Any FF programs allow stopovers on 1-way awards?
 

Just wondering.

Any FF programs allow stopovers on 1-way awards?
 

American does

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Yes, but only for awards between North America and another zone.

BA's program is now distance-based, not zone-based, and you pay for each flight flown. But you might still pay less for a stopover itinerary under BA's scheme compared to a zone-based program.

Please follow as the thread moves to the MilesBuzz forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

On AA you can stopover at your North American Gateway. That can be any city in which your direct onwards flight leaves from. So you could do LAX-JFK-Stopover-LHR, for example, only paying for LAX-LHR.

This is a great way to add an extra leg on to your international trip and get a free one-way to somewhere in NA that you want to go.

With the above example between LAX and LHR, you could choose to stopover in JFK in between, or you could add a leg on before and after your trip.

Case in point:

ANC (Anchorage)- LAX (stopover)- LHR

LHR-LAX (stopover)- HNL (Honolulu)

You now have a one way ticket from Anchorage to Los Angeles, meaning you'd only have to buy the ticket up there, and a one way out to Honolulu, meaning you'd only have to buy the ticket home.

AA allows you 1 whole year in your stopover, so you'd have a ton of time to make use of the trip out to Hawaii, and they allow you to change the dates after you booked, so you don't even have to have another trip planned yet...you can "stash" the free leg out to Hawaii for later, assuming you use it within that year!

All told, in economy, this would cost 95k. If you booked everything as separate tickets, it would run you 130k in economy.

Thanks to FT, MP and some blogs, I did this very thing yesterday. We have one-way First Class tickets on Cathay Pacific in January, First Class and booked on AA. Going to LAX in May and had already booked the outbound on UA.

Called yesterday and they made JFK the stopover (for three months!) and I ended up with two First Class tickets from NYC to LAX in May! Cancelled the UA flight and deposited 50,000 miles back in my account.

This is amazing - I feel like I really just got away with something!

Pretty amazing, right? Using those stopover rules on AA is one of the best thing of having AA miles!

FYI, you can actually have a whole year at your stopover city!

Great job, and congrats!

Fee for changing dates of AA flight
 

What is the fee for changing dates, if any?

$0, so long as it keeps the same origin/destination.

You'll pay $75 if it changes your departure date to within 21 days of when you'll be leaving. If you change your departure date and it is over 21 days away, you won't pay anything.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"FYI, you can actually have a whole year at your stopover city!"

No, you can't. All travel on an award must be completed within one year of award-ticket issuance, not one year from arrival at the stopover city.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

This is a little misleading. You pay $75 only if you change the travel date to within 21 days of the date of ticket issuance. Therefore, you'll never pay an additional $75 for changing the date of post-stopover travel. (If you ticketed your award within 21 days of your first flight's departure date, then you will have paid the $75 fee at that time; if you did not owe the $75 at the time of ticket issuance, you would only have to pay the $75 if the date of your first flight were changed to one within 21 days of the ticket-issuance date.)

Regarding the stop-over, can the stop-over be in a foreign country? For example, can I fly DFW to NRT to PVG, and make a stop-over in Tokyo for one month?

Also, when you check in for the flight at DFW, you are not going to get a boarding pass for the flight from NRT to PVG, right? Because that flight is one month later! Then will the ticket number still be the same for these two legs, i.e., DFW-NRT and NRT to PVG?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

AA permits a free stopover only at the North American gateway, on an award between North America and another zone. The free stopover can therefore only occur in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. (AA recently prohibited the stopover from occurring in the Caribbean on such awards.)