Booking Your Round The World Trip

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In order for booking your round the world trip you will need to know three things :

1) When you will leave the U.K
2) Where you are going.
3) The first and last names of each traveller as they are spelled in each traveller’s passport.

On most round the world tickets it is also necessary to put in dates for each leg of your journey. These dates are almost always changeable either for free or for a nominal charge once you are travelling. The date change conditions that apply to your ticket will be detailed on the booking confirmation form we send you.

If you are going away for a short time or need to be in particular places in at particular times, the date you book each flight of your trip will of course be important. If you are planning a longer trip, and can’t really say how long you'll be in each place, it isn’t a problem to just make up dates and alter these as you are travelling. This is normally a straightforward procedure, though you will of course need to bear in mind that seat availability may be limited at certain times of the year.

The two things that tend to be harder to change once the ticket has been paid for and issued are the route and the date of your first flight.

Booking your round the world trip can get quite involved. In our experience, things are much simpler if you deal with the same person throughout. This is part of the service we offer.

At Travel Nation, not only do we specialise in putting together round the world trips, but every member of staff has had many years experience in this sector of the travel industry. See About Us for more details.

How to Book

By phone : This is the way that most people book a round the world trip. It is better if you don’t attempt to do this on your mobile while you are doing your weekly shop in Tescos - even if you are a busy person !

When booking your round the world trip the easiest way for a travel agent is just to be an ’order taker’ but this isn’t our style. We think that the correct way when booking a round the world trip is to concentrate on the details of your route with you, using our experience and knowledge to help you to hone it and get it exactly right. For us to do this properly, we will need you to have your full attention for half an hour or so. We also recommend that you have a world map and a calendar handy.

Come and see us : A decent cup of tea awaits those who pop in.

We get lots of visitors from all over the country - our record so far is a couple who did a 400 mile round trip from Lincoln because no one else could help them. Brighton is also of course a fine place to spend the day celebrating your round the world booking!

By email : When booking your round the world trip with us, you will be able to communicate directly with your travel consultant by email.

We know that lots of our customers have to plan their trips furtively at work and that it may not be quite appropriate for you to be overheard planning your big year off in the middle of the office !

Our advice re this form of communication is however is if possible to speak to us first. By talking to you we can get a much more accurate picture of what you want when booking your round the world trip. Where email comes in to its own is in exchange of information during the course of you booking up to and even after your departure.

See Contact Us for details of our opening hours.

Payment

A minimum non-refundable deposit of £100 per person is payable on flight only bookings. A higher deposit may be required depending on the type of ticket purchased, your consultant will advise you on this.
A non refundable deposit of around 10% is normally required for hotels / tours / car hire.

Once a deposit has been paid, every round the world booking is double checked by a manager or supervisor before we send out your confirmation. Among other things this will give details of each flight, airline, departure and arrival time and city. We will also give you your own log in code so you can view your flight booking on line via our website.

Our customers receive responsive and efficient service throughout the life of their booking. We even offer a date change service via email once you are travelling if you are having trouble contacting your airline.

Full payment is normally due 10 weeks prior to departure, or sooner on some ticket types.

Credit Card Surcharges

In order to keep our prices as competitive as possible, the prices that we quote are based on payments made using debit cards such as Switch, Delta or Solo, or by cheque.
There is a 2% surcharge when paying with Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

Tickets

Tickets are issued (i.e. printed ) when final payment has been received.

Tickets are sent to you as soon as all of your travel documents have been issued.

What is meant by an ’E-ticket’ or 'Electronic ticket'?

’E-tickets’ or ’Electronic tickets’ are a system which securely stores all airline ticket details in the relevant airlines computer system.

E-tickets eliminate the need issue a paper ticket. If you are booked on a flight for which you have an e ticket, all you need to check in is your passport and airline reservation number as the check-in staff will be able to access your reservation form your name. This information is provided on your Travel Nation booking form.

E-tickets are easy to use, they are designed to make your journey experience from booking to boarding as fast and hassle-free as possible.

The benefits:

- No need to wait for paper tickets to arrive in the post.
- E-tickets cannot be lost, damaged, forgotten or stolen
- Save time at selected airports by using a ’Self service check-in kiosk’ and even ’Online check-in’ on some routes.

The majority of airlines now see the benefits of E-ticketing and wherever possible we issue E tickets as opposed to paper ones.

It is planned by airlines that all tickets will be issued as e tickets by 01 June 2008, though this deadline has already been extended twice. Ironically, despite the fact that they are able to operate fleets of aircraft criss-crossing the globe, there are still some carriers who can’t get it together to switch from paper tickets to e tickets !

Do I get new tickets when I change my dates?

On most tickets, once paid for and issued, the date or time of the first flight from the U.K. can’t be changed, but dates and times of subsequent flights can be changed. We will tell you of course which flights on your itinerary are date changeable and advise you of any fees that apply.

There are 2 stages to changing dates on tickets that have already been issued. The reservation needs to be changed, and the ticket has to be revalidated. Once this has been done, you will be issued with a new confirmation or e ticket (though it is likely that your airline reference will be unchanged)

For more information on changing dates on round the world tickets, click here.

Can I leave my dates open?

Sometimes. We will let you know if your ticket allows open dated flights.

Tickets where open dated sectors are not allowed are not necessarily more restricted though. As you would expect, when you are travelling, dates can subsequently be changed, usually either for free or for a small charge of around £5 - £20. There are also some tickets on which date change costs are higher. We will advise you of the particular date change conditions are on your ticket.

If you want to travel at a busy time - e.g. Rio for carnival (13 – 16 Feb 2010 ), anywhere in Asia for around the Chinese New year (mid Feb in 2010) or to Hong Kong during the Hong Kong Sevens (end of March 2009) you will need to book well in advance. Christmas, New Year and Easter are also of course times when most flights will operate to capacity.

What happens if I lose my tickets?

Paper tickets:

Hooray ! These were finally all but abolished worldwide on 01 June 2008, so these are no extinct. (Losing your paper tickets usually used to mean spending a few days in the Lewis Caroll world of maddening airline bureaucracy and sometimes came with replacement costs.

e-tickets:

Airlines rarely ask to see e tickets as they already have information they need in their systems. As long as you have your passport and check in for the flight you are booked on, this is all you usually need. Once your tickets have been issued however we do of course email your airline e ticket details and are happy to resend them at any stage of your journey if required.

You can also print off a most of your e tickets from our website here.

What happens if my airline goes bust ?

There have been a number of high profile airline insolvencies recently, most recently , XL and Alitalia, with stories of stranded passengers around the world.

When booking your round the world trip and flights with Travel Nation, behind the scenes, we take out ‘scheduled airline failure insurance‘. This means that in the event that an airline goes out of business, this scheme would provide a full refund on an unused airline ticket on which travel has yet to commence, of a pro rata refund if partly flown.

How far ahead can I book ?

It is possible to book airline seats up to 11 months in advance.

This means that is often not possible to book dates that you want when tickets are issued. On tickets where open dated flights are not allowed this may also mean that the dates towards the end of your itinerary may not necessarily the ones that you intend to travel on. You will need to change these dates at a later date.