May I grant you the mythical "Most patient and well-mannered customer" award for what you had to endure and how you responded to it in real time. I was drawn to your video because I will be doing a Star Alliance around-the-world journey this summer. I will archive and remember your video just in case things go sideways for us. Thank you for your very compelling video. You explained things exceptionally well and quite clearly.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

I hope you will have a better experience!

Great video and great breakdown. Sorry you had to go through so much stress and congrats on making it through.

@MarkusTravels

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

This is why you should book with a member airline rather than through the online portal. The online portal outsources it to Lufthansa, but you can ask air Canada, United, or others to book this fare as a Star RTW fare p, but you need to ask for a special desk sometimes

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

That's a great tip!

Oh Markus ! That's a harrowing saga. Thanks for sharing it. To avoid things like this in the future, consider working with a travel advisor ,like myself, specializing in international airfares. I've been selling RTW tickets for decades. For any issues, the advisor has complete control of the entire booking and can make adjustments as long as the basic tariff rules are followed and reissue the ticket for you. We don't make mistakes with Zulu class vs. C class ..ugh. These tickets are too complex for multiple airlines computers to handle. Plus you'd have not lost your seats . Normal fee is 250-300 USD to book and manage the entire itinerary for the client and no one gets put in or sent to a call center that doesn't exist. Thom in Boston

@MarkusTravels

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Seems to me like most airlines including star alliance and the star alliance itself have a really crappy staff setup. There should be some staff from each airline with the power to book you on any flights on any class for such an expensive ticket, who can take care of this at once. And then the cancellations seem like a good reason why centralized service centers and data centers can be really fucked. Great vid for such a small channel, keep it up!

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

I agree, there's definitely room for improvement for this product. But i guess it's not a priority; I imagine very few people buy RtW tickets. Though, I must admit, I want to do it again. This time in first class.

You helped me decide one thing. Definitely have only a carry-on bag when you do an around-the-world flight. Just imagine if you had a lost bag also😅😅😂😂

@MarkusTravels

11 ай бұрын

I went carry-on-only on a few of the legs on this trip. Good choice.

Had a similar issues with last minute flight cancellations and rebooked flights but the problem arose with the issuing airline: Swiss. Apparently Swiss is the one STAR partner whose tickets can’t be endorsed easily. Longer story but that’s the crux of the problem.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

It's a very confusing situation with these RtW tickets indeed.

great video have some of the same experiences with star alliance terrible!

@MarkusTravels

11 ай бұрын

Great to hear that I'm not the only one!

Rookie mistakes. 1) Always identify the booking inventory of the fare you’re purchasing. Successful changes you want to make post-booking will require availability in that booking inventory. 2) Always find out the ticket number of the booking so you know which airline is responsible for issuing the ticket. That is the airline you’re contracted with, and who will be responsible for non-operational rebooking/changes. These booking fundamentals remain regardless of the alliance product. Sure, Star Alliance should have been upfront with these details at the point of booking, but the consumer should never buy a product they don’t understand.

@MarkusTravels

9 ай бұрын

Rookie mistake indeed. This was the first time I bought an RTW ticket.

@ashleymyrrh1756

9 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravelsThank you though for trying this out and reporting back.

Markus thanks for your notes and video you put time into preparing. I am in Southern Africa today and am planning to fly from Johannesburg to Cairns Australia. then to Vancouver with an 'open jaw' to Montreal due to my car being in Van and I am driving it back to Ontario. Then to fly from Montreal to Johannesburg. I priced it leg by leg and it was well over 5000 dollars CND and so thought to fly on a round-the-world ticket. Your experience is troubling to me, am economy due to the Business class cost would be very high. I am also an experienced air traveler, originally Canadian now retired living in Botswana Africa. I worked for years in humanitarian air operations programs in sub-Saharah.(UNWFP, Unicef and Air Serv etc) I am somewhat troubled to fly due in part to the war in Europe and fear the Russians will lodge a limited A-bomb in Ukraine and so stop all world flights much like during Covid. I was also in Africa then too and was locked down in SA for 20 months to fly into Australia. I would be pleased to read any advice offered by other air travelers from SA or elsewhere on round-the-world ticket tips...kind regards dtodd

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! I don't have any great advice. But those fears you mention would impact all kinds of tickets, not just RtW, I suppose.

