How long is a stopover?

[YankeeZephyr]

Hi, I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything when I seached

Basically, what I want to know is how long do you have to be on the ground before your break is considered a stopover, and not waiting for onward travel?

For instance, if I am travelling to LAX from SYD via AKL, and I want to see friends in AKL, how long can I break my journey (assuming I arrive and leave on the same airline, but different flight numbers) before my 'break' becomes a 'stopover', and is this the same for all airlines? and payment methods (cash, frequent flyer points, etc)

Sometimes the fare through has an overnight stop, with the same fare, or cheaper than one that goes through on the same day, and I have seen the same thing sometimes when searching to pay with points

Thanks for your help

YZ

 

[serfty]

It depends upon a combination of one or more things including, but not limited to:

• Individual Fare Rules
• IATA default
• Airline philosophy
• Legislation

 

[Travel Guru]

When you're talking stops on fares, a stopover is anything over 24 hours, so anything under (even if its 23 hours) is classed as a transit rather than a stop.

If you're looking at a RTW fare with min. 3 stop ruling, it means you need to spend at least 3x 24+ period in 3 different cities.

Hope that helps

TG

 

[YankeeZephyr]

Serfty & Travel Guru

Thanks for your replies

Both help

Travel Guru, that's what I thought, and that's how I have seen it applied in most cases (and how I would like it applied for now )

Serfty, Airline philosophy and Fare rules are what I think I have been caught up in in the past (eg - AA wouldn't allow me to transit through DFW on LAX-DAY as there was a 6 hour stop between LAX-DFW and DFW-DAY (am-pm), however, they were happy for an 8 hour between LAX-STL and STL-DAY, as the LAX arrived late in the evening, and the DAY dep was first flight of the day, or something like that)

Again, thanks

Just trying to plan my next trip...

YZ

 

[serfty]

Qantas domestically generally only permit same day transits - the are some exceptions where a routing cannot be completed in the same day.

 

[turtlemichael]

On a similar note, I'm looking at what constitutes a stopover within the AA application of the OWE rules - specifically, the rule allowing two entries and exits from North America where one of the entry/exits is a transfer without stopover.

The options are to arrive on CX at LAX from HKG at either 2.15pm or 10.00pm and to leave LAX for LIM at 1.10pm the next day.

Any thoughts on whether the 2.15pm arrival would be okay or would it have to be the last flight of the day at 10.00pm?

 

[Travel Guru]

On a similar note, I'm looking at what constitutes a stopover within the AA application of the OWE rules - specifically, the rule allowing two entries and exits from North America where one of the entry/exits is a transfer without stopover.

The options are to arrive on CX at LAX from HKG at either 2.15pm or 10.00pm and to leave LAX for LIM at 1.10pm the next day.

Any thoughts on whether the 2.15pm arrival would be okay or would it have to be the last flight of the day at 10.00pm?

That would be a transit, not a stopover.

Even if its 23hrs and 59 mins, until it ticks over to 24, its still classed a transit.

TG

 

[drron]

AA can be strict in the interpretation of their stopover rule which is 4 hours on domestic and 6 hours on international flights.See here for rules AA award travel stopover/transit rules *REVISED w/ ROUTING rules* - FlyerTalk Forums
However on 2 occasions I have been allowed 24 hour stopovers on awards.once travelling BNE-SEA on award and being routed via HKG and NRT.The HKG-NRT flight arrived 20 minutes before the last NRt-north america flight for the day and an overnight was allowed.
The other occasion was on a RTW award flying JFK-LAX-BNE when my AA flight got in about 15 min before the QF LAX-BNE flight.QF also allowed this as a transit on a RTW award with them when I had maxed out on stopovers.