July 31, 2023
Stopovers on Award Flights
Pam
Want to know a way to make your credit card miles and points go even further? Plan stopovers on award flights for free and get more mileage out of them. A stopover is when you stay 24 hours or more in a connecting city, and then finish your travel. It’s like a 2-for-1 special! Here are all the airlines that allow you to book a stopover:
Singapore Airlines
Want to fly Singapore Airlines to Asia AND have a stopover in Singapore? No problem. If I want to go to Thailand and am departing from San Francisco, I get a message to add a stopover (like this) if they are available. Note that you have to be booking a round-trip Saver ticket (the cheapest) or a one-way Advantage ticket (the more expensive option).
If you want to fly to Asia (Singapore) with a stopover in the UK (Manchester) from Houston, you can do that. This route lets you see Europe and Asia with just one ticket! You can see a few places in Europe and then continue your ticket from Manchester. This is a great value!
Other stopovers with Singapore Airlines include:
- Los Angeles to Singapore with a stopover in Tokyo
- New York (JFK) to Singapore with a stopover in Frankfurt
Turkish Airlines
If you would like to visit Istanbul, Turkish Airlines allows a stopover to this beautiful city on a roundtrip award flight. If you have a stopover of 20+ hours, you can even get a free hotel for the night with this program. For a shorter stopover of 6-24 hours, you can book a complimentary tour.
All Nippon Airways (ANA)
Did you know that you can only book on ANA with points/miles if you book a round-trip ticket? That is one of the frustrations with the program. But you can book a stopover in Tokyo with your award flight. It is also one of the cheapest award redemptions you can make (but you have to book way out for business class).
My husband and I went to Australia, and we booked LAX to Australia with a free stopover of 4 nights in Tokyo. Once I found availability, it offered me the stopover option. For 120K each round-trip in business class, we got to experience both Australia and Japan (and New Zealand because we booked an additional round-trip ticket to New Zealand from Australia). Your free stopover is included even if part of your flight is on a partner airline, like ours from LAX to Tokyo was on United.
To book this, choose award reservations and multi-city search as shown below:
Air Canada
While stopovers on an Air Canada award redemption aren’t free, they are cheap at only 5,000 Aeroplan miles per stopover (maximum of two) on a round-trip ticket. These are easy to book online by using their multi-city/stopover section.
United Airlines
Known as the Excursionist Perk, United allows a free stopover on award tickets (with certain conditions). The origin and destination must be certain defined areas as explained in our article. This is the free stopover that we’ve known about for a longer time period.
Book a stopover flight on United Airlines with the Excursionist Perk.
British Airways
If you fly British Airways to Europe using award points, you have probably been offered that free stopover in London. This is a great way to see this historic city before heading to your final destination. Does this message look familiar? It is so, so easy to book that free London stopover as BA prompts you with it!
Alaska Airlines
Another great airline stopover is the one from Alaska Airlines. You can have one complimentary stopover on a one-way flight and up to two stopovers on a round trip. Hey, that’s basically a 3-for-1 deal! Again, simple to book using the multi-city search tool.
Air France/KLM
Air France/KLM just added the ability to book stopovers on their award flights. Currently, the only way to book them is by calling Flying Blue at 800-375-8723. The good news is they are allowed on one-way awards, can last 24 hours to a year, and are bookable with their partners, too.
Bottom Line
The ability to book stopovers on award flights makes it so much easier to see more of the world and to save on points and miles, too! I just booked a Singapore stopover on my way home from the Maldives and can’t wait to check that city out, too!
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To avail such bookings example with BA or Air France are you referring to the specific airline points or the credit card points such as chase travel card. And if the latter, what is the process to book it?
When you book on the different sites, it will ask if you would like to do a stopover. With Air France, you have to call though and book that way and say you’d like a stopover.