I'm booking a RTW Star Alliance ticket too. I suspected that the RTW passengers would not be high priority because the flights work out much cheaper than if you booked the flights individually. Last minute changes would make the risks even worse. Anyway, after this video, I'm worried that I'll get pushed into a bad Business class seat when the layout is 2/2/2. In that layout, I guess everyone wants the middle seats and they might be reserved for the higher-paying passengers.

@MarkusTravels

10 ай бұрын

One solution would be to not fly airlines (like LH) that have 2-2-2 seating in C.

What a nightmare! I just booked a round the world ticket with one world and I must find out more about this before I leave!

@MarkusTravels

20 сағат бұрын

I hope you have a better experience than I did!

Surprised to hear about your experience - absolutely nightmare and so much stress you had to go through. However, our story and feedback is completely different - extremely responsive customer care whether it was about making changes to itinerary or just changing dates/flights (free of cost). Been travelling around the world (15 destinations) for last 10 months (without a glitch 🤞) and the best part is ticket price - even point to point ticket for one destination was more expensive!!

@MarkusTravels

3 ай бұрын

I'm very happy you had a better experience than I did. Did you book yours via the same LH tool, or via a travel agent?

@TheFIREdCouple

3 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels LH tool and we knew we will have to email customer service in case we need to make any changes as they have closed their phone line and I must say, fastest response service we have ever experienced..

The star alliance gold did help you get the sector confirmed. But the RTW tickets are always booked in a lower fare type, if you change the route, itis subject to availability and if not available and you want a specific flight you could be downgraded. I have been doing these packages for over 30 years. The products are sold in Z class and on some airlines in D class (United/Singapore airlines). C and J class are The higher more flexible fare types. There is only a small percentage of seats in Z class and when they have gone, I am afraid they have gone. These are reduced rate fares as a full fare would hsve been in the region of $25000. I would recommend thst if you do a round the world, thwt you do it through a travel agent who has an out of hours team. They will give you the straight up availability and advise the best way of getting what you need and then you will also get the back up you need in real time and they will be able to reissue the ticket for you. I would say most agencies would be able to sell an around the world fare. Bigger agencies like Kuoni and tui and smaller agents like myself but i am in the UK. There possibly could have been a different route you could of had to of taken advantage of the ANA product you wanted as well as they fly from quite a few ports in the US mainland too. The airlines massively downsized their staff during the pandemic, and they are struggling to replace staff that have not returned to the industry as a hangover of the pandemic, they are also moving customer service centres out of their home countries and into cheaper places like South Africa and India. I wish you all the best with your future travels.

@MarkusTravels

11 ай бұрын

This was certainly an educational experience! Since they highlight flexibility as one of the key features of the fare, I think they should also make it clear that availability is limited by fare class.

@yvr2002rtw

11 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels Apparently if you want to use the FULL and highest booking class (eg "C") as opposed to D or even Z on a Business Class RTW ticket, you will need to upfare it to a First Class RTW ticket! I know it's kind of stupid, but apparently for First Class RTW tickets, you are limited to "A" class availability as opposed to "F" class and if there is no "A" available on your flight or the flight doesn't offer First Class, then you can book in Business Class using the highest inventory (usually "C"). Similarly, when on a Business Class RTW ticket, if "D" or Z" class (depending on airline) is not available (even if "C" is), you are automatically downgraded to "Y" or sometimes "B" class. RTW tickets are NEVER designed to be sold online as these are complex products and should best be handled by a travel agent who specializes or have experience in these products. Each change to the reservation needs to be re-ticketed in a timely manner or else parts of the underlying reservation could automatically be cancelled due to the lack of an updated ticket number being attached. I know that you were checking your Miles & More account each time the change is made, however, just because the change is made does not mean the ticket has been reissued. You should always make sure that you receive your "new e-ticket receipt" or that the ticket numbers attached to the reservation have updated each time a change is made.

OMG😂😂 I would have thought that such an expensive ticket would have got a lot more attention. I wonder if you can book something like that through American Express. If you can, I'm 100% sure you'll be satisfied.

@MarkusTravels

11 ай бұрын

That could be a good solution!

This takes all the fun out of the adventure!!

@MarkusTravels

12 күн бұрын

Oh yes, it became quite stressful!

