Lately, at Travel-Dealz, we’ve presented numerous one-way tickets that could be used for world tours. These are always popular, but they are just that: singular tickets. For those truly planning a world trip, a lot of tedious searches on Google Flights for suitable routes are often necessary.
Unfortunately, for several months now, the affordable Round-the-World tickets from the Star Alliance (in all travel classes) have not been available. Therefore, we’ve explored alternatives and found them. Currently, a world trip can be assembled individually with affordable one-way tickets starting from €929. Each ticket includes at least one large carry-on, and accommodation costs are not included.
Whether with or without Australia, eastward or westward: this time, we’ve spared no effort and have chosen four complete example routes that differ significantly from each other. You don’t have to follow them exactly, but they also serve as good inspiration for what is possible.
Table of Contents
These are not round-the-world tickets; the segments are all booked individually! Keep in mind: the more tickets and flights, the greater the chance that something may go wrong. Flights can be cancelled or rescheduled in advance, or there could be spontaneous delays on the departure day.
We recommend planning a minimum of 3 days between all long-haul flights. Outside of Europe, the airline will usually rebook you, but there is usually no entitlement to compensation.
To the best of our knowledge, all countries listed here can be visited without a visa or with a free visa-on-arrival. Caution is advised for China, as the visa exemption (in 2024) only applies to citizens of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Malaysia.
Idea 1: The Classic – 5 Stops, 4 Continents for €929
Before the pandemic, we occasionally presented similar Round-the-World routes. With our classic, you first fly from Brussels to New York and then on to Los Angeles. Then, you have a stop in Hawaii before continuing to Melbourne, Australia. The final stopover is in Singapore, and the return flight is via China.
The route is as follows (without transfer stops): Brussels – New York – Los Angeles – Honolulu – Melbourne – Singapore – Amsterdam.
On the map, it looks like this:
The bottleneck here is the connection over the Pacific. There are only three dates this year where this is available for €120. However, Google Flights can find numerous dates for Honolulu → Sydney and Honolulu → Melbourne for a maximum of €200.
Here are the individual flight tickets:
- April 16, 2024: Brussels → New York for €230
- Airline: Condor
- Carry-on: 55 x 30 x 20 cm, 10 kg + personal item
- 23 kg luggage included
- More dates on Google Flights
- April 15, 2024: New York → Los Angeles for €110
- Airline: Spirit
- Carry-on: only personal item, 45 x 35 x 20 cm
- 18 kg checked baggage already included (US$57 (~€53))
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 6, 2024: Los Angeles → Honolulu for €91
- Airline: Hawaiian Airlines
- Carry-on: 56 x 36 x 23 cm, 11 kg (+ personal item)
- 23 kg checked baggage for an additional €28
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 15, 2024: Honolulu → Melbourne for €116
- Airline: Jetstar
- Carry-on: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for an additional €38
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 23, 2024: Melbourne → Singapore for €121
- Airline: Jetstar
- Carry-on: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for an additional €28
- More dates on Google Flights
- June 4, 2024: Singapore → Amsterdam for €261
- Airline: China Southern
- Carry-on: 55 x 40 x 20 cm, 8 kg (+ personal item)
- Including 23 kg checked baggage
- More dates on Google Flights
Total price: €230 + €110 + €91 + €116 + €121 + €261 = €929
Due to the Jetstar flights, the carry-on is limited to a maximum of 7 kg, and this is sometimes rigorously checked. The surcharge for luggage is small: Including a minimum of 17 kg checked baggage on all segments results in a total price of €1,023.
Idea 2: Round the World XL – 12 Stops, 4 Continents for €989
If you’re already flying around the world, you might want to see more than just 5 cities. Building on the above example, we’ve looked for alternatives – and found them. For just over €50 more, you get to see a whopping 11 cities instead of 5. Admittedly, three of them are on the West Coast of America alone. Still, with 7 countries in total, the balance is quite good.
The route is as follows: Dublin – Vancouver – Seattle – Portland – Kauai (Hawaii) – Honolulu (Hawaii) – Melbourne – Sydney – Singapore – Kuala Lumpur – Phuket – Bangkok – Frankfurt
Especially in Asia, you can easily add many additional stops for small amounts of money. How about e.g. a detour to Langkawi Island (Malaysia)? A round trip there costs only a few extra euros from Kuala Lumpur.
