Stopover and Open-Jaw Rules: Maximizing Award Tickets
How to Turn One Award Ticket Into a Multi-City Trip by Understanding the Routing Rules That Most Travelers Never Learn
Introduction: The Free City You Did Not Know You Could Add
Somewhere right now, a traveler is flying from New York to Tokyo on an award ticket. Eighty thousand miles, round trip, economy class. A straightforward redemption — two flights, one destination, the most common way people use their miles. It is a good use of points. It is not the best use of points.
Because that same eighty thousand miles — the exact same number of miles, on the exact same program — could have included a free stopover in Seoul. Three days in Korea. An entirely separate city, an entirely separate experience, at zero additional mile cost. The same ticket. The same total miles. One more destination.
The traveler did not add Seoul because the traveler did not know Seoul was possible. Not because the option was hidden or restricted or difficult. Because the traveler never learned about stopovers — one of the most powerful and least understood features of award ticket routing.
Stopovers and open-jaws are routing provisions built into many loyalty program award charts that allow you to visit additional cities, create non-linear itineraries, and design trips that cover more ground than a simple round-trip — often at no additional mile cost. They are the closest thing to free travel that exists in the loyalty world. An extra city, an extra experience, an extra set of memories — included in a ticket you were already buying.
These provisions are not secret. They are published in program rules and award charts. But they are buried in fine print that most travelers never read, described in jargon that most travelers do not understand, and available through booking methods that most travelers do not use. The travelers who know about them — the points enthusiasts, the frequent flyer community, the loyalty program experts — use them routinely and consider them essential to maximizing the value of every award ticket.
This article is going to make you one of those travelers. We are going to explain what stopovers and open-jaws are, how they work, which programs allow them, how to build itineraries that use them, and how to book them. By the time you finish reading, you will never look at an award ticket the same way again — because you will see every round-trip as a potential multi-city adventure waiting to be designed.
What Is a Stopover?
A stopover is a deliberate, extended stop at a city along your route — typically lasting more than 24 hours. It is different from a layover, which is a brief connection between flights (usually under 24 hours) that happens because there is no direct flight between your origin and destination.
Stopover vs. Layover
A layover is logistical. You connect in Dallas for two hours because there is no direct flight from Austin to London. You do not leave the airport. You do not explore Dallas. The connection exists because of airline routing, not because you chose it.
A stopover is intentional. You choose to stop in a city for one or more days, leave the airport, explore the city, and then continue your journey on a later flight. The city becomes a destination in its own right — a planned part of your trip rather than an incidental connection.
How Stopovers Work on Award Tickets
Some loyalty programs allow you to include one or more stopovers on a round-trip award ticket at no additional mile cost. The stopover city must be along a reasonable routing between your origin and final destination — you cannot stop over in Sydney on a ticket from New York to London, because Sydney is not between New York and London on any reasonable routing.
The stopover is built into the ticket when you book it. You fly from your origin to the stopover city, spend as many days there as you like (some programs impose a maximum, others do not), and then continue to your final destination on a subsequent flight — all on the same ticket, all for the same total miles as a direct round-trip.
The Value Proposition
The value of a stopover is extraordinary. You are adding an entire city — flights included — to your trip for zero additional miles. The only additional cost is the time you spend there and the accommodation, food, and activities you pay for on the ground. The transportation to and from the stopover city is included in your existing award ticket.
On a long-haul international trip, a stopover effectively gives you a two-destination vacation for the mile price of a one-destination vacation. New York to Tokyo with a stopover in Seoul. Los Angeles to London with a stopover in Reykjavik. San Francisco to Singapore with a stopover in Hong Kong. Each of these itineraries costs the same miles as a direct round-trip to the final destination — but delivers an entirely additional city experience.
What Is an Open-Jaw?
An open-jaw is an itinerary where you fly into one city and out of a different city — with a gap (the “jaw”) between them that you cover by surface transportation (train, bus, car, or a separately booked flight).
How Open-Jaws Work
A standard round-trip takes you from A to B and back from B to A. An open-jaw takes you from A to B and back from C to A — or from A to B and from A to C, depending on which end of the trip the jaw is on.
The most common open-jaw for international travel is the destination open-jaw: you fly into one city at your destination and fly home from a different city. Fly into Paris, travel overland through France to Nice, fly home from Nice. Fly into Rome, take the train to Venice, fly home from Venice. The open-jaw between Paris and Nice, or between Rome and Venice, is the gap you fill yourself — the surface segment that the airline does not provide.
Open-Jaws on Award Tickets
Many loyalty programs allow open-jaw routing on award tickets — pricing the itinerary at the same rate as a standard round-trip. The program treats the open-jaw as equivalent to a round-trip even though the arrival and departure cities are different. This means you can design a one-way-in, one-way-out itinerary — seeing multiple cities connected by ground transportation — for the same mile cost as a simple there-and-back round-trip.