Could you advise which service centre you rang and if it was a case of luck you hit Victoria? Having had an issue with a flight being changed meaning it arrives after the next flight leaves Lufthansa deny they can do anything giving out overseas numbers for StarAlliance ( and expecting us to bear the cost of these calls) or the email address. I even played your video down the phone at them. lol

@MarkusTravels

6 ай бұрын

I think it was the LH call center in Switzerland. But not all calls to that number were so successful.

@user-nl2ho8ve6n

6 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels I am trying to phone from the UK all they have offered are 3 numbers in the USA OZ & Germany and the Star Alliance email address. Frustratingly the email they originally sent says you can amend online and gives 4 buttons to select from like change cancel help and something else. Saying you can make changes ANYTIME online….yet you can’t. I got precisely nowhere! Any other tips please pop another comment. Thanks so much for replying. 😊

Thanks for this warning. Was going to book round the world ticket and now staying away.

@MarkusTravels

3 ай бұрын

It could just be bad luck on my end. Other people seem to like this service. But I also understand a good travel agent could be helpful for these RtW tickets.

@timjenkins8943

3 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels i priced out an itinerary and may need to adjust departures dates from different parts of the trip. not having any official number to call to make changes sounds like a nightmare. especially the part where you got through to someone but the changes were not reflected in your booking when you got to the airport.

Customer service on most airlines seems broken, SAS is the exact same thing, extremely unpredictable service and agents often are very badly trained. I look forward to when ChatGPT takes over all customer service interactions.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

My next flight on SAS is in a couple of months. Here's hoping I won't have to deal with their customer service!

The moral of the story for me is that If I book this I need to book it through a travel agent..

@MarkusTravels

11 ай бұрын

That could be very helpful! I just really prefer to do everything on my own.

thank you! was thinking of booking a ticket.... but now .. I don't Think so

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@yvr2002rtw

11 ай бұрын

Just find a travel agent who specializes in or has experience in booking such tickets. RTW tickets were never designed to be online products to begin with. They worked very well before the early 2000s when paper tickets still existed where you all you had to do was call in to make a reservation and "surrender" the paper coupon at check-in or have the affected paper coupons reissued into a new ticket. With electronic ticketing, things have been more complicated for such ticket as whenever the reservation is changed the underlying ticket must be reissued (which can be more complicated due to the tax calculations etc)

3:00 Service at it's finess lol

@MarkusTravels

9 ай бұрын

Yep, it's next-level!

Why pay 11k USD while there is a great RTW fare with US, NZ and Asia retailing for 3k USD?

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

I wasn't aware of such a fare. Where can you get a RtW business class ticket for $3k?

@axios640

Жыл бұрын

Crickets

@chrisbrown317

10 ай бұрын

Because its in coach and he wanted business class..

Has Lufthansa replied back yet? I’m so invested 😅

@MarkusTravels

7 ай бұрын

No, LH never got back to me. So I never got closure.

Thank you for saving me. I was going to spend $14,500 on first class tickets on a round the world ticket with these fools. They won't ever get my money after this.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

Dodged a bullet there!

@yvr2002rtw

11 ай бұрын

For RTW tickets in First Class, you are limited to "A" class and the full business inventories. Some airlines such as Singapore Airlines with nice First Class products never offer "A" class on their A380s and you would be automatically booked in the highest business class inventory. Even if "A" class is offered, there may be an additional equipment surcharge you would need to pay. The only real advantage of a First Class RTW ticket is the ability to use the higher Business Class inventories as opposed to the lower Business Class inventories on a Business Class RTW ticket.

this seems like the trip from Hell (and back)... Business Class, full cash fare, Gold status.. really?

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

The flights themselves were nice, but the ticketing and seat reservation was a complete mess.

I was about to book a Star Alliance RTW ticket this weekend. My itinerary was to be LHR-ATH-IST-TPE-HND-KUL-YVR-YUL-BRU-LHR. All priced up to £6,500 ≈ 7.000€. Didn’t think that was a bad price but I dread arriving at LHR and Aegean not being able to check me in!

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

I think if you don't make any changes like I did, it will work!

