Layover vs Stopover
 

Hi,

Can I clarify my understanding of the difference between a layover and a stopover in the context of United MP redemption international travel?

1. Does a stopover always mean any transit over 24 hours? Can anything under 24 hour be considered a stopover instead of a layover?

2. Can I designate a transit less than 24 hours as a stopover if I want to have access to my check in luggage?

3. If the answer to (3) is affirmative, and if I go to United website and build an RT itinerary with no intermediate stops lasting more than 24 hours, can I designate one of the stops as a stopover instead of a layover to get access to my luggage?

Thank you!

Layover is a short stop or break on one single journey/itinerary/trip while onto your final destination. Any stop(s) between your ORIGIN CITY and your FINAL DESTINATION CITY (which would be your "journey" or "trip") and is less than 24 hours for international itinerary or less than four hours for domestic itinerary is a layover. You can have more than one layover in a journey or trip. An example is going from New York to Beijing - you depart JFK arrive into LAX in the evening and you catch a flight to PEK the following afternoon.

Stopover is a short visit between your ORIGIN CITY and FINAL DESTINATION CITY and is more than 24 hours. You can have several stopovers in one journey as well. An example would be a "Circle Pacific" ticket where your journey begins in Tokyo and ends in Osaka, but in between you went to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Jakarta. The rules are you typically have to complete the journey in one year. You can have multiple stopovers and layovers in a single journey as well.

You can ask to have your luggage picked up at your layover city or transferred to the next flight. For a stopover, you will have to pick up your bag at the next city.

I don't think the word "layover" has specific meanings but the word "stopover" has very specific meaning in the airline ticketing/fare rule world.

In the old days with paper coupons, a circle in front of a city means it is a stopover (X means not a stopover). Stopover means you have a through fare and it allows 1 or more stops for 0 or very little additional fee. The stop can be as long as the validity of the ticket.

A stopover does not occur unless you stop in a place for longer than the connecting time allowed by the fare - I guess domestic is 4 hours nowadays and international is 24.

My understanding is that airlines have different policies on luggage. For example, if you do LAS-SFO-NRT and end up overnighting in SFO with a 23 hour gap (not a stopover), I think UA will cheeck your bag to SFO since they have a rule on how long they will have the bag at a transitting point.

Another exception of course is the "clear customs at the first entry point" to many countries/regions. In most other circumstances, no stopover ticketed = bags checked through. It seems it is hard to get them to short-check bags.

Going back to your MP question, I think it is safer to have them ticket with a stopover. Depending on the ariport, you might have to pay some extra taxes for it. What I don't know is that if the website can do it if you don't stop for more than 24 hours...

Also, if you have no status, think about the baggage fee complications you might encounter...

A connection can be any flight within 24 hours for an international itinerary, or any flight within 4 hours on a domestic itinerary. In either case, if there is no valid flight within the allotted time period, then one may take the next valid flight as a connection even if it exceeds the time limit. (This most frequently applies when connecting to flights that run less frequently than once per day.)

There is rarely any advantage to choosing to make something a stopover rather than a connection when it is possible to make it a connection--it often costs (sometimes significantly) more because of stopover fees, additional taxes, and fare differences, and as the above poster mentioned, you may short-check your bags to any point on the itinerary regardless of whether it is a stop or transfer--you just specify that at check-in (and double-check the bag tags). Plus, there is no guarantee that the checkin computer will recognize the stopover anyway--you'll have to double-check the bag tag regardless.

I had thought, from many years ago, that layover were stops that were overnight and required a hotel as part of the booking. The etymology being that you were going to lay down during the stop. Stopovers were ones that did not necessarily require a hotel.

These terms seem to have been diluted by conflation in recent years, just as direct and non-stop have been.

"Layover" has no meaning in the COC or fare rules. You are either at your destination, connection point or on a stopover.

When considering a routing, it's critical to read the fare rules for the specific fare you are considering. Those will ultimately determine whether and what the costs are for purchasing separate tickets for each segment, connecting or stopping.

There are, of course, other factors to consider, but this is at least a starting point.

United Layover/Stopover
 

A question re

I have a United award ticket in C for the first few and international segments. I then have a 23h layover and continue on a one cabin flight.
After a stopover, I again travel on in a single cabin flight.

United baggage rules in my reservation show the follwing:
2 free checked bags for the C class segments
1 free checked bag for all flights after.

I believe I should be entitled to 2 free checked bags all they way or am I wrong?

Cheers!

which has better rules for layover vs stopover

star
skyteam
one world

Assuming the carriers properly enforce the Most Significant Carrier (MSC) rules then you should get the extra bag.

No such thing. Each loyalty program sets the rules, not the alliances.

If I'm on a UA flight to GUM from the mainland, would it fall under international or domestic rules?