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.)

[Splash Jackson]

An around the world trip is a pretty common thing to do and I know that some airlines actually sell around the world trips. This means you start somewhere and get to stop X number of times on X continents. In essence this should save you money.

This might have info: http://wikitravel.org/en/Round_the_world_flights

[Hartmann]

Do you have an airline preference?

If I were you since you're doing a RTW, I would pick an alliance (OneWorld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance) and stick with it the entire trip, you will have some mad miles and will probably get some good upgrades halfway into the trip.

Personally, I'd go with the Star Alliance. United, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Singapore, and Thai are all members.

Routes from Asia to the U.S. -> Beijing-O'Hare, NRT-IAD, NRT-DFW, HK-SFO, etc.

The first trip you listed is westbound. You are going from U.S. to Sydney, then to Bangkok, then to Europe.

How I would schedule the trip is U.S. -> SYD -> BKK -> NRT -> FRA -> Europe. There are some direct flights from Tokyo to Frankfurt and from Bangkok to Frankfurt.

[woody]

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

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

[Mommy]

Hartmann has been a lot of abreviations lately

Aaron, I envy you with every inkling of my soul. I would sell my soul to the devil to go to China and Europe. Take lots of pics when you go and make sure you post them. Sorry I dont have any suggestions.

[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.

[Aaron]

Take lots of pics when you go and make sure you post them. Sorry I dont have any suggestions.

I will. Trust me, Flickr will hate me when I get back.

I just got off the phone with the OneWorld desk and she quoted me a price of $4,100 plus tax! WOW.

[Testm0nkey]

going to asia we left the east coast, LAX, Hawaii, and then i dont think our next stop was till japan.

leaving from japan we stopped somewhere in india, england, newark, houston

[Hartmann]

I would not necessarily use one of the alliance's passes. I would sign-up with one of the airlines (a U.S. one preferably) and book your own travel.

You could do IAH-SYD via LAX on Virgin with SkyTeam (Continental, etc.) and then another from SYD-BKK. Then KLM from BKK to Amsterdam.

I think your best bet is Star or OneWorld though, with leanings to Star so you can use Singapore Air for the far east (otherwise it's EVA Air with SkyTeam).

You will probably rack up about 80k+ miles at least. The flight to SYD will net you about 15k+ all by itself. If you do OneWorld you can fly British Airways everywhere, with AA connections to certain spots. One note, you will be lucky to find anything that goes to SYD through any other airport besides LAX or SFO, though you could do a Tokyo from DFW or O'Hare then hop down to Sydney.

Sorry for the abbreviations... It just makes things easier when you are forced to talk about this stuff all the time.

[Hartmann]

Oh, and study this: http://seatguru.com/

Before you pick your seats... On those long haul flights you'll want a good seat.

[impala454]

i don't know much about international flights, but one piece of advice (that tons of people don't seem to take). get yourself and (if anyone) the others on your trip in your pictures.

[Aaron]

No worries about the abbreviations, I've been using them enough over the past few weeks to price airfare that I almost don't even notice them.

Thanks for the heads up on Seat Guru.

Probably just going to take the plunge and book one of these trips in the next week or so.

[Mommy]

Sorry for the abbreviations... It just makes things easier when you are forced to talk about this stuff all the time.

Its ok. I just think its funny cuz I have to read really slow to understand. Im kinda dumb with this stuff though

[Hartmann]

I would seriously plan out where you want to go in the far east and other places before you get to Europe. That will make it a lot easier to book the flights.

Also, in Europe, it's almost easier (and cheaper) to fly one of the low cost airlines rather than take the train. But, I gather you probably want to see the countryside.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I did the whole RyanAir/EasyJet thing a couple of years ago when I spent a semester in Spain. It was great for buying round-trip tickets for three or four-day weekend jaunts, but I just don't think I want to mess with the hassle that comes with buying a $25 plane ticket (as strange and un-college student-like as that sounds).

I'll still price it out though, just to make sure.

But, yeah, I would like to see as much of the countryside as possible.