This week’s column looks at the peculiarities of award travel that can help you maximize your mileage. Let’s say you’re planning where you want to go and you’re going through the hard work of actually booking an award ticket. Now, before you hand over your credit card, there’s something to remember.
Stopovers and layovers β and why they matter
It all comes down to the nuances between a stopover and a layover. This isn’t just semantics, it can actually lead to significant mileage savings.
A layover typically refers to a connecting point between cities and can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as 23 hours, while a stopover refers to staying in a particular city for more than 24 hours when traveling abroad (for domestic itineraries, the limit is reduced to 4 hours).
When booking award tickets (not applicable to revenue tickets), many airlines allow stopovers en route to your final destination. So if you’re flying between New York and Paris and stopover in London, it’s like visiting another city without spending any extra miles (although the taxes may be slightly higher). You can’t do the same with revenue tickets (i.e. if you’re paying in cash) because the fare is calculated between two cities. Adding a stopover to an income ticket means the price is from New York to London. From London to Paris. From Paris to New York. For mileage tickets, all you have to do is exchange miles…Mileage tickets are regional, so the mileage price is the same.
Who allows it and who doesn’t?
United Airlines allows one stopover on international flights. If you’re flying between New York and Rome, why not add a few nights in Paris? United’s Star Alliance award tickets allow you to make a stop on either the outbound or return leg of your trip. Another creative possibility is to fly from the US to South Africa on Star Alliance and visit the Pyramids in Cairo for a few nights.
Unfortunately, Delta and American Airlines no longer allow stopovers. But you can still incorporate some layovers into your itinerary. get it? It’s not a stopover, it’s a layover. That means you can’t stay in one city for more than 24 hours. It’s important to stick to meaningful routing here. If you’re flying between New York and Rome, it doesn’t make sense to stop in Istanbul, but an afternoon of shopping in London might be nice. In any case, if you have a layover within the city, why not use your layover to visit some tourist spots? (See the best cities for your layover.)
Alaska Airlines allows stopovers on both domestic and international tickets (particularly with international airline partners like Cathay Pacific, Emirates, and Korean Air). If you fly between LAX and Johannesburg with Cathay, you can spend a few days in Hong Kong. You can stop off in Alaska even on a one-way ticket. Let’s say you’re on a one-way flight from Boston to Seattle to Honolulu, but you want to spend some extra time visiting a friend in Seattle. Alaska Airlines allows stopovers of several days or even weeks, while all other domestic carriers either do not allow stays longer than 4 hours in Seattle or charge mileage based on two separate tickets.
When time is of the essence, this little trick will help you get more out of your mileage. Check out the map the next time you plan your award flight to see which cities are easy and affordable to visit.