Unless you plan to travel around the world without taking a plane (yes, some people still do this!), then airfare is going to be your top single expense. You want to minimize costs as much as possible yet also have flexibility. Up until recently, flexibility meant buying one-way tickets as you went.  But with the advent of BootsnAll’s new multi-stop international trip planner, Indie, you can have the best of both worlds.

RTW Tickets vs Buy as your Go Comparison Chart

Cost Vs. Flexibility

There are a lot of misconceptions about RTW plane tickets vs. the point to point option of buying as you travel. Some say that buying as you go will automatically be more expensive. That’s true in some cases, but it all depends on your trip. Each trip is completely different and can be manipulated in order to get the best price. In our RTW Airfare Report, we actually found the buy as you go option the cheapest for the routes we searched.

Read 10 Things You Should Know About RTW Tickets

All You Need To Know About RTW Tickets

For those of you in the very initial planning stages, you may be wondering what the hell a RTW ticket even is. Most people don’t even know they exist before they start thinking about doing a long-term trip.

To put it simply, a round the world ticket is a plane ticket you buy from a company that can encompass nearly all the flights of your trip. There are many different options for travelers – from the airline alliances (good for those who have miles with a particular airline, but heavily restrictive) to many companies who specialize in this kind of ticket.  Most reputable companies who sell this type of ticket have search functions on their sites to get you started, but you need to contact a customer service rep to get a price.  There can be a lot of back and forth to see their options and get an idea of price.

BootsnAll has Indie, which also offers multi-stop international plane tickets.  The difference between Indie and all other options is that once you register, you can plug in destinations and dates, click “search fares,” and get a price with the click of a button.  No other company gives you this option.  This makes it much easier to get an idea of your airfare budget when you are in the initial planning stages whether you use Indie or not to purchase.

Why book a RTW flight?

There are good reasons to buy a round the world plane ticket.  If you have miles with one of the airlines alliances, you may want to look into what they offer.  There are also a bunch of other companies around the world who offer these types of tickets.

When we were working on Indie, we wanted to build a platform that benefited both those who wanted to be able to plan their trip up front and those who want more flexibility and spontaneity.  With Indie, we offer “no rules” and “instant pricing.”  Fly from anywhere, to anywhere.

You can actually spend your time traveling instead of sitting in an internet cafe looking for flights.

If you are in the beginning stages of planning and simply want to get an idea of how much your itinerary might cost, you can easily find that out within minutes on Indie.  Register for an account, plug in your route with dates, and you can get an instant price with the click of a button.  If you want or need some assistance, we also have experts on the ready to help you out with your route and get the best price or routing possible.  We’ve been doing this for nearly 15 years, so take advantage of our knowledge.  If you know your route, find a good price, and are ready to buy, you can do that all online, too.

If your trip is less than a year long, you can just book the whole thing and be done with it. Your plans will be made and you won’t have to spend any time checking airfare while on the road. You can actually spend your time traveling instead of sitting in an internet cafe looking for flights. If you go with all one-way tickets, the flexibility is nice, but you will spend considerable time on the internet trying to find the best deal. And while everyone thinks they will want to change their mind once on the road, we have found that very few actually change their tickets once they have bought them.

If you’re traveling as a family, a RTW ticket may be the best option. It’s typically more difficult for families traveling with children to find the downtime on their trips to plan their next stops, so doing all the legwork in advance might just be easier.

Read our free, downloadable Round the World Ticket Report to read the comparisons between many companies who sell RTW tickets and buying one-ways.

All You Need To Know About Buy As You Go Tickets

The logistics of it are pretty simple, really – you just buy your tickets as you are traveling. Find that very first one way flight out of your hometown and take it from there. You can literally book one ticket at a time and leave the rest up to spontaneity. This flexibility is by far the biggest advantage of buying as you go.

Why buy as you go? 

The advantages of buying as you go begin and end at the mind-blowing and absolute freedom you have to wander the globe at your own pace and on your own terms. You can go where you want, when you want, and it opens up a world of possibilities (pun intended). You can keep your itinerary as open or as planned as you want. You can buy a flight here, a flight there, and take advantage of deals and sales when they come around. Basically, you can really give in to spontaneity and let your whims choose where you go next. For many people, this is the largest single appeal of doing a RTW trip in the first place, so it’s not really a question of either/or, but one of how difficult this is to actually pull off.

As you certainly already know, “walk-up fares” are outrageously expensive in most cases. While you are going RTW you might encounter some fixed fares that are the same price no matter when you buy them, but most of the time walk-up fares will be much more than if you bought a ticket a week before (and those would in turn most likely be more expensive than if you bought months in advance). It sounds very romantic to just head to each airport on a whim, but if you do it that way, you’ll be broke by the time you’re half-way around the world.

You can travel as long as you want with no restrictions. Find a place that you love and feel like staying a month or two? No upcoming flights to worry about canceling or rescheduling. Find a job and want to stay somewhere for a year? You can do that, too. The possibilities are endless.

Most travelers assume that buying point to point tickets are going to be more expensive. Sometimes stringing together a series of international flights is going to cost more than if you buy a RTW ticket, but like we said earlier, it depends on the actual trip. Our research showed that in many cases buying point to point tickets was less expensive (if the tickets were all bought at the same time in advance). But remember, just because you’re not spending $4000 up front on a flight, doesn’t mean flights aren’t a part of your budget. You’re going to need to keep a chunk of moeny “reserved” for these flights as you go.

