Airlines Are Rewarding Passengers Who Fly A Lot With More Stopovers (Here’s Where)

Published 7:37 am Tuesday, July 25, 2023

When Icelandair first started allowing American travelers to Europe to do a quick “stopover” in Reykjavik in the 1960s, the program was seen as revolutionary and unheard of for the industry.

To help drive tourism to what would otherwise be a remote and expensive destination for many, the airline started taking on the costs of letting passengers split their flights to Europe and spend a day or two exploring Iceland.

DON’T MISS: A Major Airline Is Extending A Popular Stopover Deal in Abu Dhabi

Over the six decades that followed, the program not only helped transform Iceland into a popular tourism destination but also proved so popular that even places with no need for additional tourists started launching their own versions.

How to Book a City Stopover on a Points Ticket

Turkish Airways, Tap Air Portugal, Singapore Airlines  (SINGF) – Get Free Report and United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airlines all experimented with their own versions of the “city stopover” perk over the years — the latter even covered stays at four-star hotels in Abu Dhabi.

Back in November, Air France and KLM  (AFRAF) – Get Free Report made a free stopover in Paris and Amsterdam a perk of its FlyingBlue loyalty program. Travelers who used miles to book a ticket with a layover in the capitals where these airlines were based could schedule a layover lasting from a day to a year.

“Now, you’re able stop over for no additional charge for up to a year,” Flying Blue SVP Of Customer Loyalty Ben Lipsey said in a statement at the time.

While this option is still exclusively a perk for frequent travelers, airline industry website One Mile At A Time was the first to report that it has now been expanded to all of the airline alliance’s partner carriers.

These include everything from Air Corsica, China Southern Airlines  (ZNH) – Get Free Report, Japan Airlines  (JPNRF) – Get Free Report, Malaysia Airlines, Australia’s Qantas  (QUBSF) – Get Free Report, and Canada’s WestJet among others.

Airline Could Offer a Generous Policy

To take advantage, FlyingBlue members need to use their traveler miles to book a round-trip, one-way or multi-city flight between two cities on one of these airlines and then arrange the stopover they’d like (this must be done on the phone rather than online but the process will eventually be streamlined to make the latter possible as well.)

While it doesn’t cost anything to sign up for FlyingBlue, it would take significant flying to collect enough points to book round-the-world trips exclusively on awards. Frequent travelers, however, will be able to get even more value and squeeze more cities into flights they take without additional costs.

In general, stopovers are more common on tickets purchased with money. While Air Canada  (ACDVF) – Get Free Report allows passengers to add stopovers to a points ticket by paying additional miles, the new program introduced by Air France-KLM is uncharacteristically far-reaching and flexible.

As often happens in the industry, it could also push other airlines to open up the rewards and stopover programs they offer as a way of being more competitive and luring in frequent travelers as well as pushing those who hop between airlines to be more “loyal.”

“This is a game changer, and is now the most generous policy in the industry, at least on paper,” writes One Mile At A Time’s Ben Schlappig. “Getting free stopovers on all partner airlines at no cost is simply awesome.”