These 26 Airlines Let Flyers Stop Over in Their Hubs for Free

Want to hit the pubs in Dublin before attending Octoberfest in Munich? Sightsee in Madrid or Lisbon on the way home from Paris or Rome? Break up a punishing flight to Australia or New Zealand with a few nights’ stay in Tokyo or Honolulu?

Several airlines let passengers visit two spots for the price of one by allowing free stopovers: When connecting through their hubs, instead of waiting for a few hours at the airport you can spend part of your vacation at a second destination without buying an additional ticket or paying extra fees.

Icelandair’s stopover program is among the best known, so popular that it helped create its country’s now-burgeoning tourism industry. Several other carriers—Air Canada, Etihad, Iberia, PLAY Airlines, Qatar Airways, TAP Air Portugal, and Turkish Airlines—also actively lure customers by widely promoting fares with free stops.

We found that several other carriers serving U.S. airports also don’t charge extra for stopovers—they just don’t always advertise their policies. Our researchers reviewed the fare rules and compared costs of different types of trips for nearly 100 airlines and identified 26 that allow free stopovers of at least 48 hours—some let you hang out for weeks before continuing your journey. The list below summarizes each airline’s stopover policy and describes how to book.

To access free stopover fares, you must book your itinerary using the airline’s website or by calling its reservations line. And most provide this perk only if you book a roundtrip ticket.

We found that many airlines’ websites make it easy to book a trip with a stopover—just look for the option on their fare search pages. But others have “unofficial” free stopovers that aren’t advertised or described on their websites. Our researchers found them by digging into airlines’ terms, conditions, and fare rules. For example, Cathay Pacific’s terms and conditions mention free stopovers in Hong Kong, but there’s no mention of it on the website’s booking pages; we had to build a multi-city itinerary to score the deal.

Other airlines price their international itineraries in ways that effectively grant free stopovers. For example, when pricing multi-stop trips on the websites for Aeromexico and Korean Air, we usually were offered fares for itineraries with lengthy stopovers that were the same price as one-way and roundtrip tickets with short-term connections.

Although we found that 26 airlines don’t charge extra (or don’t charge much more) for stopovers, compared to taking regular connections, check with other carriers to make sure that you’ll pay the lowest price for your trip. We often found we could save by building the same itineraries with one or more competing carriers.

Keep in mind that ticket costs for regional flights within Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe are typically quite inexpensive. For example, one-way nonstop flights between major European cities typically cost less than $50. This means you can usually create your own inexpensive vacation with variety without worrying about stopover policies. When we priced a trip to Rome with TAP Air Portugal with a free stopover in Lisbon on the way back, its total price for our itinerary was hundreds of dollars higher than what we’d pay by booking each leg of the journey with different carriers.

Even if your airline doesn’t offer free stopovers, you can often visit an extra country for a day or night by booking a connecting flight with a long layover; many airlines, including Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines even pay for a hotel room, or provide steeply discounted ones, for a night or two.

If you can’t locate a long layover in search results from your favorite booking site, call the airline. Make sure you don’t need a special visa to leave the airport—in some countries, short-term transit visas issued for connecting passengers won’t let them venture beyond nearby hotels.

Because U.S. carriers don’t offer free stopovers within the U.S., we focused on international trips (although we did include Hawaiian Airlines’ nifty program). But on domestic flights you might find booking a multi-leg ticket that includes a stopover sometimes costs less than what you’d pay for separate point-to-point tickets.

If an airline doesn’t serve a nearby airport, don’t rule out its stopover program; most are part of an alliance with a member airline operating here. For example, Iberia and Qantas are part of oneworld, which includes American Airlines and Alaska Airlines; you can use Ibera’s or Qantas’ website to book a free stopover trip even if one of those airlines does not serve your preferred U.S. airport. Our list of airline policies includes alliance memberships.

We also didn’t list stopover programs available only to frequent flyer program members booking with miles. For example, Air France and KLM don’t have a free stopover program for regular fares, but if you book an award ticket at FlyingBlue.fr you’ll see options to add stopovers in Amsterdam and/or Paris.

Airlines that Allow Free (or Nearly Free) Stopovers

Aer Lingus
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Dublin
Alliance: Agreements with Air Canada, Alaska, American, British, Iberia, jetBlue, and United
Allows free stopovers lasting up to seven nights. Call 800-474-7424 to book.

Aeromexico
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Mexico City
Alliance: SkyTeam (includes Delta)
Doesn’t advertise a stopover program, but when pricing multi-stop trips on the Aeromexico website, we often found it offers fares for routes with long stopovers similar to (or even lower than) fares for connecting flights without them.

Air Canada
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Toronto
Alliance: Star Alliance (includes United)
Allows free stopovers up to seven days when traveling from the U.S. to/from Asia or Europe. At AirCanada.com use “Multi-city/Stopover” search option to book.

