Passengers do love calling us the day before they are due to depart and asking, in a slightly tembling tone "do I really need to reconfirm my RTW?"

Nowadays a lot of airlines say you don’t need to. But the standard advice for most UK travel agents is you should. Why is this? Well in truth there is a certain amount of buttock covering; as well as confusion between reconfirming and schedule change checking, across the industry. For example this advice from a large OTA (Online Travel Agent) is fairly standard: While it's not necessary to reconfirm flights departing from the UK we recommend that you reconfirm all onward and return flights with the airline locally at least 72 hours before the scheduled departure. To be fair roundtheworldflights.com advice is very similar.

How does this square with airlines advice on reconfirmation?

This is BA's advice

British Airways does not require passengers to reconfirm their reservations when travelling on BA services **except**  from Saudi Arabia or Libya For all other passengers who wish to check whether their flight is departing/arriving on time, please home and chose the 'Arrivals and Departures' option on the right-hand side of our site.

This is Qantas's advice

Before your flight we advise you to check our website for any schedule changes. We do not require you to reconfirm your reservation with us. However, you may need to reconfirm your reservation on any other Carriers involved in your journey. You should check the reconfirmation requirements with those other Carriers. If you fail to reconfirm when reconfirmation is required, the Carrier may decide to cancel your reservation.

This is Air New Zealand's advice

Once you have a booking reference your flights are confirmed and reconfirmation is not necessary. However we do recommend that you check the departure time of your flights on the day of travel.

So why is there a contradiction?

Well, put simply, airlines have flight schedules that change throughout the year. Especially if you are travelling across the Pacific or within the Americas. roundtheworldflights.com advice is to constantly check your round the world ticket times, because if you are going around the world, your flights will be subject to schedule changes. You can check changes on the individual airline's own sites or here at our own online itinerary site - View Trip.

Aye now here's the rub

Well if the airlines do schedule change your RTW flight times, and you haven't checked the times, then you can be a bit stuffed. The airlines will usually rebook you but it can be a massive pain, as flights might not be available for a few days and there may be reissue fees - upwards of £300 or having to buy a new ticket and wait for a refund is not unusual.  Trust us when we say you do not want to miss a flight. Ever.

Best Tip

Our favourite bit of advice is to check your flight times for schedule changes at an airport. You're going to be in a lot of them over the months so just pop up to a ticket or service desk and ask if there have been any changes. A quick check of your PNR (Personal Numerical Record ie your booking) by an expert can save a whole lot of trouble down the line.

When to check

It's axiomatic that the more you need to check your flight times the harder it is to do. I remember trying to get through to a certain airline in Beijing to reconfirm back to the UK, back in the day. It didn't happen and had to call RTW flights to do it for me. So if you do get really stuck and can't check the times online, then do call or better still email us. Try and give as much notice as possible.

Check in early - often

A lot of flights, especially across the Pacific, fly only once or twice a week. If there has been a schedule change and you roll up 30 minutes before you're flight is due to leave, then you will not be boarded. Get into the habit of rolling up 3 hours before - take a book and a fully charged ipod and check in early - it's worth it.

Here's an example of schedule changes on a PNR

Every flight marked TK is a schedule change. That's 7 flights out of 8 flights on a fairly simple RTW that have been changed. by the airlines over the course of  nine months since booking. Now none of these date changes are particularly heinous but there is one inconvenient time change of 3 hours into Los Angeles.  This might affect car hire arrangements or transfers.

1. 1387 26NOV MANLHR TK2  0820   0925  O*       E FR     
2. 5  26NOV LHRNRT HK2  1235  #0910  O*       E FR     
3. 22  01DEC NRTSYD TK2  2000  #0735  O*       E WE     
4. 49  21DEC SYDAKL TK2  1850   2355  O*       E TU     
5. 3843  26DEC AKLNAN TK2  1250   1555  O*       E SU                  
6. 3839 S  30DEC NANLAX TK2  2250   1205  O*       E TH                       
7. 282 S  30DEC LAXLHR TK2  1750  #1200  O*       E TH     
8. 3396 M  31DEC LHRMAN TK2  1520   1625  O*       E FR

So do I really need to reconfirm my flights?

The annoying answer? Well sometimes. With some smaller airlines or codeshare flights - yes - you should reconfirm your flights. But for a lot of major RTW airlines whilst you may not need to reconfirm your trip, you should check online or at the airport to see if there are any schedule changes, if for no other reason than it will make your trip a lot more enjoyable.

By Stuart of RTWFlights.