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  • What exactly is a stopover?
  • How is my flight search affected if I limit its duration to X hours?
  • Can there be a stopover if I am on a non-stop flight?
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  • 5
    Why the downvotes? – phoog Jun 5 '16 at 20:44
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A stopover is the time period between two consecutive flights above a certain duration and is typically used for a multi-day period. So, say you're flying from London to Miami and want to spend a few days in New York, you would book a flight with a stopover in New York.

A layover is a connection between two consecutive flights that doesn't count as a stopover. Typically this is under 4 hours for a domestic connection and 24 hours for an international connection.

You can't have a stopover or layover on a non-stop flight, but you can on a so-called direct flight. A direct flight is one or more flights that do not change flight number between the consecutive flights, even if you change aircraft and can even miss the next part of your flight!

The rules of any fare dictate whether a stopover is allowed and if so, how much it costs. By adding in a stopover it could add a fixed fee, say $100, or be disallowed and force an extra fare component requirement. This could involve a significant cost increase.

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  • +1 Normally the "cutoff" duration for a stop to be considered a stopover by a particular airline can be found in the definition of this term in the airline's fare rulebook. For example for BA (internationa) it is on page 26 of this. – fkraiem Jun 5 '16 at 20:45
  • Have you been saving that? 1987! :) – Berwyn Jun 5 '16 at 20:48
  • The rules on fare construction haven't changed much since then... but actually the cover page of the document says "issued January 30, 2008" – Calchas Jun 5 '16 at 21:01
  • @Calchas I guess so. I think the document has been updated a million times. It has dates all over the place. – Berwyn Jun 5 '16 at 21:03
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    +1 The exact rules around adding a stopover can vary too. For instance, Emirates is generally happy to facilitate a few day's stopover in Dubai at no extra charge, and will even arrange visas, book hotels, etc... not least because such a policy nicely fits in with the priorities of the airline's owner...the Government of Dubai. Icelandair will let you stopover in Iceland for a week at no extra charge, and even has a periodic promotion where they'll assign you an Icelandair employee buddy to explore the country with. – Zach Lipton Jun 5 '16 at 21:05

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