The individual flight segments for our example:
- April 30, 2024: Dublin → Vancouver for €174
- Airline: Westjet
- Carry-on: 53 x 38 x 23 cm (+ personal item)
- 23 kg checked baggage for an additional €64 on westjet.com
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 3, 2024: Vancouver → Seattle for €29
- Provider: Flixbus
- Including carry-on + 20 kg luggage
- May 5, 2024: Seattle → Portland for €25
- Provider: Amtrak (or Flixbus)
- Including at least carry-on + 20 kg luggage
- May 6, 2024: Portland → Lihue for €96
- Airline: Hawaiian Airlines
- Carry-on: 56 x 36 x 23 cm, 11 kg (+ personal item)
- 23 kg checked baggage for an additional €28
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 13, 2024: Lihue (Kauai) → Honolulu (Oahu) for €51
- Airline: Southwest (or Hawaiian)
- Hand luggage: 60 x 40 x 25 cm
- Including 2x 22 kg checked baggage
- More dates at Southwest
- May 15, 2024: Honolulu → Melbourne for €116
- Airline: Jetstar
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for €38
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 21, 2024: Melbourne → Sydney for €47
- Airline: Jetstar
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for €16
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 26, 2024: Sydney → Singapore for €136
- Airline: Scoot
- Hand luggage: 54 x 38 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 10 kg
- 20 kg baggage for €53
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 30, 2024: Singapore → Kuala Lumpur for €17
- Provider: Various long-distance bus companies
- Bookable about 3 months before departure
- June 5, 2024: Kuala Lumpur → Phuket for €42
- Provider: Malindo Air
- Hand luggage: 56 x 23 x 23 cm, 7 kg (+ personal item)
- Including 20 kg baggage
- More dates on Google Flights
- June 11, 2024: Phuket → Bangkok for €11
- Provider: Thai Vietjet
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg baggage for €12
- More dates on Google Flights
- June 17, 2024: Bangkok → Frankfurt for €245
- Provider: China Southern, sometimes China Eastern
- Hand luggage: 55 x 40 x 20 cm, 5 kg
- Including 23 kg checked baggage
- More dates on Google Flights
Total price: €174 + €29 + €25 + €96 + €51 + €116 + €47 + €136 + €17 + €42 + €11 + €245 = €989
For carry-on luggage, you are restricted to 54 x 35 x 23 cm (+ personal item) with a total maximum weight of 7 kg. With at least 20 kg of checked baggage, the total cost is €1,200. Alternatively, you can book (for €66) only with Jetstar and Vietjet to add a suitcase, eliminating the tightest constraints.
Idea 3: Eastward – 7 Stops, 4 Continents for €1,035
All our other examples head westward. If you’d rather travel eastward, here’s another example, including destinations like Dubai, Manila, Melbourne, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Ponta Delgada, and Frankfurt.
Route:
Here are the segments of the trip:
- March 10, 2024: Berlin → Sharjah (Dubai) for €85
- Airline: Pegasus Airlines
- Hand luggage: 55 x 40 x 20 cm (no personal item)
- 20 kg checked baggage for €30
- Bus to Dubai for €5 already included in the calculation
- More dates on Google Flights
- March 17, 2024: Dubai → Manila for €156
- Airline: Cebu Pacific
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for €46
- More dates on Google Flights
- March 24, 2024: Manila → Melbourne for €150
- Airline: Cebu Pacific
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for €36
- More dates on Google Flights
- April 7, 2024: Melbourne → Honolulu for €211
- Airline: Jetstar
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg checked baggage for €29
- More dates on Google Flights
- April 15, 2024: Honolulu → Los Angeles for €93
- Airline: Hawaiian Airlines (or Alaska / AA)
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm, 11 kg (+ personal item)
- 23 kg checked baggage for €28
- More dates on Google Flight
- April 23, 2024: Los Angeles → New York for €85
- Airline: Spirit
- Hand luggage: only a personal item, 45 x 35 x 20 cm
- 18 kg checked baggage already included in calculation (US$30 (~€28))
- More dates on Google Flights
- April 29, 2024: New York → Ponta Delgada (Azoren) for €255
- Airline: Azores Airlines
- Hand luggage: 55 x 40 x 20 cm, 8 kg (+ personal item)
- Fare with 23 kg checked baggage for €313
- More dates on Google Flights
- May 5, 2024: Ponta Delgada – Barcelona for €0
- Note: Multi-Stop together with JFK-PDL, hence no price
- Airline: Azores Airlines
- Hand luggage: 55 x 40 x 20 cm, 8 kg (+ personal item)
- More dates on Google Flights
- Also possible to other cities, such as Lisbon or Porto
Total price: €85 + €156 + €150 + €211 + €93 + €85 + €255 + €0 = €1,035
Carry-on luggage would be restricted to 55 x 36 x 20 cm (+ personal item) with a total maximum weight of 7 kg (due to Jetstar and Cebu Pacific). Including a minimum of 18 kg of free baggage on all flights, the total cost lands at €1,262.