@jimbo6059

11 ай бұрын

As long as the ticket was issued on the first airline you are travelling on then you should be ok. I have devised and issued quite a few RTWs in my time in travel, with all three alliances. The rule of thumb is the first carrier you travel with is the ticketing carrier. If you did not do this through a travel agent and did it with an airline, before you start, the initial changes should be with the ticketing carrier. They will see the whole booking and should be able to affect any changes for you. As you going ok should be able to make further changes with the carrier you are flying with, unless it is a route change. These normally have to go via the originating airline as there are change fees for changing the route. Hope you enjoy your trip.

LH has one of the worst customer service I've ever experienced, especially after COVID. It's absolutely ridiculous how incompetent they are. They even lie to get out of a call sometimes.

@MarkusTravels

4 ай бұрын

This was certainly not a great experience for me. The in-person customer experience at FRA has also had immense lines when I've had to use it.

it really wasn't wasted money because you said you liked the flights.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

Yes you're right. Maybe it was more a waste of time dealing with all these issues.

Lufthansa does have a point though, we are still in a COVID pandemic and it is well known that the virus spreads rapidly through the air. Obviously subjecting customer service agents to a dirty phone line isn't a smart idea! 🤣

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

I just didn't know phones were so dangerous!

@yvr2002rtw

11 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels Seems like the main issue is that the more experienced airline agents probably quit during COVID when travel as at its low and took the opportunity to further their education and find better higher jobs in perhaps coding/programming/software development. Sometimes reissuing complex airline tickets requires one to type many complicated commands into a computer terminal. Usually when a reservation is changed by call center staff (who might not have as much knowledge on complex fare products), the reservation is queued to the back office where someone reissues the underlying ticket. Why work in a low wage job reissuing airline tickets and get paid peanuts when you can take the same skills (with some upgrading) and work as a programmer in the software industry and be paid lots more?

17:00 that is so true. lufthansa does an awesome job in bouncing you around in different hotlines. small thing just happened to me: on a flight with my family in economy, we booked seats (had to pay for my wife and my child, for my Aegean *G and standard economy fare, they gave me free upfront seat selection). By chance a few days later i looked into the ticket, and my seat was lost. It took several calls, first with agents who saw the ticket but cant change anything. Instead they referred me to booking hotlines which in the first two attempts just where dead lines. I just dont get it, exactly the same experience you had with dead lines - why is this happening at Lufthansa frequently? I mean, that is something that they should be able to resolve. After several calls they managed to transfer me to a Global Booking Hotline (whatever that is), where someone was finally able to change the seats. Oh, why did I not change them just on the website? Because the website said I have to call 🙂. Another experience, with Microsoft. We are a very small company, truly small. One of their least important business customers, I would suppose. Definitly not of any higher status in their customer base. However, when we have issues with their hughly extensive O365 product (way more extensive product than a Airline ticketing you should think), we fill in the supposed support form. In less than 15 minutes so far we always(!) got a call from them. Interestingly always from an support agent, that had clearly know-how on the respective issues. So their form in the background seems to find the right agents for the specific cases. In some cases it took them several call-backs to resolve the issues, but the core agent always was on the case until we confirmed, that the issue is resolved for us. Truly impressive. Again, that is Microsoft, a company with a huge customer base, with a truly complex business product where agents not just need to book tickets, but where true technical knowledge is needed. I just don't get it, why Lufthansa is not able to establish such a working customer care system.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

Yes, sounds very familiar with LH!

@yvr2002rtw

11 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels On a side and unrelated note, I remember having issues with my credit card last year and the call center agent working for the credit card company was working from home. I hear the dog barking and the baby crying in the background during the call!!

Hmm, does this seem like it all started when you decide to change your ticket because you wanted to fly the fancier biz class plane? Sure it is well within your rights and yes Star Alliance should be able to handle this better, but given that you are talking about a ticket that involves multiple airlines and destinations, probably not the smartest thing to do.

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

Yes that's how it started.

@yvr2002rtw

11 ай бұрын

@@MarkusTravels It might have been a lot easier to just get a refund on the old ticket and buy a new one! (assuming you meet the advanced purchase requirements for the new ticket).

Do you speak German

@MarkusTravels

Жыл бұрын

I speak some German, but not super fluently. It's my fourth language.

@Nbeüvc

Жыл бұрын

@@MarkusTravels Im also from Switzerland

Lufthansa probably still uses Fax 😂

@MarkusTravels

10 ай бұрын

I will have an opportunity to find out, given how my trip this month went!