Round the World, Circle Pacific, and Distance-Based Awards

The RTW universe is collapsing. Four programs ended in the last 18 months: ANA Star RTW (June 2025), Singapore KrisFlyer Star RTW (May 2024), SkyTeam Go Round (2024-25), Singapore KrisFlyer Pacific Circle (likely 2024-25). What's left is concentrated in Star Alliance, oneworld, and a few regional distance-based programs.

This skill provides:

• Comprehensive coverage of every active RTW and Circle product
• Historical charts for discontinued programs (so the agent doesn't get fooled by stale blog posts)
• Distance-based regional alternatives that often beat RTW pricing for shorter trips
• Decision rules for picking the right product

Data file: data/rtw-awards.json. Contains 17 programs with confidence markers (VERIFIED / LIKELY) and primary-source citations. Distance helper: scripts/calc_distance.py (haversine, supports cumulative multi-segment routes, with built-in distance-band lookups for Star Alliance / Qantas / oneworld Global Explorer).

Quick Decision Tree

Want to actually circle the globe?
  └→ Want to pay cash? → oneworld Explorer (3-6 continents, online bookable; LIKELY ~$3.6K-$6.9K economy per Upgraded Points 2026; verify on rtw.oneworld.com)
  └→ Want to use miles?
       ├→ Star Alliance RTW (online bookable; Special Business 26k-mile distance band, USD price varies by routing/origin, historically a strong J value)
       ├→ Lufthansa M&M (fixed 195k Y / 400k J / 540k F miles, phone only)
       └→ Qantas oneworld Classic Reward RTW (35k mi cap, 132,400/318,000 Y/J pts)

Want to circle the Pacific Rim only?
  ├→ Star Alliance Circle Pacific (online via member; 22k or 26k mi)
  └→ oneworld Circle Pacific (travel agent only)

Want a multi-carrier oneworld trip but not full RTW?
  ├→ Cathay Asia Miles oneworld multi-carrier (13 distance bands; cheapest J at 60k mi <1000mi)
  ├→ JAL Mileage Bank multi-carrier (10 bands; sweet spot 25k Y / 48k J <4000mi)
  └→ Qantas oneworld Classic (separate from its RTW config)

Just want regional flights cheap?
  ├→ Aeroplan distance-based (NA: 6k Y starting <500mi; Atlantic: 32.5k Y starting <4000mi)
  └→ Iberia Plus Avios (intra-Europe: 3,500 Y under 650mi off-peak)

Active Products

Star Alliance RTW — staralliance.com/tnc-rtw

The most flexible RTW still on the market. Three fare types:

| Fare type | Distance bands (mi) | Cabins | Stopovers | Notes | |------------------|----------------------------|---------------------|-----------|-------| | Normal RTW | 29k / 34k / 39k | Y / W / J / F | 2-15 | Globally available | | Special Economy | 26k / 29k / 34k / 39k | Y | 3-12 | NOT from Japan | | Special Business | 26k | J | 5 | NOT from Japan; pricing varies by origin/routing — historically a strong J value (LIKELY) |

Rules:

• Origin/destination same country
• Single direction (E or W)
• Each Traffic Conference crossed once
• Up to 16 segments, 5 surface sectors
• Min stay 10 days, max 1 year
• Reroute fee $125, cancel fee $150
• Purchase ≥72 hrs before first departure

Two separate products live under the "Star Alliance RTW" umbrella, do not conflate:

1. Star Alliance RTW paid fare — a cash USD/local currency fare bookable directly at staralliance.com/en/book-fly, priced by distance band and cabin (Normal vs Special). Not a points redemption.
2. Member-program mileage RTW awards — each Star Alliance member program (Aeroplan up to its 2020 discontinuation, ANA up to its 2025 discontinuation, Lufthansa Miles & More, Avianca LifeMiles, etc.) historically had its own RTW or multi-stop award chart with its own mileage cost and rules. Most have been killed or restricted. See the per-program entries below for current state.

For the Star Alliance paid RTW fare specifically, the Normal/Special distance bands cap how far you can fly, but the actual USD price varies by origin country, routing, and currency conversion. Always verify current pricing at staralliance.com/en/book-fly.