Idea 4: Last Minute – 8 Stops, 3 Continents for €930
For those with a spontaneous approach to holiday planning, here’s another example. Australia is skipped, and the time is spent in Japan.
The route here is Barcelona – Boston – San Diego – Los Angeles – Tokyo – Osaka – Shanghai – Peking – Barcelona. In our example, this trip takes around one month.
This, however, is only cheap if you fly soon (in February or March 2024). Later in the year, the flights across the Pacific cost at least €100 more. Currently, citizens of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Malaysia don’t need a visa for China. Others do!
The route:
- February 17, 2024: Barcelona → Boston for €99
- Airline: Level
- Hand luggage: 56 x 40 x 25 cm, 10 kg (+ Personal Item)
- More dates on Google Flights
- February 21, 2024: Boston → San Diego for €114
- Airline: American Airlines
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item)
- More dates on Google Flights
- February 24, 2024: San Diego → Los Angeles for €19
- Operator: Flixbus
- Luggage: 80 x 50 x 30 cm, 20 kg (+ Personal Item)
- February 26, 2024: Los Angeles → Tokyo for €178
- Airline: Zipair Japan
- Hand luggage: 55 x 40 x 25 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- More dates on Google Flights
- March 1, 2024: Tokyo → Osaka for €41
- Airline: Jetstar Japan
- Hand luggage: 56 x 36 x 23 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg baggage already included in the calculation, booking directly on jetstar.com
- Alternatives: with JAL from €53 (Explorer Pass), Shinkansen from approx. €80 or 5-day flat rate for regional trains from €76
- More dates on Google Flights
- March 5, 2024: Osaka → Shanghai for €102
- Airline: Spring Air
- Hand luggage: 50 x 40 x 25 cm (+ personal item), total max. 7 kg
- 20 kg baggage already included in the calculation, booking directly on en.ch.com
- More dates on Google Flights
- March 9, 2024: Shanghai → Beijing for approx. €70
- Operator: High-speed train
- Baggage + hand luggage included
- Bookable only about 2 weeks before departure
- Alternative: Night train from €20 (seat) or €40 (sleeper)
- March 12, 2024: Peking → Barcelona for €307
- Airline: Azerbaijan Airlines
- Hand luggage: 55 x 40 x 23 cm, 10 kg (+ Personal Item)
- Including 23 kg checked baggage
- More dates on Google Flights
Total price: €99 + €114 + €19 + €178 + €41 + €102 + €70 + €307 = €930
The common denominator for carry-on luggage here is 55 x 36 x 23 cm with a maximum weight of 7 kg, including the personal item. Unfortunately, according to Reddit, Zipair also weighs hand luggage. For a fee of €36, you can carry 15 kg instead of 7 kg on board, which is recommended when travelling with a cabin trolley. Including a minimum of 20 kg of baggage in all segments results in a total cost of at least €1,050.
Translated and edited by Ditmar
Cover Picture: Photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash
Comments (2)
mi puoi indicare i prezzi in business?
No, perché i prezzi per i viaggi business, soprattutto per attraversare il Pacifico, sono esorbitanti.