Howdy all. I recently had THIS article recommended to me by Google on my phone about ‘around the world’ airfares, and I gave it a look. I’ve taken two such fares in my life, 1999 and 2004, back when they were cheaper and a basic three continent fare from Melbourne might set you back under $2000AUD ($1250USD). To say all airfares twenty plus years ago were cheaper than they are today is completely false, but it seems round-the-world airfares were.

The last twenty years has seen a lot happen in the world and in air travel. The big game changer has obviously been the emergence of low-cost carriers from Easy Jet and Ryan Air in Europe, to Air Asia and Scoot in South East Asia, to Jetstar in Australia, and others that haven’t survived long term such as Tiger Air who’s fares were super low. Then in the USA there are a number of low-cost carriers that pop up here and there – a market I am not particularly familiar with but I do know Spirit Airways is one.

The article I mentioned talks about how you can get economy fares for as little as $3500AUD (around $2300USD) which is nearly double the price for a similar fare 20 years back. Personally I paid $3200AUD for an insane round-the-world fare in 1999 which included about 25 flights. I got to wondering, if I booked all the legs online independently looking for the cheapest fares, how much could I get from Melbourne back to Melbourne in one single direction with stops in Asia, Europe and North America like the standard ‘basic’ round-the-world fare they sell for $3500AUD upwards? Let’s see…

Basis to the fare – leaving September 2024, back by Christmas, heading east to west

• Travel Tip I am following – look for Tuesdays to travel, often regarded as the cheapest day of the week to fly

Leg One

Leg 1 – Melbourne to Singapore

Jetstar, Tuesday the 3^rd of September, cost – $200AUD

Perfect. From Singapore you can make it Malaysia and Thailand by land, Indonesia by short ferry, and find super cheap connections all around South East Asia with Jetstar Asia, Air Asia, Scoot and others. So far so good. However – the next leg is going to be super tricky!

Leg 2 – Asia to Europe

Monday 30/9/23

Singapore to Manila on Jetstar $133AUD

Manila to Dubai on Cebu Pacific $262AUD

Dubai to Paris on Saudia $440AUD

Running Total: $1035

Leg 3 – Europe to North America

Paris to New York on TAP Portugal $331AUD

Running Total: $1366AUD

Leg 4 – Across the US and Home

5/11/24 New York to Honolulu on Alaska Airlines $467AUD

13/11/24 Honolulu to Melbourne on JetStar $348

Total: $2181AUD = $1439USD

Okay! Now keep in mind I know nothing about budget airlines in the States and I just took that leg from NYC to Hawaii off Skyscanner, and that I whipped this itinerary up in less than an hour. No seat selections or checked baggage either, but the modern backpacker can get away without any of that (right???) there’s a fair that’s over 37% cheaper than single ticket round the world quoted in the article. And these days many regard Jetstar as better than Qantas!

But also if I ran more dates and researched budget air travel in the States I’m sure I could get a cheaper airfare in total. Also I went with the cheapest airfares and in the case of say Dubai to Paris the direct Emirates fare was only another $80AUD. We might have saved more money by choosing a different European hub. You are free to fly into one city and leave from another too, for example with a month in Europe you could fly into Athens, you’d get a cheaper flight than the one to Paris, overland adventure it from Athens to Western Europe and then fly to North America. You could also choose to bus or Amtrak across the States and fly out of the west coast. Not going to save overall costs but you will get the air fare down!

 PLUS all these flights I’ve quoted include taxes, not sure if the round-the-world ones do because it depends on the route so most likely $3500AUD is BEFORE tax.

Look, some people swear by budget airlines and others swear off them. That’s up to the individual. But I think we can see that circumnavigating the globe with a little bit of effort can be done much cheaper than with the current round-the-world tickets on offer!

Thanks for popping by today! Take care wherever you are in the world and May the Journey Never End!