Hello,

My wife and myself are in the process of getting tickets from ORD to BOM in November.

We decided we don't want to go straight to BOM but stop in between somewhere.

A while ago, I read somewhere that many many airlines are now actually allowing you to stop in their country of origin as a visitor for a few days for free.

The issue I am facing is how to select the correct dates so the pricing doesn't change.

Details:

I'm looking at Lufthansa out of ORD on 11/19 which goes to BOM via Munich. Has a 22 hour layover but I want to spend 3 or 4 days here.

On the way back, it's Lufthansa from BOM to ORD via Frankfurt (I don't mind not stopping in Frankfurt.)

If I key in dates 11/19 from ORD to BOM and return on 12/4 from BOM to ORD, the rate is about US$830 inclusive of fees, etc. on priceline.com

When I do a multi city search with the following criteria:

ORD to MUC on 11/19

MUC to BOM on 11/24 or 11/25

BOM to ORD on 12/4

The pricing goes up to about US$1019

What is the best way to go about finding the later selection for the price of the former or as close as possible having 3 to 4 days in MUC?

I'm open to other countries too and not just Germany. Just want to stop somewhere so wife and myself get a little time to ourselves before heading into India.

Thanks in advance.

Raj

Hi Raj,

Welcome to FT. Have a play with Google Flights which may give some clues to what you want to achieve.

https://www.google.co.uk/flights/#se...tt=m;q=flights

An example bookable on UA

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fli...ndorQuery=True

You can also look at prospective flights on ITA Matrix and check the flight rules to see whether stopovers are allowed, in what cities, and whether or not there is an additional charge.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-...=ORDBOM-BOMORD

As a general rule, fares that allow stopovers are more expensive than those that don't, so expect to pay for it. And in case you were wondering, a stopover package doesn't include hotels etc, that was a promotion that some of the ME airlines were running for a few years. Your best bet is to book this through a travel agent or to use multi-city options online to build in your stopover, but as I said, expect to pay more for the privilege.

On international flights:
<24 hours = connection
>=24 hours = stopover

The cheapest fares usually don't allow stopovers (except in certain cases e.g. Turkish in IST, Icelandic airlines in Iceland, etc.), so in your case, LH is increasing your fare to one that allows a stopover.

Don't forget that if you have a stopover, the fare may incur taxes and fees that won't be charged for a connection.

AFAIK, only a few airlines (including the ones mentioned above) offer free/low-cost stopovers. LH isn't one of them unfortunately. ex-ORD, you might look at CX.

Give Emirates a try with a stopover in DXB. EK has pretty generous stopover rules. The weather in Dubai will also be pleasant come mid November.

Hello to everyone.

Myself & family are taking a holiday in Australia. Hoping to stopover somwhere on way. Say Hong Kong. It seems to me if we want to stay longer than two or three days it adds to the flight costs more than if I buy return tickets to said city Hong Kong><UK, and at same time purchase return tickets Hong Kong><Sydney, Australia. Obviously tying in dates with days to spare in case of delays with any particular leg of the flights.

Does anyone know what if any problems there might be doing it this way.

Dont necessarily mean cheapest airline just the best way, all things being equal.

Where are you flying from, and where are you flying to?

Oh sorry...its UK<> Sydney,Australia.

If you are stopping in HKG for a couple of days in both directions, there should be no problem at all. Just don't do same day connections as you risk missing your connection if the first flight is late, and losing your ticket.

How about this

http://www.headforpoints.com/2016/06...a-tier-points/