F1flyer

There is a big gap in my knowledge around stopovers. I often see 'stopovers allowed' on fare T&C's and know some tickets include the ability to add in for free (or close to free). However, I don't know if this is based on route/carrier/cabin/fare class.

For instance, I realised a few years ago that if I were flying to Sydney, but also wanted a trip to Brisbane, that I could effectively make Sydney a stopover and book LHR-SYD-BNE-SYD-LHR for very little extra (£20 on the last booking - not bad for a return in business).

Are there any 'rules' or clever tips I could use? I'm interested in revenue fares as can see there has been a lot written about reward bookings. Thanks.

swiss_global

Well, I think you already covered it quite well. A few more points:

- Generally speaking, a stopover is more than 24 hours, a transfer less. So depending on the situation you have to refer to stopover or transfer rules in the fare rules.
- A stopover always needs to be covered by the allowed routing (or maximum mileage). E.g. in your case, not all fares allow to travel to BNE via SYD.
- Stopovers attract fees (e.g. airport fees, security fees etc.). They may also attract higher fuel surcharges, depending on how they are calculated. Therefore, even a free stopover is usually not completely free.
- Most importantly: Stopovers are often difficult to book online, since online tools are not configured that way. So you need to contact the airline (by phone) or a book through a travel agent. Obviously both channels also attract some additional fees.

This is obviously not a complete list, but I hope it helps.

corporate-wage-slave

I can't add much to that reply, but the one thing that BA does have is the multicity booking screen, since you can add a day or two into a stopover location fairly easily there. It's best done in conjunction with other tools such as ITA Matrix or Google Flights, since it's a bit tedious on "what if" scenarios.

F1flyer

Thanks both - really helpful. Will the allowed routing/max mileage show if using ba.com, ITA or Google? I guess this is the crux.

I have been playing around with dates on the mulitcity as CWS suggested and get a wide range of fares. It also looks like the current sales ends on 30 Nov 2019 for SYD.

F1flyer

Also, I tried using Sydney as a stopover to NZ. Using AKL as the final destination added £100. ZQN (Queenstown) adds £6K. Max mileage problem or maybe not a codeshare with QF?

flatlander

One thing you can look for is whether there is a smaller city (in aviation terms) with direct service and also service via a larger (in aviation) terms hub city nearby (in aviation terms). Sometimes this even works for larger cities.

Example: LHR-BKK has direct service on BA. LHR-SIN-BKK and LHR-HKG-BKK have Oneworld service for little more.
AMS-LHR-BKK is cheap, but so is AMS-LHR-SIN-BKK or AMS-LHR-HKG-BKK. Combine these appropriately and now you have a quick positioning trip to AMS, a trip LHR-SIN-BKK-HKG-LHR with stops in Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong. For the additional cost of short haul APD, you have a separate trip LHR-AMS sometime after. That's a European short break and an Asian megacity tour for well under £2000 in Club. Last time I did this it was mostly for fun but I did have some business in Singapore, and had I just gone to SIN and back it would have cost rather more.

Brisbane definitely meets the qualification of direct (or in this case more-direct, one stop) service (via HKG, SIN, etc) and then also indirect (in this case less direct, two stop) service via somewhere in Asia (HKG, SIN, BKK, KUL) and then SYD (or probably also MEL).

You can even try tricks like AMS-LHR-PEK-HKG-SIN though it gets a bit pricier, you are paying £500 over the AMS-LHR-PEK-HKG and you can probably get yourself to Singapore from HK for less than £500 return.

However, even AMS-LHR-PEK-HKG you've got yourself a stopover in PEK and for the usual Western passports that won't need a visa for a 6 day stay. You can do Shanghai in the other direction, or maybe other Chinese cities too.

Most of the long haul fares will allow a stopover or two for either free or a nominal £100/€100 so the challenge is more finding an allowed routing than a fare with a stopover. Of course, don't "stopover" (more than 24 hours) in the UK on an ex-EU outbound, or you'll get hit with the large long-haul Air passenger duty from the UK. Make the outbound a "transit" (less than 24 hours).

Routings can be searched with Expertflyer, and if you aren't subscribed then you should do so, it will be worth your while. When looking at a particular fare AMS-BKK in the fare search results, click on the icon that is like several blobs joined with lines for the routing rules. Something like this will be what you need for the first example I gave:

F1flyer

Really helpful, thank you. Looks like you've had some great trips

I'll take your advice and look at a few routes.