Star Alliance Circle Pacific — staralliance.com/tnc-cp

Same product family as RTW but constrained to Pacific Rim:

• 22,000 or 26,000 mi distance bands
• Must touch Asia, North America, and South West Pacific
• 3-15 stopovers
• 7 days min, 6 months max
• Reroute $75, cancel 10% of fare
• Customer Service or member airline only (not online self-service)

oneworld Explorer — rtw.oneworld.com

Continent-based (not distance-based). Online bookable. Cabin pricing scales with continent count.

| Continents | Economy USD (LIKELY, per Upgraded Points 2026) | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------| | 3 | ~$3,599 | | 4 | ~$4,999 | | 5 | ~$5,699 | | 6 | ~$6,899 |

Source: primary rtw.oneworld.com for the structure; secondary Upgraded Points 2026 RTW guide for the specific economy rates above. Business and First class rates exist but are not surfaced in the public booking flow without a search; verify on rtw.oneworld.com for current cabin pricing.

Rules: 16 max segments, 2-15 stopovers. Premium economy upgrades available.

oneworld Global Explorer — rtw.oneworld.com

Distance-based alternative to Explorer. 39,000-mile cap. Travel agent only (not bookable on rtw.oneworld.com self-service).

oneworld Circle Pacific — rtw.oneworld.com

Pacific-bordering circle product. 4 regions: Asia (incl. Indian subcontinent + Central Asian -stans), Australia, New Zealand & SW Pacific, North America. Travel agent only. Specific cap and pricing not surfaced publicly.

Lufthansa Miles & More RTW — miles-and-more.com

Fixed-mile pricing, no distance bands:

| Cabin | Miles | |----------|---------| | Economy | 195,000 | | Business | 400,000 | | First | 540,000 |

Rules: Up to 10 segments, 7 stopovers. Must cross Atlantic AND Pacific. Min 10 days between first/last intercontinental flight. Phone only.

Qantas oneworld Classic Reward (RTW config) — qantas.com

| Cabin | Points | |----------|---------| | Economy | 132,400 | | Business | 318,000 |

Rules: 35,000 mi distance cap. Must combine 2+ oneworld carriers. Bookable online or phone (US: 800-227-4220). Fuel surcharges apply.

Cathay Asia Miles oneworld Multi-Carrier — flights.cathaypacific.com

13 distance bands (post-May 2026 chart):

| Band | Max mi | Y | J | F | |------|--------|--------|---------|---------| | 1 | 1,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 | | 5 | 7,500 | 60,000 | 125,000 | 165,000 | | 9 | 22,000 | 110,000| 215,000 | 280,000 | | 13 | 50,000 | 160,000| 280,000 | 380,000 |

Rules: 2 stopovers + 2 transfers max. Must combine 2+ oneworld carriers (excluding Cathay).

JAL Mileage Bank Single-Partner — jal.co.jp/jp/en/jalmile/use/partner_air/p_jmb/jmb_mile.html

Use this when flying ONE partner airline (not JAL, not multi-carrier oneworld). 13 distance bands.

| Band | Max mi | Y | W | J | F | |------|--------|--------|--------|---------|---------| | 1 | 1,000 | 12,000 | 17,000 | 24,000 | 36,000 | | 5 | 7,000 | 35,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 | 90,000 | | 9 | 22,000 | 95,000 | 115,000| 160,000 | 240,000 | | 13 | 50,000 | 150,000| 180,000| 210,000 | 330,000 |

Caveats: F not available on MH, AF, KE, EK. F priced at business cost on AA 2-class + AS + HA. Fuel surcharges apply. IATA TPM distance.

JAL Mileage Bank oneworld Multi-Carrier — jal.co.jp/jp/en/jalmile/use/partner_air/oneworld/miles.html

10 distance bands. Sweet spot at band 1.

| Band | Max mi | Y | J | F | |------|--------|---------|---------|---------| | 1 | 4,000 | 25,000 | 48,000 | 72,000 | | 5 | 18,000 | 75,000 | 138,000 | 207,000 | | 8 | 30,000 | 130,000 | 195,000 | 293,000 | | 10 | 50,000 | 160,000 | 220,000 | 330,000 |

Examples: AA Flagship transcon JFK-LAX/SFO + return = ~5,000 mi RT = band 2 = 41k Y / 78k J. Or 25k Y / 48k J if it's a tight regional itinerary under 4,000 mi total.

Aeroplan Flight Reward — aircanada.com (June 2026 chart)

Dynamic pricing on Air Canada + Select Partners (UA, EK, FZ, EY, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin, PAL). Distance-based. "Starting at" is the floor; "Median" is realistic mid-point pricing.

