Round the World Trip on Miles

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Let's talk about some RTW ideas 🌎. An idea, that is exactly what this is because I have no intentions or time or energy to execute this anytime in the near future, but should this change, this is the RTW I would most likely want to do.

For the usual, whats, whys, and hows or an RTW redemption here's a link to the staple @thepointsguy article that you can refer to. Would be difficult to go over the details on a Twitter thread. thepointsguy.com/guide/around-the-world-award-tickets/

My program of choice would be the Aeromexico Club Premier the FFP of Aeromexico (AM) based out of Mexico City (MEX) in Mexico, and also a Sky Team Alliance member. Of the different FFPs that offer decent RTW awards, I find this to be one of the more interesting and liberal one.

Let's get the points requirements out of the way. A SkyTeam Go Round The World Pass as AM calls it costs: 224000 Miles in Economy 352000 Miles in Business While this may seem high when compared to programs like Asia Miles or ANA, it actually isn't. Here's why 👇👇

While AMEX MRs (US) transfer to most FFPs on a 1:1 ratio, they transfer to AM Club Premier on a 1:1.6 ratio. So 1000 MR = 1600 Club Premier Miles. So immediately the MR requirement for Leta Business Class RTW comes down to 220000 MRs.

Additionally, transfer bonuses to Club Premier are very common, usually between 20-25%. If transferred during such bonuses you could potentially do this within 176K-200K MRs.

Let's look at some key points and rules for this redemption: 👉 A total of 15 stopovers are permitted, origin and destination do not count as stopovers. Any layover over 24 hours is a stopover.

👉 You must - travel in the same direction. So if you start traveling east, all your flights must be eastbound and vice-versa. (although some leeway is allowed if you are backtracking to a SkyTeam hub in the same country or continent)

👉 Open jaws permitted however it is counted as two stopovers. 👉 Entire itinerary must be in the same class of travel, no mixed classes are permitted. 👉 Must contain one transatlantic flight. 👉 Must contain one transpacific flight.

👉 Must contain one transcontinental flight between the middle east, Asia, or Africa. 👉 Must contain a minimum of 3 stopovers. 👉 The entire itinerary must be completed within 365 days.

I had two key points while planning this out. 1️⃣ No connecting flights or surface transfers, I will not fly into one airport and fly out of another in the middle of the trip. 2️⃣ Cities that I would actually want to visit and not for the sake of just maximizing the 15 stopovers.

My itinerary would be as follows: 🇻🇳 DEL - SGN on Vietnam Airlines, this route hasn't started yet, although VN did announce it: vietnamairlines.com/en-jp/bay-thang-an-do-vietnam-airlines

🇰🇷 SGN - ICN on Korean Air/Vietnam Airlines 🇺🇸 ICN - LAX on Delta/Korean Air 🇲🇽 LAX - MEX on AeroMexico/Delta 🇺🇸 MEX - JFK on AeroMexico/Delta 🇦🇷 JFK - EZE on Aerolineas Argentinas/Delta 🇫🇷 EZE - CDG on Air France 🇳🇱 CDG - AMS on Air France/KLM

🇰🇪 AMS - NBO on Kenyan Airways/KLM 🇸🇦 NBO - JED on Saudia Finally ending it with, 🇮🇳 JED - BOM on Saudia

The entire trip covers a total of over 34,443 mi flown, 11 flight segments.

Few things to keep in mind: 1️⃣ Award availability across partners, is usually the biggest pain point when looking at RTW redemptions. Delta's monthly calendar chart would be the best place to look at for award availability with a second chart from Air France or KLM for ref.

2️⃣ Booking is most likely going to be a pain as you would need to book this over a call with an Aeromexico agent. Brush up on those Spanish skills.

3️⃣ While difficult to predict the taxes/surcharges for the entire itinerary accurately, it should be anywhere from ~ $500 - $1500 USD for the entire itinerary.

So yea, hope this was interesting. Definitely an "aspirational and maybe someday in the future" redemption for me. A lot of things need to fall in place together to pull off something like this.

You can read some of my other threads 🧵 here: typefully.com/thetrickytrade