Fly around the world in
business class for €5000

How round-the-world tickets work

Did you know that you can fly around the world in business class from €5000, with up to sixteen stops within one year?

One ticket, no miles needed. This RTW ticket is the smartest way to travel in luxury without a luxury price tag.

Most people who book two or three separate business class tickets easily spend €5,000 up to €20,000. With a round-the-world ticket, you do not visit three destinations, but up to sixteen. Starting from €5000, if you do it smartly.

And no, this is not a points system.
You do not need miles.
No status.
No credit cards.

This blog is about official round-the-world tickets that already exist. All you have to do is understand the rules and use them intelligently.

I am currently traveling on such a ticket myself. I flew the first four flights in the highly sought-after Qatar Q-suites. I even received a pyjama on every flight. I still can’t quite believe it, so much value for such a relatively low price. Because I get so many questions about this, I explain here how it works.

What is a round-the-world ticket?

A round-the-world ticket, often called RTW, is a single flight ticket that allows you to travel around the world within one year, in one global direction. You make multiple stops along the way. In this case, you fly everything in business class, with lounge access, extra baggage, and flexibility.

It sounds complicated. It is not. You just need to understand how the system works.

The four rules that determine everything

1. You choose one airline alliance

Your entire ticket must be flown within one alliance. The most commonly used and flexible one is Oneworld. This includes airlines such as American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Iberia, and British Airways.

Other alliances exist, but Oneworld usually offers the most freedom in terms of routes and stops.

2. You can make up to sixteen stops

  • Maximum sixteen stops in total
  • Maximum four stops per continent
  • In the United States, up to six stops

Every landing counts as a stop, including layovers.

3. You travel in one global direction

You are not allowed to fly back and forth between continents.
Within a continent, you can move around freely, as long as you stay within the allowed number of segments.

Europe → North America → Pacific → Asia → Europe is allowed.
Going back and forth between continents is not.

4. The price is determined by two things

  • The number of continents: three, four, or five
  • Your starting point

Here are examples of 2025 prices, in Euro.

As you can see, the starting point is the real game changer.

For example, a three-continent ticket costs:

  • From the USA €9831
  • From Oslo about €4483
  • From Pakistan even around €4034
  • From Amsterdam around €7000

Exactly the same ticket. Thousands of euros difference.

I bought a four-continent ticket myself for €5700

My own route, around the world in 101 days

I wanted to go to New Zealand. An economy return ticket was already close to €3500, and you arrive completely exhausted.

A friend had been talking about RTW tickets for years. So I asked him whether this could work for me as well.

It could.

My route became:

  • Start in Oslo
  • Visit family and friends in Canada, the US, and Hawaii
  • Discover new islands in the Pacific: Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji
  • New Zealand
  • Japan
  • Back to Europe

And then came the fun part.

Around Christmas, I actually wanted to spend a week in Puglia. An economy ticket was almost as expensive as adding an extra business class flight to South Africa to my RTW ticket.

For €700 extra, I flew return to South Africa, business class.

These are choices you can only make with this type of ticket.

Why almost nobody knows about this

  • Airlines hardly promote these tickets
  • Online booking sites barely show them
  • The booking system on the Oneworld Alliance website works poorly
  • Building routes there is so complicated that people get stuck
  • People give up before they understand how it works
  • It sounds exclusive, while it is not

The system is not complex. The explanation is simply missing

What you get with an RTW ticket

  • Business class on all long-haul flights
  • One ticket valid for one year
  • Free date changes
  • Destination changes cost €45
  • Up to sixteen stops
  • The freedom to adjust your route along the way
  • You do not need to be a member of anything
  • No miles, no status, no hassle

You do not have to figure this out yourself

You can research all of this yourself, but you do not have to.

I learned this from Jaume, who is currently working on a book in which he goes much deeper into:

  • The rules, step by step
  • Smart routing ideas
  • Less-known use cases
  • Concrete examples of trips under €5000
  • How to truly get everything out of your sixteen stops

More info on the book, workshops and his availability for one-on-one consultations: rtwblueprint.com

Feel free to send him a message on Instagram: @ubiest.

Traveling around the world in business class is not a trick.
It is simply using what already exists, in a smart way.