Within North America (4 distance bands):

• ≤500 mi: 6,000 Y / 15,000 J starting
• ≤1,500 mi: 10,000 Y / 20,000 J
• ≤2,750 mi: 12,500 Y / 25,000 J
• >2,750 mi: 17,500 Y / 35,000 J

North America ↔ Atlantic:

• ≤4,000 mi: 32,500 Y / 60,000 J / 90,000 F
• ≤6,000 mi: 42,500 Y / 70,000 J / 100,000 F
• ≤8,000 mi: 55,000 Y / 80,000 J / 120,000 F
• >8,000 mi: 70,000 Y / 90,000 J / 130,000 F

North America ↔ Pacific:

• ≤6,000 mi: 32,500 Y / 65,000 J / 90,000 F
• ≤8,000 mi: 45,000 Y / 80,000 J / 110,000 F
• ≤10,000 mi: 50,000 Y / 95,000 J / 130,000 F
• >10,000 mi: 70,000 Y / 110,000 J / 150,000 F

Online bookable at aircanada.com. Best for short-haul NA: 6k Y starting under 500mi.

Iberia Plus Avios (Club Iberia Plus) — iberia.com/us/iberiaplus/purchase-flights-avios/

Distance-based on TOTAL TRIP miles (not per-segment). Two charts: Iberia metal vs partner unified.

Iberia Metal Off-Peak: | Max mi | Y | W | J | |--------|--------|--------|--------| | 650 | 3,500 | - | 9,750 | | 1,150 | 7,000 | - | 16,500 | | 2,000 | 11,000 | - | 23,250 | | 4,000 | 18,000 | 35,000 | 51,750 | | 7,000 | 27,000 | 51,000 | 84,750 | | >7,000 | 41,000 | 71,000 | 97,000 |

Partner Unified (oneworld + non-alliance): | Max mi | Y | W | J | F | |---------|---------|---------|---------|---------| | 650 | 6,000 | 9,000 | 12,500 | 24,000 | | 1,150 | 9,000 | 13,500 | 18,000 | 36,000 | | 4,000 | 22,500 | 33,750 | 45,000 | 90,000 | | 7,000 | 41,000 | 61,500 | 82,000 | 164,000 | | 11,770 | 51,500 | 77,250 | 103,000 | 206,000 |

Sweet spots:

• US East Coast → MAD off-peak J: 40,500 Avios + ~$100
• BCN ↔ MAD air bridge year-round: 9,000 Avios round-trip economy
• AA Flagship First SFO/LAX-JFK: 103,000 Avios + $20 RT

Transfers from: Amex MR (1:1), Chase UR (1:1), Bilt (1:1), Wells Fargo (1:1), Citi TYP (1:0.7, no fee). Avios pool combines with: BA, Aer Lingus, Finnair, Qatar. Caveat: Partner awards are non-refundable. Iberia metal awards have a EUR 25 change fee but are refundable.

Aeromexico Club Premier RTW (LIKELY — RARELY ACTUALLY BOOKABLE)

| Cabin | Kilometers (NOT miles) | |----------|------------------------| | Economy | 244,000 | | Business | 352,000 |

Phone only (US: 800-237-6639). Practical reality: this is rarely bookable. Agents frequently can't pull up the option in the system, may not be trained on the product, and many community attempts in 2024-2026 ended without confirmation. The km figures come from Upgraded Points secondary reporting, not Aeromexico's own published terms. Amex MR transfers at 1:1.6.

Recommendation: Do not confidently quote these km figures to a user. Note that Aeromexico Club Premier RTW exists on paper as the only RTW survivor for SkyTeam-aligned travelers since SkyTeam Go Round was killed, but plan an alternative — booking it requires significant phone effort with uncertain outcome. Most users will be better served by Star Alliance via Lufthansa M&M or oneworld Explorer.

Discontinued Products (reference)

The agent should NOT recommend any of these. They're preserved so stale blog posts about them don't get accepted.

• ANA Star Alliance RTW — discontinued 2025-06-23. Two replacement paths depending on what you want: (a) for the paid Star Alliance RTW cash fare, book directly at staralliance.com/en/book-fly (it's a cash booking, not a mileage award); (b) for a miles-priced Star Alliance RTW award, Lufthansa Miles & More is the only major survivor (United/Aeroplan/ANA mileage RTW programs are all discontinued).
• Singapore KrisFlyer Star Alliance RTW — discontinued 2024-05-01.
• Singapore KrisFlyer Pacific Circle — likely discontinued ~2024-05-01.
• SkyTeam Go Round — retired 2024-2025.

