Taking advantage of stopovers
 

I've often read on these forums to take advantage of stopovers on flights to see more places. For instance, I am going to book a trip to Paris for my anniversary, how do I utilize stopovers from NYC to Paris? All the stopovers are normally only a few hours, that wouldn't give me any time to see the stopover city. I don't get exactly what I should be doing to utilize this. Any help?

you will be buying the tickets?, or getting awards?....any carrier will do?

in what cities would you like to stopover?

you can call the al & see if any fares allow stop overs....

In airline parlance, a "connection" is when you fly into a city and leave from that city no more than four hours later, or on the first available flight. A "stopover" is when you stay an indefinite amount of time (typically not more than a year, but it could be weeks or even months).

You will very often have connections. The shortest connection of course will be the minimum time to get from one gate to another, usually 30-50 minutes, depending on the airport. If your flight arrives at 5:00 and there are outbound flights at 6:30 and 8:59, you can take either one. If you take a flight at 9:01 or later and there are earlier flghts, your ticket will be priced as two separate trips.

A stopover is when you stay longer than that in one city. Many award tickets allow a stopover (or more than one), usually only in a "gateway" city, of which New York is usually one (but it may not be, depending on the airline). Assuming the flights are available, you can fly to New York, stay there a day or two or ten, then continue to Paris, and it will be considered a single ticket.

Paid tickets may not be so liberal, you would have to check with the airline.

As an example, my wife is flying from New York to Bucharest and returning to Raleigh. Outbound she connects in Paris, staying only 6 hours (that was the first flight available). Coming back she is flying to Paris, staying there 6 days, then continuing to Atlanta and Raleigh. The OTP-CDG-ATL-RDU ticket is treated as a single journey, because she is allowed a stopover.

Funny though that you and I have the same idea... I am going with her to New York, and then meeting her in Paris on the way back!

Most airlines also allow the layover to be no greater than 23:59 hrs. This can be a really great tool to use as well if you only want to spend one night somewhere. United is great because it allows one stopover and two open jaws. If booking with miles...add that last segment on to Hawaii or Alaska just for fun.

I am looking to book US Air, I have enough points with them to book 2 economy class tickets for my wife and I off peak.

I am looking to go in february. And I would be like to spend a couple of days in another european city if possible?

you will have to use partner carriers in star alliance to get a stopover in europe.....but someone who knows us will be able to help....

have a great trip....

I was playing around with going to Dublin on the Google ITA software and saw Turkish come up from WAS with a "connection" in IST. And it was the lowest fare too !

So I'm assuming they are quoting you 35k miles per trip unless you have their
Mastercard then it's 30k. To get those numbers you have to fly on their metal. So basically a stopover isn't allowed on that reward ticket. You can still fly into one city and out the other though. There are cheap Easyjet/Ryanair or train tickets between European cities though.

Taking advantage of stopovers
 

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

For most carriers, a connection (versus a stopover) is defined as four hours or less domestic and less than 24 hours international. Exceptions are when you take the first scheduled (not available) flight.

Does United allow stopover each way on international travel or one stopover round trip? Is las Vegas consider a gateway city for travel to china? Will I be allowed to travel Chicago to las Vegas (stopover for 1 week) then to either hong kong or canton china?

Take a look at US Air's routing map to see which cities they fly into in Europe. I believe they fly into London, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt and Munich, probably others as well. Once you settle on your second destination, search for award space using an open jaw option. Rome and Madrid should be easy and inexpensive to get to, and the weather will probably be a bit nicer than in northern Europe.

for paid trips, depends on fare rules. i've done several europe-us trips where i first go to conference location in the u.s. for a week then head home for a week (lax) then go back to europe and stopover costs ~$100 + taxes/fuel charges on top of original flight cost (middle of summer when availability on flights are low, stopovers allowed on each end but not the cheapest fare class). sometimes it's cheaper to buy it all separately (winter/spring/fall when availability on flights are high, cheapest fare class available and no stopovers allowed).

Taking advantage of stopovers
 

What's open jaw and how do I do that? Can you book award tickets to and from different cities? Thought it had to be the same with US air?

Open jaw is fly to one city and out of another. It is different than booking two one-ways as it is still one ticket. But with some airlines, such as American, you can essentially book two one-ways that are independent of each other going to and from anywhere you'd like.