When we first started talking about researching and writing a report on the state of round the world airfare, it excited us. Not because it hadn’t been done before, but because we knew that we were going to learn a ton about the industry by doing so.
When we published the first version back in March, we already had our eyes on the next version, which we just published this past week.
Download the free summer version of the Around the World Airfare Report
Your feedback – both positive and negative – drove us to create a bigger and better report this time around. One of the things most people liked about the report was that we searched real itineraries across a broad spectrum of companies, comparing not only price but customer service, search options, route flexibility, and date change flexibility.
So we did the same this time, coming up with two more routes – one a 6-flight RTW trip with a couple out of the way locations (Reykjavic and Moscow) and one an 11-flight (with 3 overland segments) RTW with a few out of the way places (Ushuaia, Sibu, and Ulan Bator).
The reason we chose these more difficult routes and far off or lesser traveled to places was to challenge each provider to see who was up to the task. Some passed with flying colors and had no problems getting us pricing on each route. Others wilted under the pressure and simply stopped responding after things got challenging.
In this version you can check out six sample routes with 30 prices checked, including a RTW provider scorecard. Like last time, we searched each route leaving from three different countries – USA, UK, and Australia. Unlike last time, we didn’t use the same companies for each departure city. Trying to simulate what a search would actually be like for a real traveler, we chose to only search companies in each departing country.
So go ahead download this free version of the RTW Airfare Report, and when you’re finished reading it, head on over to the RTW Report review page to offer your feedback so we can make the third version even better.
Thanks, and happy travels!