Distance Calculation

Use scripts/calc_distance.py to estimate great-circle distances:

bash
# Single segment
python3 scripts/calc_distance.py SFO LAX

# Multi-segment cumulative (RTW or Circle Pacific)
python3 scripts/calc_distance.py JFK LHR FRA NRT HKG SYD LAX JFK --json

The helper handles 6,072 IATA airport codes (OpenFlights data) and computes haversine distances.

Caveats:

• TPM vs great-circle: JAL, Star Alliance, oneworld use IATA TPM (Ticketed Point Mileage). Aeroplan uses actual flown distance. TPM can differ from gcmap.com great-circle by a few percent and affects which distance band you fall into. Use calc_distance.py for an estimate, but verify with the airline before committing.
• gcmap.com (great-circle map service) is the authoritative external check.
• MileCalc.com offers TPM lookups but is client-side JS-rendered and not scrapable. Bookmark for manual checks.

Key Decision Rules

(also encoded in data/rtw-awards.json decision_rules)

1. Cheap business class RTW: Star Alliance RTW Special Business 26k-mile distance band paid fare (cash, not miles). USD price varies by origin/routing — historically reported in the $6.5K-$10K range for 5-stop J across recent years. Verify current pricing at staralliance.com/en/book-fly. At the low end of that range, the per-segment cost compares favorably to many one-off intercontinental J fares, but always verify the user's specific cash alternatives before recommending — a single one-off direct J ticket on a discounted route can sometimes match the per-segment rate.

1. For pure around-the-world goals: Star Alliance RTW (most flexible, online bookable) or oneworld Explorer (continent-based, online via rtw.oneworld.com).

1. For miles-only RTW: Lufthansa M&M (fixed 400k J / 540k F) is most accessible. Qantas (35k mi cap, 318k for J) is cheaper for shorter band trips.

1. For Pacific-Rim multi-stop: Star Alliance Circle Pacific OR oneworld Circle Pacific (travel agent only) OR JAL multi-carrier (cheapest at 25k Y / 48k J under 4,000mi).

1. For regional NA: Aeroplan distance-based (6k Y starting <500mi) or Iberia partner chart for AA short hops (12k Y for under 650mi RT).

1. For intra-Europe: Iberia Plus on Iberia metal off-peak (3,500 Avios under 650mi). Cheapest intra-EU after BA Avios.

1. Avoid: Aeromexico Premier (kilometers, phone only, painful agents); Iberia partner awards (non-refundable, hassle); SkyTeam (no RTW product anymore).

1. Stopover definition: 24+ hour layover per most programs. Shorter is a connection.

1. Purchase deadline: Star Alliance RTW requires purchase ≥72 hours before first departure. oneworld Explorer similar. Plan ahead.

1. Child pricing: Star Alliance RTW: 75% for ages 2-11, 10% for infants without seat. Other programs vary.

Cross-References

• stopovers skill: per-program stopover rules, including programs that DON'T allow stopovers (BA, AA, Delta, JetBlue, Iberia partner-style).
• partner-awards skill: who can ticket whom across alliances and bilateral partnerships.
• alliances skill: alliance membership and recent shifts.
• transfer-partners skill: which credit card points reach which RTW programs.
• transfer-bonuses skill: current promotional bonuses to apply when transferring to an RTW program. RTW awards take large transfers, so a 30% bonus saves real points.
• points-valuations skill: CPP rules to evaluate whether an RTW makes sense.
• booking-guidance skill: hold-before-transfer rules and phone-booking phone numbers.
• award-holds skill: per-program hold rules. Lufthansa M&M (the main miles-priced RTW survivor) requires phone booking and the hold-before-transfer pattern; their normal 5-day hold may not apply to multi-segment RTW awards. The paid Star Alliance RTW cash fare is purchased online, not held. Critical to verify per-product before transferring large balances.

Source Hierarchy

When sources disagree, use this priority:

1. Airline's own award rules / chart PDF (primary source)
2. Frequent Miler (most respected secondary; dives deep into devaluations)
3. One Mile at a Time (good for sweet spots and recent changes)
4. Upgraded Points (mainstream summary)
5. The Points Guy (often stale on charts; use for valuation only)

If primary is unavailable and secondaries disagree, mark the entry confidence: LIKELY and note the discrepancy in notes.