Your flight ticket will probably be the most expensive part of your whole trip but with a few handy tips we can look at ways to keep the price to a minimum, hopefully leaving you enough money to stay away for longer. 

The information here is provided by expert RTW travel consultants with years of planning tailor-made trips for travelers. It is designed to give you the opportunity of getting the most out of your flight ticket and to hopefully encourage you to get off the beaten track.

This is the general stuff. If you are specifically after information on round the world flight tickets then just click here.

Buying an Airline ticket - “You get what you pay for” applies just to much to airline tickets as anything else in life.  If you insist on flying directly to your destination with major airlines like Qantas then be prepared to pay a premium. But if you are open to look at less well known carriers, with more time consuming routings, then you can pick up some bargains. But don’t just focus on cost – it may be worth you while to pay a little extra for flexibility or juicy stopover options. Here are a few of the best tips:

• Some of the less well known Asian carriers offer great deals to Europe via their home cities. For example China Southern Airlines have a fare of $1000.00 to several European cities including London. Compare this to Qantas’s of $2000. The downside is that this takes twice as long, involves a long stayover in Shangahi and probably requires you to obtain a Chinese transit visa in advance. If this doesn’t bother you then it’s a steal.

• Similarly travelling via Asia to North America, whilst a much longer trip, usually represents much better value for the budget traveller and working holidaymaker. Qantas makes 20% of its profits on its US routes and doesn’t need to chase your business. It’s difficult to find flexible & cheap tickets from Australia to North America on the direct route airlines (essentially United and Qantas) especially if you need a ticket for a stay of 6-12 months. Airlines like China Airlines (Taiwan) or Japan Airlines via Tokyo offer much better deals

• Think about stopovers. Most airlines allow you to stopover at no extra cost at their home city. Any ticket on Thai Airways from Australia to Europe for example, allows a free stop in Bangkok for as long as you need. So you can take a few weeks in Thailand on the way there (or back).  And if you are coming back within a year then take the ultimate stopover ticket; a round the world flight.

• When you travel is crucial. Ticket prices are based on your departure date from Australia. So if you leave for London in November say, it doesn’t matter that you will come back at Christmas during the most expensive period. A rough guide to seasonality is: July and August are usually high season as it’s the northern hemisphere’s summer. Similarly Christmas is high season as that’s when demand is at a peak.  Late January, February, March and November are usually low season. This is when you are likely to find the best deals on airlines like Qantas.  Other months are shoulder season i.e. not high and not low.

 A quick word about frequent flyer schemes. These are very successful marketing ploys by airlines and can be a useful little perk if you travel a lot. But they really only offer good value for the really frequent traveller, usually business people. As travel agents we have seen plenty of clients choose airlines based on frequent flyer points rather than price or convenience. Airlines are constantly reducing the value of their schemes – be realistic. If it’s a good deal AND it gets you points then great but don’t let the loyalty card be the decider