Azores Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: São Miguel and Terceira
Alliance: None, but codeshares with Air France/KLM, TAP, and WestJet
Allows free stopovers up to days. At AzoresAirlines.pt click on “Azores Stopover.”

Cathay Pacific
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Hong Kong
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers up to 90 days. Book at CathayPacific.com using the “Multi-city/stopover” search.

China Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Taipei
Alliance: SkyTeam (includes Delta)
Allows free stopovers (50 euro fee for some ticket classes) up to 90 days. Book at China-Airlines.com using the “Multi-city and Stopover” search.

Copa Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Panama City
Alliance: Star Alliance (includes United)
Allows free stopovers up to seven days. Book at CopaAir.com using the “Panama Stopover” search.

Emirates
Stopover city for flights from U.S.: Dubai
Alliance: Agreements with United and 17 foreign carriers
Allows free stopovers up to 14 days. Book at Emirates.com using the multi-city itinerary.

Etihad Airways
Stopover city for flights from U.S.: Abu Dhabi
Alliance: Agreements with jetBlue and more than 30 foreign carriers
Allows free stopovers up to six months. At Etihad.com, use “Abu Dhabi Stopover” search option to book. Will also pay for hotel stay for up to two nights.

EVA Air
Stopover city for flights from U.S.: Taipei
Alliance: Star Alliance (includes United)
Doesn’t advertise free stopovers, but when pricing multi-stop trips on EVA’s website, we often found it offers similar (or even lower) fares for routes with long stopovers as it does for connecting flights without them.

Fiji Airways
Stopover city for flights from U.S.: Nadi
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers up to four days. At FijiAirways.com, book a “Multi-city/Fiji Stopover” itinerary.

Hawaiian Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Honolulu
Alliance: Agreements with Japan Airlines, jetBlue, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia
Doesn’t advertise a program, but its fare rules for roundtrip tickets provide for one free stopover with no time limits. Book at HawaiianAirlines.com using the “Multi-City” option.

Iberia
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Madrid
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers up to nine nights on roundtrip tickets only. Book at Iberia.com using the “Stopover Hola Madrid” flight search option.

Icelandair
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Reykjavik
Alliance: Agreements with easyJet, Emirates, Turkish, airBaltic, Alaska, Finnair, jetBlue, and SAS
Allows free stopovers lasting up to seven days. Book on Icelandair.com by selecting “Stopover in Iceland.”

ITA Airways
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Rome
Alliance: SkyTeam (includes Delta)
Allows free stopovers of up to three nights. Book at 800-223-5730.

Japan Airlines
Stopover cities for flights from mainland U.S.: Osaka, Tokyo
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers with no length restrictions. Book at JAL.co.jp via the multi-city search option.

Korean Air
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Incheon
Alliance: SkyTeam (includes Delta), plus agreements with Alaska, American, Hawaiian, and five foreign carriers
Has a stopover program for long layovers. Also, when pricing multi-stop trips on Korean Air’s website, we often found it offers similar or even lower fares for routes with long stopovers as it does for connecting flights without them.

LATAM
Stopover cities for flights from mainland U.S.: Brasília and São Paulo
Alliance: Agreements with Alaska, Delta and 13 foreign carriers
Allows free stopovers lasting up to three days. Book at 866-435-9526.

PLAY Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Reykjavik
Alliance: None
Allows free stopovers up to 10 days. At FlyPlay.com select the “Stopover in Iceland” option when searching fares.

Qantas
Stopover cities for flights from mainland U.S.: Any connecting city in Australia
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers lasting up to one year in any Australian cities en route to a final destination on itinerary. At Qantas.com use the “multi-city” booking search option.

Qatar Airways
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Doha
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers up to four nights. At QatarAirways.com look for the “Qatar stopover” menu when searching fares. Also offers heavily discounted hotel rates for stopovers.

Royal Air Maroc
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Casablanca
Alliance: oneworld (includes American and Alaska)
Allows free stopovers with no length restrictions. Book at 800-344-6726.

Saudia
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Riyadh and Jeddah
Alliance: SkyTeam (includes Delta)
Allows free stopovers up to four days. Book at Saudia.com/transit-visa.

Singapore Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Singapore
Alliance: Star Alliance (includes United)
Allows free stopovers up to seven days. Book at hbth.singaporeair.com.

TAP Air Portugal
Stopover cities for flights from mainland U.S.: Lisbon and Porto
Alliance: Star Alliance (includes United)
Allows free stopovers lasting up to 10 days. Book at FlyTap.com with the “Add a Free TAP Stopover” option.

Turkish Airlines
Stopover city for flights from mainland U.S.: Istanbul
Alliance: Star Alliance (includes United)
Allows free stopovers, plus free hotel stays, for two or three days, depending on cabin class. Book at TurkishAirlines.com with the “Stopover in Istanbul” option.