While I understand, "Three/ four hours domestic, 24 hours international," I have another related question. We'll take a UA example.

A C ticket LAX-PVG (Shanghai) is $1760. THe flight stops or connects in NRT. According to the fare rules, this ticket allows unlimmited stopovers. But when I try to price the ticket with a more than 24 hour stop in Tokyo, the fare goes up to $2300 (because it takes into account the higher NRT fare). UA reps were very helpful in trying to figure out the fare rules. They do say, "unlimmited free stopovers." And NRT is the natural stopover in this routing. The reps told me this was called a "HIP" stop. But should UA honor the $1760 fare?

So, how are stopever defined? Must they be in the "normal" routing? They aren't always in the line of travel, as often you have to backtrack through a hub. For a stopover to be free, must it be in a less $ city?

zrs70,

I have no answer to your question, but I do share in your pain.

For my trip later this week: ORD-NRT-PVG-ORD, I tried to use that same "Stopover Freebie" rule for my C-class ticket. I need to stop in Tokyo for the night to meet a colleague...so I wanted to continue on to PVG the next day (on the natural UA flight that one has to connect to at NRT from ORD).

Nope. UA tells me that even with a full-fare C-class ticket, I cannot stop for more than 24 hours. This stopover will be approximately 26 hours. No flexibility here. The ticket price, as you mentioned, jumps considerably when they book one segment to NRT and then a second segment to PVG.

I hope someone has an answer for us...I'd love to be able to take advantage of these relatively cheap C-class tix to PVG from the US.

The problem is that a 1-way C class ticket from LAX to Tokyo is about $2300 vs $1775 from LAX to Shanghai. So when you make a stopover, you must pay the fare to Tokyo and cannot use the "through fare" from LAX to Shanghai. That is, you are not paying for the stopover itself but rather for the fact that with the stopover you have created a new destination - Tokyo - which has a higher fare than Shanghai.

As you indicated, if your stay in Tokyo was less than 24 hours, you would not have this problem, as it would not be considered a stopover. That doesn't help get your fare down, but I hope it explains why you would be paying more.

Thanks for the input, but the question.... What is a valid stopover? If the fare basis says, "unlimited FREE stopovers," shouldn't the $1775 fare allow for free stops?

Historically, Japan is notorious for the application of the "gotcha" rule - aka the "HIP" - or the "Higher Intermediate Point" rule.

As mentioned, an Int'l. S/O occurs when the S/O exceeds 24 hours.

The fare about which U speak carries the fare basis of C1234 and is $1760. This fare DOES allow "unlimited S/O" with an ********.

Astericks denote the fine print - exceptions
to the "unlimited S/O" rules.

Unfortunately, they "gotcha". The astericks
in this case state that both HIP's and MPM's(Maximium Permited Mileage) will apply.

To avoid the HIP, simply depart w/in 24 hours, or contact a consolidator which may be able to offer U a tkt where the HIP may
not apply or its burden may be reduced.

What if you did LAX-PVG-NRT-LAX? I've noticed that during the past couple of months, the lowest coach fare to PVG was lower than NRT. I've priced the above out and was able to stopover in NRT for the lower fare.