Unless you plan to travel around the world without taking a plane (some have done it), then airfare is going to be your top expense. You obviously want to minimize costs as much as possible yet also have flexibility. Chance are, whichever direction you are leaning towards now is the right answer for you, but there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods, so we will discuss those here.
Cost Vs. Flexibility
There are a lot of misconceptions about RTW plane tickets vs. the point to point option of buying as you travel. Many claim that buying as you go will automatically be more expensive. That may be 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.
Our sister site, Round the World Tickets, has been working on a secret shopper’s research project where they priced 3 different itineraries from eight different companies selling RTW plane tickets. One of those options was using Kayak to simulate the point to point, buy as you go method of traveling around the world. You may be surprised at what they found out. Be sure to check out their reviews of RTW vs. point to point plane tickets.
All You Need To Know About RTW Tickets
For those of you in the initial planning stages, you are probably wondering what the hell a RTW ticket even is. I know I had never heard of one before we decided to go on our trip.
To put it simply, a RTW ticket is a plane ticket you buy from a company that will encompass nearly ALL the flights of your trip. Most reputable companies who sell this type of ticket have search functions on their sites to get you started. Start plugging in destinations and voila!, a price pops out.
BootsnAll partners with Air Treks to offer their customers RTW flight itineraries. Their page has several sample airfares to give you an idea of costs, or you can actually plug in exact destinations. Playing around with this is actually quite a lot of fun.
Pros Of Booking A RTW Flight
There’s the misconception that a RTW plane ticket is going to be cheaper. But in our initial research of RTW plane tickets, oftentimes buying point to point tickets is actually cheaper. It depends on so many factors that it’s impossible to declare that one is automatically going to be cheaper than the other.
And in case you were curious, yes, you can incorporate some overland travel into that ticket. In other words, you can buy a ticket from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon and then your next segment is Athens to Cairo. You’ll get from Lisbon to Athens on trains or buses or even other planes if you want.
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 checking flights. While flexibility is nice, you will spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet trying to find that best deal.
A RTW flight will typically get you to more regions cheaper and allow you to go to more continents for less money. Getting to places like Australia and New Zealand can be very expensive when buying as you go, but adding them in as part of a RTW ticket can be much less expensive.
Cons Of Booking A RTW Ticket
You simply won’t have the flexibility to go where you want, when you want and take advantage of spontaneity. Sure, you can change your flights once you purchase a RTW ticket, but many companies charge fees. Those add up and might not end up saving you any money had you just went with the buy as you go route.
You can change some of your dates, often for a fee, but the fee is usually modest in the overall scheme of things. Changing destinations is where it starts getting tricky and expensive. On some RTW tickets you buy a certain number of miles and then one major restriction is you have to continue going in the same direction (east or west). On the tickets BootsnAll and some other companies sell, you can zig-zag all you want because you’ll basically be buying a group of point-to-point tickets of your own choosing. Let’s say you changed your mind, and instead of flying from Buenos Aires to Madrid, you want to fly to London instead. The only way to change is to contact that airline to see if they’ll give you credit for your existing ticket in exchange for another one to London. In a case like this, flying to Madrid and buying another ticket from there to London will be far cheaper than switching, so unless you have a drastic change of heart during your trip, you can still be flexible for a small price.
Most RTW tickets are only good for ONE YEAR. Make sure you do your homework on this one. If you are planning an open-ended trip or think you may be gone for longer than a year, most tickets are only good for 12 months (there are exceptions).
Many RTW tickets only allow one way travel, meaning you can only go west to east or east to west. No backtracking. Some may not care, but this could be a deal breaker for others. Events like Oktoberfest, Carnival, and New Year’s Eve only happen once a year, so if you’re planning on hitting some of these or similar events, it could be difficult without backtracking.
All You Need To Know About Buy As You Go Tickets
Pretty simple, really, you 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 only book one ticket and leave the rest up to spontaneity. This is by far the biggest advantage of buying as you go.
Pros of Buy as you Go
The advantages of buying as you go pretty much 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 in the first place, so it’s not really a question of either/or, but one of how difficult is this to actually pull off?
As you certainly already know, “walk-up fares” are outrageously expensive in most cases. As 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 it a week before. 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.
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 really are endless.
Cons Of Buy As You Go
Most travelers assume that buying point to point tickets are going to be more expensive. Sometimes stringing together a series of one way flights around the world 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 actually showed that buying point to point tickets was actually less expensive in many cases. Some people just like to have their ducks in a row, and I don’t blame them. If you are traveling on a tight budget, it can become a hassle having to constantly keep your eye on the price of flights. Decision-making, especially if you’re traveling with another person, becomes more and more annoying, and sometimes it’s simply easier to have it all planned out.
Things tend to cost more than we assume they will. Buying tickets from point to point can easily get away from you from a cost standpoint. It doesn’t have to be that way, but making it up as you go might cost much more than you expected it would, and then half way around the world you’ve spent 90% of your entire flight budget. Then the stress sets in and corners must be cut. If your overall budget is flexible, then it’s not a problem, but if you had a fixed amount set aside then this type of stress might not be worth it.
After deciding on RTW Airfare vs. Buy As You Go, it’s time to start thinking about other modes of transport while on your trip. Unless you’re super rich, you’re going to need to utilize overland travel quite a bit, and there’s a lot that goes into it, so make sure you find out everything you need to know about overland travel .
RTW vs. Buy As You Go Checklist
- Research RTW airfare and play around with a Trip Planner
- Research one way flights to various destinations based on your tentative itinerary
- Make a pros and cons list for your unique situation
- Decide which way you are going to go
- If buying RTW tickets, then choose your favorite carrier, decide on your route, and start working with a representative
- 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)
- Purchase your RTW ticket or ticket to your first destination!
