Why are there so many restrictions on stopovers?

[smit0847]

In looking at the rules of various sale fares/promos/award redemptions it has struck me how much restriction there is on stopovers. Some say no stopovers allowed, some say stopover for an additional fee, some say only one stopover allowed per return journey etc.

Surely it does not cost the airline anything extra if you wish to take the same flight a few days later (and they could of course reprice it if it does) so why don't airlines like allowing stopovers? Even if just searching for a normal rev fare invariably it will only offer transit of up to 24 hours and if you want a stopover you have to search as a multi-city (as if you had 2 destinations rather than just wanting to spend a few extra days at the hub you are flying through anyway!) which invariably prices far more expensive. I dont think I've ever seen a 'want a stopover' option when searching that will allow you to take simply move a flight a few days/a week later in order to stop somewhere you were flying through anyway.

It seems that if you want to dictate you stopovers you need to go to a TA and are at the mercy of whether they think its a return with stopovers, or a multi-city.

Is there is a reason airlines don't readily offer stopovers?

 

[casanovawa]

I guess quite a few airlines operate hub and spoke arrangements or have created networks and codeshares with partners so they have mandated that to get from a-b you will be traveling via c and maybe d to get there as they have rationalised their own direct option and they aren't going to charge you much extra for the stops because of this system they have adopted for their own benefit especially as there may be another competitor that will charge a low fee for a direct flight...

But if you are stopping several places to enjoy things along the way why should they give you a low cost option to fly to several locations when they could justify charging you several higher priced individual tickets and make more money out of you like practically every other airline will do??

Not sure if they is any added taxes and fees that they are required to collect once you have been at a location more than 24 hours?? (like the UK APD is levied if you fly out of a UK airport but not if you fly out of somewhere else and then just transit at a UK airport)

 

[harvyk]

You are venturing into the fuzzy world of "why do airlines ticket like this".

Whilst there is a long winded explanations the short answer is - because they can.

The reality is airlines work out the maximum they can charge on routes based on their own internal costs, what their competition is doing, and what they think they can get away with. Add in a stop over and that adds a new level of fuzzy since you are now no longer going from A-B, you are going from A-C-B, and they would in theory need to workout what they can get away with for A-C and C-B. When ticketing, airlines don't really care where you stop along the way, they just care about you original departure port and your ultimate destination, which is why A-xC-B can be cheaper than just a A-C flight since the airline simply sees it as an A-B flight.