Some people just like to have their travel ducks in a row, and we can’t blame them. If you are traveling on a tight budget or have kids in tow, it can become a hassle having to constantly keep your eye on the price of flights. Travel planning (researching prices, tickets etc) while on the road can range from a few hours a month to setting aside a day or so to plan out your next destination.  Decision-making, especially if you’re traveling with another person or a family, becomes more and more annoying, and sometimes it’s simply easier to have it all planned out.

In the report linked above, we tested the DIY approach. Most DIY travelers, ourselves included, do NOT buy all the tickets at once in advance like a RTW ticket because it negates the point of having that freedom. So the actual cost is different. See the DIY Report for details. We learned that unless you book all your DIY point to point tickets well in advance, it is not cheaper than buying an RTW ticket.  On average, the closer the departure date gets, the more expensive that fight becomes.

Can you have the best of both worlds?

The short answer is yes.

What if you don’t know your itinerary yet? Or what if you have an idea of your first few stops but then want to wing it? What are your options?

If you plan on traveling for a year or longer, you won’t be able to book your entire ticket regardless of which company you go with. Airlines only release fight prices 11 months in advance, which is why you see length restrictions on multi-stop tickets.

An example:  Let’s say you know you’re going to be starting in South America, traveling around the continent for several months, then moving on to New Zealand, but dont’know where from there. With Indie, you can just book those first few legs then come back and book the next few while you’re on the road. No need to set your entire trip in advance if that’s not what you want to do. You can do a combination of a round the world ticket and one-ways if that’s what works for you.

I had seen the RTW ticket option but didn’t browse tickets until we decided to purchase one for our trip home.  I was hooked and probably tried 75 different trip / country combos over a month before purchasing. – Jessica Thompson

Jessica Thompson, who had been traveling around the world with her husband using one-way tickets, booked the last few legs of her trip on Indie, saying, “I had seen the RTW ticket option but didn’t browse tickets until we decided to purchase one for our trip home. I was hooked and probably tried 75 different trip / country combos over a month before purchasing.”

And in case you were curious, you can incorporate overland travel into that RTW ticket. In the above scenario, you can book a flight to Bogota, Colombia, travel overland through South American all the way down to Santiago, then fly to New Zealand. With Indie, searching your next leg or two after that is a cinch, as all you have to do is log on, enter your trip and dates, and get a price. It’s simple to keep an eye on your options and prices while you’re on the road.

Read The Stopover Secret: How to Get More From Any Trip to learn more about maximizing your flights.

What should you do?

Everyone is different and has different needs when traveling, so you need to do what’s best for you and who you’re traveling with.  Here are some questions to ask yourself and suggestions based on our experience helping people plan trips and talking to others about their trips after they’re over.  There’s a lot of hindsight once you actually do a trip like this – so even if you think you want all that flexibility that comes with buying one-ways now, it’s still important to ask the right questions and do the right research.

Where are you at in your route planning?  Do you have your pillars, or must-see destinations outlined?  How do those look when you map them out?

• If many of your must-see destinations are in one region (like Central/South America) and you don’t get hives when thinking about not having a plan, then buying a one-way to that region may be your best bet.
• Are your pillars scattered about the world?  Maybe you have one in S. America.  One in Africa.  One in Australia.  One in SE Asia.  One in Europe.  Then it definitely pays to at least research how much a multi-stop ticket costs.  Then price one-ways and compare.
• Do you get annoyed by spending time in front of a computer researching things like flights?  This is something that first-time planners don’t really think of when making their decision.  It’s easy to say, “I want ultimate flexibility, so I’m booking one-ways.”  But there’s so much more to it than that, particularly if you have a tight budget.  Once you’re ready to move on to that next destination, you’re going to have to spend some time finding your next flight.  What if you find out the cost is double what you thought?  Then you have to re-assess and either get a different plan together, which involves more research, or just buck up and spend more than you wanted.  We went the buy one-ways route for our RTW, and we spent an inordinate amount of time in front of a computer screen planning that next step and trying to find the cheapest flight possible.
• Do you have miles with a particular airline? If so, see what airline alliance it is a part of and what round the world ticketing options they offer.  You may be able to get all or part of your ticket for free if you have enough miles built up.  Just be aware you’ll have to abide by their rules and regulations.
• Are you traveling as a family? Many families want to have their route all figured out so they only have to worry about traveling and keeping an eye on the kids. Having to think about, discuss, plan, search, and book that next leg can get time-consuming and frustrating when you have other people to worry about.

Your flights are going to be the top single expense of this trip, so don’t take this decision lightly.  Do the research and really think long and hard about what it’s going to be like on the road.  There is no perfect solution as there are pros and cons to each option, so weigh them out and decide what’s best for you and your trip.

RTW vs. Buy As You Go Checklist

1. Research RTW airfare and play around with Indie, our multi-stop international trip planner
2. Research one way flights to various destinations based on your tentative itinerary
3. Make a pros and cons list for your unique situation
4. Decide which way you are going to go
5. If buying RTW tickets, then choose your favorite carrier, decide on your route, and book
6. If buying as you go, keep an eye on airfares to the region you want to begin (be open-minded about where to begin and have a few options in mind-this is why you chose this option-flexibility)
7. Purchase your RTW ticket or ticket to your first destination!