Random travel question Options

[Aaron]

I figured this question probably wasn't related enough to airline fellatio to warrant posting in that other thread.

I'm planning a post-graduation around-the-world trip for May/June; I plan on stopping in Sydney, Bangkok and various stops in Western Europe. The best price that I can find for an eastbound trip - that is, USA -> Sydney -> Bangkok -> European stops -> USA - is about three grand including a rail pass, taxes and fees. Right now, I can price a westbound trip for about $2,500, but nearly a quarter of that (~$700) is going to the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.

My question is this, do you guys know of any common or routine routes from Asia to the United States? I'm assuming that the cheapest will be heading to LAX, but I just can't find a cheap (~$500) flight from anywhere in Asia. I've tried pricing flights out of Singapore, Hong Kong, Tapei, Seoul and Bangkok through all of the major travel websites (Expedia, Orbitz, etc.).

Any ideas?

(Trying to get a flight that departs for the United States on June 12 or 13.)

[woody]

USA -> Sydney -> Bangkok -> European stops -> USA

Are you going from Europe back to Asia then to the US?

[Aaron]

Duh, I'm a retard. I always get my cardinal directions mixed up, sorry.

I checked out the StarAlliance's website and, if the fare information on it is accurate, it would be ~$1,000 cheaper for me to purchase the tickets on my own than to purchase one of their passes. Granted, I would be absolutely locked into a schedule, but I'm the type of person that would create and then follow a schedule regardless.

I'm about to call about the OneWorld pass right now.

Thanks for the tips RE: Frankfurt and Bangkok/Tokyo, I'll check that out.

I re-priced everything last night, going westbound, and this is how it broke down. The prices include fees and taxes. In the interest of saving time on this post, I rounded up to the nearest dollar.

Houston to Los Angeles: $108
Los Angeles to Sydney via Honolulu: $503
Sydney to Bangkok: $646
Bangkok to Budapest: $649

Once I hit Budapest, I'll be using a Eurail pass to get around. That costs a flat $488.

Paris to Newark: $548.03
Newark to Houston via Atlanta: $155.80

Unless I fucked up my math, that comes out to a total of $3,095.95. The quote that I received for a StarAlliance pass was $3,950.

For an eastbound trip, using the exact same stops, I can get to Sydney for $1,822.47... but the cheapest flight back to the United States that I can find is over $800.