has a rather up–down reputation. An obvious suggestion is to concentrate on building an itinerary with Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand. You could begin by flying west with Air New Zealand to Los Angeles or east with Singapore Airlines or Air New Zealand to Hong Kong. Of course, if you do this, you might just find that it would be cheaper to buy the Great Escapade fare and add in missing sectors (domestic flights in the US, for example). You could fly direct to the US or Canada and then continue with United to Australia but, while it works well on paper, it would involve a great deal of flying on airlines that are not in the top rank. In short, Star Alliance probably offers the widest choice of RTW routes but you need to be very careful about the choice of airlines.

SkyTeam
The smallest of the alliances is trying to get its act together on RTW fares. The alliance principally consists of Air France/KLM and their partners Delta and Northwest (who are in the process of merging). It seems likely that Continental will withdraw from SkyTeam sooner or later. The other airlines are a bit of a hotchpotch but may be useful in some specific RTW itineraries, for example China Southern, Korean and Aeroméxico. The alliance lacks a really strong partner in Asia, but Northwest is a major carrier across the Pacific and has a few intra-Asian routes; so, together with Korean and China Southern, there are possibilities. Korean flies to Australia; so, with a little effort, you could use this as a genuine all-continents ticket. The one slight gimmick of SkyTeam which could make it of interest is that, unlike the other alliances, it allows backtracking within one continent and also encourages you to buy a separate pass for regional travel within one continent. This can work out to be more economical since you are burning miles on a lower-priced pass than on the main RTW ticket. You could, for example, buy an RTW ticket in Business and then buy a regional pass in Economy.

As well as the restricted scope of the airlines, the big downside of SkyTeam is the quality of the airlines. We just picked one of its suggested itineraries: Amsterdam–Mexico–Houston–Los Angeles–Tokyo–Bangkok–Amsterdam. The itinerary is quite good in its way and could well be economical, but it involves far too much travel on Northwest (from Houston to LA and then all the way to Tokyo and Bangkok). You could buy the same route with oneworld travelling on a combination of BA and Cathay and only using American for the shortish flights from Mexico to Houston and LA. You could also do something similar with Star Alliance but using Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines for the majority of the flights. This example makes SkyTeam look a poor third choice.

Oneworld
Like all the alliances, this is rather a curate’s egg. BA, Qantas and Cathay are three of the world’s top airlines. Iberia is definitely not a top airline, and nor is American – though, surprisingly, it could well be regarded as the least worst of the US airlines.

This alliance is definitely the best for anyone looking to travel around Australasia, because it has the unique network of Qantas. We think Cathay is the best of the Asian airlines and has a network that works well with BA and Qantas. Add in Japanese Airlines (a high-quality airline, particularly in Economy) and you have a very attractive combination. You can quite easily construct a route that uses these airlines for the majority of flights and just fill in with American Airlines or any other alliance member for shorter flights. In general, we would avoid Iberia, but it does have some direct routes to Latin and South America that could be of interest – though we would prefer to travel with BA across the Atlantic and then use American Airlines from the States southwards. The membership of LAN Chile is a particular benefit since it offers services around South America and onwards to Sydney making oneworld the best option for anyone who wants to include South America on their trip.

The downside of oneworld is that, we think, it can work out to be a little more expensive than the other two alliances. However, this very much depends on how you construct the trip. The other two alliances sell their tickets on a mileage basis (you buy blocks of miles and try to use that block to the maximum). Oneworld charges basically on a ‘per continent’ basis, though there are added differences and complications with the numbers of stops allowed. It is fairly difficult to compare RTW tickets, since the three alliances are unlikely to offer exactly the same routes. Whichever one you choose, you need to have expert help in planning to ensure you use the maximum travel permitted but do not overstep any limit that pushes your fare up into the next fare category.

Areas to watch

It is difficult to link South and Latin America with other destinations. There is a lack both of routes and of airlines in alliances; so the options are quite limited. You can gain access to most capital cities both direct from Europe and via the States. The problem is getting out and maintaining the straight line of travel that is required for an RTW ticket. There are two specific routes that can help:

• LAN (oneworld) flies from Santiago to Sydney.
• SAA (Star Alliance) flies from Rio and São Paulo to Johannesburg.

Africa, generally, is also a problem. Again, getting there is easy but finding an onward route could cause problems. It is worth remembering that SAA (Star Alliance) and Qantas (oneworld) operate a codeshare service between Johannesburg and Sydney so there is one major route out available with both the two main alliances.

Choosing the right airline for each flight

As a very general rule, we think you should consider flying with airlines from their home base. They will have better check-in facilities, they should have better service in case of delay and will nearly always have the best lounges if this is a factor. It is easy to make this choice when looking at two high-class airlines – for example, on a oneworld ticket, we may well choose to fly Cathay from Hong Kong to London but BA from London to Hong Kong. However, you should also consider the quality of the airline; so we would probably prefer to fly with Air New Zealand from Los Angeles to Auckland, even though United would be considered the home airline on the route.

Frequent-flyer implications

The first airline you fly with will be ‘the issuing airline’ and this has an important impact on the whole trip. We suggest you take some care over the choice of this airline, even if it is for a very short flight. The first airline will be in charge of any refunds and will be the first port of call should you need to make changes en route (yes, we know that the airlines like to say they all work together but a Qantas clerk seeing a JAL ticket is more than likely to pass you on to the JAL desk unless you insist or the query is quick and involves a Qantas flight).

You must also think carefully about which frequent-flyer card you are going to use. In general, you can only use one membership number for the whole trip. You can use any airline within the alliance, and it does not need to be one of those you are using on the trip, let alone the first flight, but it can be easy to pick the wrong one. For instance, you take a oneworld RTW and start with a flight with Iberia. If you are a member of Iberia’s programme, you may decide to earn Iberia points for the trip. This will give some specific advantages for the Iberia flight (notably pre-selection of seats) but it may not be so good if the majority of flights on the itinerary are with other airlines. Iberia could give fewer Miles on flights made with other airlines; so, if the majority of the flights were with BA and Cathay, even though Iberia was the first, you would probably have been better off with one of those. Obviously, your level in any programme will have an effect as well. There is no right answer to this, such as ‘use the programme of the airline you will make the most flights with’, ‘use the airline of your home country’ or ‘use the programme where you have most status’. All of these can be right – you just have to consider the specific circumstances and do some calculations.

Online booking

Do not try this! Oneworld is very pleased that it will shortly be allowing passengers to book an entire RTW itinerary on the oneworld site. This means that Star Alliance will want to follow as soon as it can. We would hesitate to say that such a booking tool could even be much use as a price guide, because the prices produced will depend on how you have constructed the trip. If you have not put together the cities in the most economical route, no computer system is going to be able to correct it for you. To book an RTW trip, you need the help of an expert who understands the rules of the various RTW packages and can find the one best for you and use the rules to the best advantage. Obviously, the airlines will be happy for you to construct your own itinerary on their site because it is likely to be more expensive than necessary!

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