Amsterdam, 15 November 2010 - Leaving in the early evening from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on October 28th and arriving at the same place in the early dawn of October 31st, Dr. Kostas Iatrou - the co-founder and managing director of Air Transport News - had just completed the journey of a lifetime. Flying exclusively on SkyTeam carriers, Dr. Iatrou used a condensed version of the Round the World Pass offered by SkyTeam and its 13 member airlines.

The jam-packed route brought him to five major international cities, providing just a glimpse of the possibilities that everyday travelers could explore in creating their own dream trip.

KLM, Korean Air, and Delta Air Lines were the three SkyTeam Members used, for a total travel time of 60 hours, 47 minutes. The actual itinerary appeared as follows:
Amsterdam – Seoul – Sydney - Los Angeles – Minneapolis - Amsterdam

To complete such a trip successfully, connection times, including a very short window of just over an hour between landing at LAX and taking off for Minneapolis, were key to circle the globe in just two and a half days.

The seamless travel connections in this case were aided by self-service check-in kiosks at each airport, a fast-track lane for departures and arrivals and the issuance of all remaining boarding passes in Sydney.

For the longer connection windows, SkyTeam lounges came in very handy. All international First and Business Class passengers and SkyTeam Elite Plus members traveling in Economy Class on a same-day international flight operated by a SkyTeam Member, have access to exclusive lounge facilities.

In the air, the meal service, comfortable seating and hospitality provided by each SkyTeam member were indeed key components to enjoying such a historic trip. Comfortable sleeper seats, friendly service, and world class food and wine were all enjoyed by Dr. Iatrou as he crossed the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on consecutive days.

“Using three different airlines from three continents with each of their cultural differences was a positive experience, resulting in both a seamless product and still tasting the local cultural flavors. Finally I was able to fly around the world efficiently and on schedule, and above all in a most enjoyable way,” Dr. Iatrou said after completing the journey.

The trip was made even friendlier - environmentally, in this case - by the use of emission compensation, which was provided by SkyTeam for the journey. SkyTeam used the services of GreenSeat, in the process offsetting 8.38 tons of CO2 equivalents.

A more detailed and personal recap of the trip can be found on the Air Transport News website.

The Round the World Pass offers access to 169 countries. In addition to this, SkyTeam has several regional passes including the America Pass, Asia Pass, China Pass, Europe Pass, Italy Pass, Mexico Pass, and the soon-to-be-launched Africa Pass. These products allow the customer to travel throughout the region of his/her choice with total flexibility, with great savings compared to published fares. Customers can enjoy the experience of flying any of the 13 SkyTeam carriers, in addition to earning Frequent Flyer reward miles.

For information on Round the World Tickets, click here.

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