We shopped prices for RTW plane tickets from eight different companies and rated each company based on five criteria – price, search options, customer service, date flexibility, and route flexibility.

Below are the three routes and dates that we shopped:

• Shopping for RTW Plane Tickets – Route 1 Dates and Itineraries
• Shopping for RTW Plane Tickets – Route 2 Dates and Itineraries
• Shopping for RTW Plane Tickets – Route 3 Dates and Itineraries

Round the World Flights is a company based out of the UK and acts as more of a travel agent. They don’t have their own product, but they can sell RTW tickets through many other companies and alliances. You can book through one of their agents.

Price

Round the World Flights is a company based out of the UK, and when shopping prices, we only used them for the three routes originating in London. They were very competitive when it came to price. Round the World Flights’ price was only 1.3% higher than the lowest price for the first route, a simple, 4 leg hub RTW trip. They had the lowest price for the second, more complicated route, and their price for the third route, a long, 18-leg journey, was 27.95% higher than the lowest price.

Search Options

Trying to use Round the World Flight’s online booking tool for the first time was a bit complicated. It was easy to get into, but the exact rules weren’t clearly stated anywhere. In order to use the online search function, you had to have a minimum of 4 stops and a maximum of 6 stops, which made searching online limited.

They have a contact us page with phone numbers, an address, and email addresses. They also have a personal itinerary form to send in an enquiry, but it’s difficult to find. It can only be accessed after entering a trip in their trip planner. Once you enter your trip, the program will suggest a few pre-determined RTW tickets based on the cities you entered. If none look good to you, you can click No Match? Click here, and that will take you to the personal itinerary form where you can enter your exact trip details for a quote. If you live in the UK, there is also a phone number to call and they have an office in London.

Customer Service

We did receive a quote back the same day after entering our trip into the personal itinerary form, and the communication was prompt and friendly. We asked a few additional questions and received answers almost immediately. The reps were nice and seemed very knowledgeable when we were emailing back and forth with them. After sending them our most complicated route, they were able to get us a quote within 3 hours, whereas most other companies needed at least a day.

Date Flexibility

Making changes when booking with Round the World Flights may incur a fee, but it depends on how far in advance that change is made and other specifics regarding the change. They didn’t seem to have a firm policy in place for making changes, which would make me a bit nervous as a consumer. They did mention in an email that the best way to change a date is at the airport with the airline. That would give you the best chance of not having to pay extra. In my experience, though, dealing with the airlines is typically not the best way to get things for free.

Route Flexibility

Round the World Flights provided plenty of flexibility in routing as they were able to accommodate all three of our itineraries and gave us a price within 12 hours each time. There was no emailing back and forth or no calls, just a request by us and a price given by them, which leads us to believe that they have access to a large number of airlines and routes.

If you have used Round the World Flights for your round the world trip, we want to hear from you. Comment below to share your experience, and click on the stars below the comment box to rate.