Tips to fly to two destinations for the price of one by booking a stopover ticket
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- With spring break and summer vacation trips on the horizon, you may want to consider adding a stopover flight to your itinerary. If you're planning a trip to beautiful Santorini, why not visit Paris along the way at no extra charge. It's possible through booking what's called a stopover ticket.
Cari Elizabeth took advantage of it on a trip last year, she says "when we were going to book our flights for europe, we saw that it was possible to stay in the cities that we had a connection through. And of course, we wanted to take advantage of that because who doesn't want to go to an extra city for free?" Cari booked through Flying Blue, the loyalty program for airlines like Air France and KLM.
To get that extra leg in Paris many carriers like Tap, Iceland Air, Emirates and Hawaiian Airlines offer stopovers on their flights. This allows customers to visit more cities at the same price as booking a one way ticket. Brian Kelly, the points guy says the art of stopovers with airline tickets can basically allow you to squeeze more value out of your flights, whether you're paying for them or using your frequent flier miles.
Here's how you do it: You go to the carrier's website and when you put in your desired departure and arrival cities, search for a tab that says 'add a stopover'. The stopover will usually be in the hub city of the airline you're planning to fly. Brian Kelly, the points guy says iceland is known for this for no extra fee so you can split up your flying. You know, if you're going to Europe, you can stop in Reykjavik, which is one of my favorite destinations. Explore Iceland for a couple days and then continue on to your final destination.''
So you basically get two destinations for the price of one. Cari Elizabeth says "Paris has been a dream of mine to visit since I was a kid. The flights would have cost us around $3,000, and it only cost us 28 thousand american express points plus the taxes, which was $300." She was able to book her stopover flights with credit card points saving her around $2,700.
