RTW Ticket Business

Published 21 March 2012 · Updated 12 September 2026 · Selected tours, First Class

RTW Ticket Business: UK > Bangkok, overland to Hong Kong > Brisbane, overland to Sydney > Christchurch, overland to Auckland > Los Angeles, overland to San Francisco > Miami, overland to New York > UK

A deluxe round the world trip: business class in the air, and five long stretches on the ground where you see the country instead of the clouds.

What business class costs now

Both big airline alliances sell their round-the-world fares in business class, the oneworld Explorer and Star Alliance Round the World. AirTreks puts the Star Alliance premium economy and business tiers at about US$5,000 to $12,000 or more, depending on the route, in its guide to what an RTW trip costs (updated May 2026). A specialist can also build the trip from separate business class fares, and AirTreks has a page on flying business class around the world.

Watch the overland gaps if you buy the alliance fare. On a Star Alliance ticket every surface sector counts as one of your 16 flight coupons, and the first crossing between continents can't be a surface sector. This route has six flights and five surface sectors, so it uses 11 of the 16.

The five stretches on the ground

• Bangkok to Hong Kong now works by train. An overnight sleeper runs from Bangkok to Vientiane in about 12 hours, the Laos-China Railway takes you on to Kunming in 8 to 9 hours, and one direct high-speed train a day links Kunming with Hong Kong West Kowloon in 7 hours 38 minutes. The Laos-China tickets only go on sale two weeks before departure, so book the Bangkok sleeper first.

• Brisbane to Sydney on the XPT train takes 14 to 16 hours, by day or overnight with sleeping cars. Or drive the coast road and stop at Byron Bay.

• Christchurch to Auckland is three journeys. The Coastal Pacific train to Picton takes about 4 hours 50 minutes and runs from late September to late April, not every day. The Interislander ferry crosses Cook Strait to Wellington in 3.5 hours, and the Northern Explorer covers the 681 km from Wellington to Auckland in a day.

• Los Angeles to San Francisco: Amtrak's Coast Starlight, or Highway 1 through Big Sur.

• Miami to New York: Amtrak's Silver Meteor takes about 28 hours.

For the next step up, see Round the World First Class.

Tags: deluxe rtw, rtw luxury, RTW Ticket Business, rtw ticket business class, travel the word in business