A healthy debate arose the last night about whether or not to buy a RTW ticket from Airtreks or other similar company or buy tickets as needed. We mentioned in another post the pros/cons of such a decision but I want to talk in greater detail about what makes sense for us, and maybe you.
Our Top 3 Fears
- We will be denied access to a country/airplane if we don’t have a RT or on-ward traveling ticket
- The pay as you go method might end up costing more due to hidden costs not yet identified
- Stress from constant worry about our next leg will drive our travel trio apart
We have done some leg work and are finding 3 sides to every story. A lot of you seasoned travelers say that a RTW ticket is the best option for alleviation of the fears above, as well as, the knowledge that a way home is provided and the airlines are happy as clams to see you won’t become permanent citizens of your new host countries. Others say that RTW tickets are too pricey and limit flexibility and you have never been questioned by airlines or denied entrance b/c of not having RT tickets. Who do we side with?
Do you play it safe or let fate decide? For those showered with good luck and graces, maybe a pay as you go option is best. The ones where dark, storm clouds reign supreme should opt for the lesser of the evils and pluck down the $4-6k for piece of mind and guaranteed FF miles.
Since there is no right answer, then whatever answer you choose is the right one. This trio of travelers decided to throw caution to the wind and pay as we go. Here is our rationale.
- What fun would we have if we knew where we were going all the time?
- We are on the trip of our lives and don’t need any time constraints, do we?
- is being stranded in an airport w/o knowledge of our next destination a bad thing?
- We are young and cheap and just don’t want to fork down $4k + in one go.
We would love to hear why you choose the method you did for your RTW travel.
If you haven’t settled on where you are going, or if you’re going to choose locations right before you get there, then the pay as you go is fine for a RTW ticket.
But if you know, I would price out the tickets with the aliiance groups Star, OneWorld, SkyTeam – just to see. The time limit is usually one year for a ticket, so if you know you’ll be gone longer than that, the alliance ticket won’t work either.
I used airtreks and had no problem with the ticket.
We chose to do our trip with a RTW ticket and don’t regret that for a second. There are still plenty of possibilities to improvise as you can land in one country and leave from another. It turned out to be quite cheap in our case which was a 6 month RTW trip. It was also good to have a return date to plan the last part of the trip with.