I recently came across an interesting find while going through my storage. It was a brochure for a circle Pacific fare for travel on Ansett Australia and United Airlines.

What is the circle Pacific fare? Simply put, you start and end your trip in the same country, and it must include travel to South West Pacific, Asia, and North America.

This brochure dates back to the mid 1990s, around 1995. It was an different time back then. Some quick thoughts about that time:

• Ansett Australia ceased operations in 2001, 3 days after September 11th.
• United Airlines had not yet merged with Continental Airlines – that happened in 2010.
• Star Alliance did not exist at the time – the first global alliance was founded in 1997.
  
• United planes were using the battleship grey livery then, which was not fully phased out until around 2012.
• You can see some old United routes that are no longer in service, such as Hong Kong – Delhi, Hong Kong – Tokyo, Los Angeles – Osaka, and Osaka – Guam – Saipan.
• The circle Pacific fare is still around today on Star Alliance carriers. But the prices now are more expensive; fares are no longer fixed with 4 free stopovers.
• While UA’s Hong Kong reservations number remains the same today, fare desks (for round-the-world tickets) have been discontinued for years since around 2015.

As this was targeting the Hong Kong market, fare prices were fixed in HKD. Using late 1995 exchange rate to USD, this puts the fares at $2,222 in economy, $3,384 in business and $5,200 in first class. Adjusted for inflation in 2020 dollars: $3,763 in economy, $5,731 in business, and $8,807 in first class.