What the heck is: a stopover?

As promised, on weekends we’ll go over concepts that may be unfamiliar to miles newbies but can be very important to making the most of your miles.

Stopover – A stop along the way to your intended destination

Stopovers are important because they can allow you to visit more than one destination for the price of just one roundtrip ticket. Here’s an example of a regular roundtrip and the same roundtrip with a stopover, one that I have personally done:

Regular roundtrip – DC to Cancun

Airline: United

Routing: DCA-DEN-CUN, CUN-SFO-DCA

Cost: 35,000 miles

Roundtrip with stopover – DC to Denver to Cancun

Airline: United

Routing: DCA-DEN, DEN-IAH-CUN, CUN-SFO-DCA

Cost: 35,000 miles

You can see that even though they cost the same, United allowed me to add in a stopover in Denver for free. Instead of just going to the beach, I was also able to ski.

Different airlines have different rules for stopovers. Most airlines vary their rules based on whether your itinerary is domestic or international. International tickets tend to give a lot more flexibility with whether you can stopover, where, and for how long. Here is a list of major airlines and their rules for stopping over:

Airline Stopover Rules

Delta

Domestic

One free stopover

Delta is the only airline I’m aware of that allows stopovers on domestic flights. Unfortunately you can’t just stop anywhere, it has to be on a routing they consider valid. If I’m flying San Francisco to Seattle, I can’t make a stop in Boston. Usually Delta hubs along the way or close by are good candidates for stopovers. For instance, if I’m flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco, I can stop in Salt Lake City for free because that is a close-by Delta hub. Here’s an example of a roundtrip with a stopover that costs the same as a roundtrip (25,000 miles):

As always with Delta, make sure to search each segment separately, and not as a roundtrip, on the website.

To take this a step further, if you live in a Delta hub, you could turn this free stopover into a free one-way either to your home airport before your trip, or from your home airport after your trip. If you live in Atlanta, for instance, you could fly a roundtrip to Saint Louis and then add on a flight to Miami after you come back. In this case Atlanta would be considered your stopover city, according to Delta.

International

One free stopover

The same rules apply for international award tickets as far as I can tell. You can stopover pretty much anywhere Delta or one of its partners has a direct flight to or from the U.S. For instance, roundtrip from Boston to Moscow costs 60,000 miles on Delta. I can add in a stopover in Paris for no extra cost:

Easy as pie!

United

Domestic

No stopovers

United doesn’t allow stopovers on domestic tickets.

International

One stopover

United allows one stopover on international tickets, and is very flexible with what you’re allowed to do with this stopover. For instance, you can use it as a free one-way ticket from your home airport later on. A trip from the U.S. to Europe costs 60,000 United miles. If I add in a stopover at my home airport, you can see that for three legs, it prices out the same:

American

Domestic

No stopovers

American doesn’t allow stopovers on domestic tickets.

International

One stopover in North American gateway

With American, the only stopover you can have on an itinerary is at the point you leave the U.S. So if I’m flying Saint Louis to London and back, I can only have a stopover at my layover airport (probably O’Hare or JFK). Here’s an example:

Three legs for 60,000 miles, the same price as STL to LHR roundtrip.

US Airways

Domestic

No stopovers

US Air doesn’t allow stopovers on domestic tickets

International

One stopover at a Star Alliance hub, but really you can do whatever you like

US Airways is known for having agents that have little to no idea what they’re doing. If you feed them the flights you want and tell them how much the mileage cost should be, it is not unheard of for them to honor the request. I’m not sure the US Air stopover rules are published anywhere (definitely could be wrong), but basically you can stopover in any Star Alliance hub (there are a ton of Star Alliance partners with off-the-beaten-path hubs).

I can’t show an itinerary on here because US Airways doesn’t show its partners’ availability on its website, but you can search United.com for the flights you want and then call US Airways to book it. Make sure to ask them to waive the booking fee because you can’t book it online.