What exactly is a "stop over"

[Philosiphier]

Hi all,

I know I am revealing my inexperience as a flyer here, but I am a little confused as to what exactly consitutes a "stop over".

Is this simply 'delaying' your departure from a city, which is included in part of your journey? For eg., we are flying to Honolulu in March next year and are trying to plan our trip home to include Las Vegas.

We wanted to fly business class with our points and for some reason you simply cannot get business class award seats to Las Vegas (or to San Fransisco or Los Angles) so we decided to fly direct to Honolulu using the points.

Now I am trying to find the best way to make use of our time there, and I figured that if we don't have enough points to fly back in Business from Honolulu, then instead of flying SYD-HON, HON-LAS-HON, HON-SYD, then maybe we could make use of a 'stop-over', seeing as most flights to SYD from LAS go via San Francisco or LAX.

Is this what a 'stop-over' means? That if we flew home, on one of these flights via LAX or San Fracisco, that we could stay there a few days and not have to pay any extra for our flight?

Sorry for the long-winded question, but hopefully some kind soul can provide help and/or advice!

Thanking you in advance,

Zoe.

 

[markis10]

A stop over is a transit where the time is longer than 24 hours, so if you are passing through a city in under 24 hours between flights its a transit, over 24 hours its classed as a stopover, and may affect the taxes etc you pay.

 

[Philosiphier]

But the stop-over has to be the city you are travelling through, right? One which is not your destination, but one where you would normally just change planes? That is, it is dictacted by the return flight (in our case)?

Sorry to be a nuff nuff :mrgreen:

 

[markis10]

A stop over is just a place you are staying at between two flights on the same ticket for longer than 24 hours or when on a journey (perhaps when you finish one ticket and start another one). Quite a few people are on stopovers on this board when they are at home because they started and will finish their journey in another country as the ticket was cheaper to buy there. Point to point tickets - destination is not a stopover, a stop on the way to the destination is, for tickets like around the world etc, then every stop may be a stopver with the destination your starting point.

 

[Philosiphier]

Thank you so much markis10

It is much clearer now.. I will persue the idea with my new hubby of perhaps staying a few days in Los Angles on our way home!

Can you put in the info about your stop-over when you are booking your ticket online?

 

[munitalP]

Also, the Lax to Las is a short flight. The drive from Lax is interesting and well worth doing once in your life

 

[markis10]

Also, the Lax to Las is a short flight. The drive from Lax is interesting and well worth doing once in your life

Just not in a Greyhound Bus with broken air-conditioning for a fare that you find out later was dearer than catching a plane, chalk one up for experience!

 

[munitalP]

Just not in a Greyhound Bus with broken air-conditioning for a fare that you find out later was dearer than catching a plane, chalk one up for experience!

I did it in a dodge charger, a bit more fun with working aircon and the ability to do 100+ with no effort

 

[Alanslegal]

Now I am trying to find the best way to make use of our time there, and I figured that if we don't have enough points to fly back in Business from Honolulu, then instead of flying SYD-HON, HON-LAS-HON, HON-SYD, then maybe we could make use of a 'stop-over', seeing as most flights to SYD from LAS go via San Francisco or LAX.

Is this what a 'stop-over' means? That if we flew home, on one of these flights via LAX or San Fracisco, that we could stay there a few days and not have to pay any extra for our flight?

I am thinking that you are trying to ask this ....(it's likely that we will) visit Las Vegas (flying from Sydney) but as all the flights route via San Francisco or Los Angeles anyway, can we just make a stop at SFO/LAX (for more than 24hours) and do a bit of sight-seeing before then going back home

This then leads to...

Can you put in the info about your stop-over when you are booking your ticket online?

If you want to do a stop at say Los Angeles, you will need to play around with the (award) booking engine and book the flights as a 'multi-city' itinerary and entering the dates you wish to travel (including the stop) or you can contact the QF call centre for bookings over the phone (incurring 2500 ff points).

Also you mention, that there's very little business class seats to Las Vegas, well the reason why is because the flights to/from Los Angeles / San Francisco are extremely in high demand and given the very small award inventory released from day 1 .... it's usually all snapped up v v v v fast !

Another suggestion re: business class flights to Honolulu; just be wary that you may be booked onto a JetStar plane rather than an actual QF plane.

Good luck with your plan, let us know how it all goes.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi all,

I know I am revealing my inexperience as a flyer here, but I am a little confused as to what exactly consitutes a "stop over".

Is this simply 'delaying' your departure from a city, which is included in part of your journey? For eg., we are flying to Honolulu in March next year and are trying to plan our trip home to include Las Vegas.

We wanted to fly business class with our points and for some reason you simply cannot get business class award seats to Las Vegas (or to San Fransisco or Los Angles) so we decided to fly direct to Honolulu using the points.

Now I am trying to find the best way to make use of our time there, and I figured that if we don't have enough points to fly back in Business from Honolulu, then instead of flying SYD-HON, HON-LAS-HON, HON-SYD, then maybe we could make use of a 'stop-over', seeing as most flights to SYD from LAS go via San Francisco or LAX.

Is this what a 'stop-over' means? That if we flew home, on one of these flights via LAX or San Fracisco, that we could stay there a few days and not have to pay any extra for our flight?

Sorry for the long-winded question, but hopefully some kind soul can provide help and/or advice!

Thanking you in advance,

Zoe.

Just re the award flights that you can't get - are you looking at the Classic Award as well as the Any Seat Award or JASA if you're looking at business class?

If HNL (Honolulu) wasn't a priority you could look at buying a one way fare to SFO or LAX then getting a JASA LAX back to Oz. Forget looking on the QF website all the way to LAS. You can get a cheap Y fare on www.virginamerica.com for about USD49.00 each way.

Another option is if you get a return redemption ticket to HNL & back, make a booking on www.priceline.com for your flights HNL/LAS/HNL. If you were looking at visiting the East Coast or even Caribbean you could book a YUP or KUP fare (pay for economy & receive an instant upgrade to first or business class) on www.aa.com.

 

[Worldtraveller8888]

Also, the Lax to Las is a short flight. The drive from Lax is interesting and well worth doing once in your life

No need to do it more than once though

 

[drron]

I think the problem with the non availability of J class to LAS is that the award will be on AA which only have Y and F for most domestic flights.QFF J awards book into Y not F.So unless the award was the same points to LAS as LAX do not bother.Get a cheap flight LAX-LAS.
However I am another who reccomends the drive.There is no drop off fee when renting a car LAX-LAS with most rental companies.So you can drive one way and fly the other.You can detour and go through Death Valley.Once in LAS drive to the Grand Canyon or the Utah NPs.However the most compelling reason-well at least in mrsdrron's eyes-is that you will pass all those factory outlets-Ontario Mills,Desert Hills.Barstow and Primm Nevada.

 

[Philosiphier]

Another option is if you get a return redemption ticket to HNL & back, make a booking on www.priceline.com for your flights HNL/LAS/HNL. If you were looking at visiting the East Coast or even Caribbean you could book a YUP or KUP fare (pay for economy & receive an instant upgrade to first or business class) on www.aa.com.

This is the option we are probably looking at (thanks to all those who suggested the drive, but hubby is not too keen on driving on the other side of the road - although, has anyone had any bad experiences with that? Is the drive that difficult?)

But I was wondering what (again, here I am showing my ignorance) are the YUP and KUP fares you are speaking of? And how do you pay for economy and get instant upgrades? Did you mean using our points for the upgrade or do they just upgrade frequently?

Thanks so much to ALL of you who have replied to my thread, it is helping us immensely and giving us a lot of other options I'd have never thought of!

 

[Philosiphier]

I think the problem with the non availability of J class to LAS is that the award will be on AA which only have Y and F for most domestic flights.QFF J awards book into Y not F.So unless the award was the same points to LAS as LAX do not bother.Get a cheap flight LAX-LAS.
However I am another who reccomends the drive.There is no drop off fee when renting a car LAX-LAS with most rental companies.So you can drive one way and fly the other.You can detour and go through Death Valley.Once in LAS drive to the Grand Canyon or the Utah NPs.However the most compelling reason-well at least in mrsdrron's eyes-is that you will pass all those factory outlets-Ontario Mills,Desert Hills.Barstow and Primm Nevada.

That really sounds like a lot of fun! Especially the outlet bit
I'll have a word to my other half and see what he says - thanks again for all the ideas! :mrgreen:

 

[ozbeachbabe]

But I was wondering what (again, here I am showing my ignorance) are the YUP and KUP fares you are speaking of? And how do you pay for economy and get instant upgrades? Did you mean using our points for the upgrade or do they just upgrade frequently?

A YUP & KUP fare is when you pay economy but at the time of booking it tells you where you'll be sitting ie in first or business class so it's a done deal. It's not a space available thing nor anything to do with ff points. The best part about it is you earn ff points and SC on the first class sectors (or business if applicable).

You might consider doing one ex LAS to the Caribbean eg SJU (San Juan Puerto Rico) & do a cruise maybe if that's your thing. You can "stopover" at some of the interim transits as long as you don't stay more than 24 hours at any of these points eg fly LAS/DFW in the evening & stay at airport hotel then continue your journey the next day in the afternoon.


The JASA thread below might help also:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....gram/best-value-jasas-26291-3.html#post371864

This thread has some info on YUPs & KUPs:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....lyer-program/am-i-insane-540-scs-26175-7.html

More of YUPs & KUPS:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....questions/maximum-scs-using-yups-25101-4.html

 

[grussellt]

Once you've reached HNL, try Expedia or Jetabroad for a one -way itinerary such as HNL - SYD with a stopover in LAS or LAX. You can also try all options as a multicity option in ITAsoftware and then find an agent to book it.

 

[ozmille]

I did it in a dodge charger

Did the trip twice in a Ford Mustang convertible via Palm Springs on the way there via SFO on the way back... Would do it again any day