The Value Proposition
Open-jaws eliminate backtracking. Without an open-jaw, a traveler visiting both Rome and Venice must fly into Rome, travel to Venice, travel back to Rome, and fly home from Rome. The return trip from Venice to Rome serves no purpose other than getting the traveler back to the departure airport — it is wasted time and often a wasted day.
With an open-jaw, the same traveler flies into Rome, travels to Venice, and flies home from Venice. No backtracking. No wasted day. A linear trip that moves forward from start to finish rather than circling back to the starting point.
Combining Stopovers and Open-Jaws
The most powerful award routing strategy combines stopovers and open-jaws on a single ticket — creating a multi-city, multi-country itinerary at the cost of a simple round-trip.
The Multi-City Masterpiece
Consider this itinerary: Fly from Chicago to Hong Kong (stopover — three days). Continue from Hong Kong to Singapore (final destination — five days). Fly home from Bangkok (open-jaw from Singapore, with a short flight or train from Singapore to Bangkok covered separately).
This itinerary visits three cities across two countries on what is priced as a round-trip award from Chicago to Southeast Asia. The stopover in Hong Kong adds a city at no additional mile cost. The open-jaw return from Bangkok instead of Singapore eliminates the need to backtrack and adds a third destination connected by inexpensive regional transportation.
The total miles: the same as a round-trip from Chicago to Singapore. The total experience: three cities, two countries, ten days of diverse travel, with only the Singapore-to-Bangkok surface transportation as an additional cost.
Real Example: The Wilsons’ Japan-Korea Combination
The Wilson family from Dallas wanted to visit both Japan and South Korea on a single trip. A separate round-trip to each country would have cost 160,000 miles (80,000 per destination). Through a program that allows a free stopover on round-trip awards, the Wilsons built the following itinerary.
Outbound: Dallas to Seoul (stopover — four days in Korea). Continue: Seoul to Tokyo (final destination — seven days in Japan). Return: Tokyo to Dallas.
Total miles: 80,000 per person — the same price as a direct round-trip to Tokyo. The Seoul stopover added four days in South Korea, including flights from Dallas to Seoul and from Seoul to Tokyo, at zero additional mile cost.
The Wilsons’ two-country, eleven-day trip cost the same as a single-country trip. The four days in Seoul — exploring Gyeongbokgung Palace, eating Korean barbecue in Gangnam, wandering the markets of Myeongdong — were, in mile terms, free.
Which Programs Allow Stopovers and Open-Jaws
Not all loyalty programs are equally generous with stopovers and open-jaws. Understanding which programs offer the best provisions helps you choose where to credit your miles and which programs to book through.
Programs With Generous Stopover Policies
Several programs allow one or more free stopovers on round-trip award tickets. The specific rules — how many stopovers, where they can be located, maximum duration, which fare classes qualify — vary by program and can change over time. The programs most commonly cited for generous stopover policies tend to be airline programs based in Asia and the Middle East, where hub geography naturally supports stopovers between connecting flights.
Some programs allow stopovers on one-way tickets as well — an even more flexible option that lets you add a city to a single direction of travel rather than requiring a round-trip booking.
Programs With Open-Jaw Policies
Open-jaw routing is more widely available than free stopovers. Most major alliance-based programs allow destination open-jaws on round-trip awards — flying into one city and out of another within the same region. Some programs also allow origin open-jaws (departing from one home city and returning to a different home city) and double open-jaws (different cities on both ends).
Programs With Limited or No Provisions
Some programs — particularly US-based carriers with dynamic pricing models — have reduced or eliminated stopover and open-jaw provisions in recent years. These programs price awards on a segment-by-segment basis, meaning each flight has its own mile cost and adding a stopover simply adds the cost of an additional segment.
If your primary program does not offer free stopovers, consider transferring points to a partner program that does. Transferable credit card points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles) can be transferred to multiple airline programs, allowing you to choose the program with the best routing provisions for each specific trip.
Real Example: Sofia’s Program Selection
Sofia, a 36-year-old architect from Miami, wanted to visit both Istanbul and Athens on a single trip. Her primary US airline program did not offer free stopovers on award tickets — adding Istanbul would have required purchasing a separate segment.
Sofia transferred her credit card points to a partner program that allowed a free stopover on round-trip awards. She built the following itinerary through the partner program.
Outbound: Miami to Istanbul (stopover — four days). Continue: Istanbul to Athens (final destination — five days). Return: Athens to Miami.
The partner program charged the same miles for this stopover itinerary as for a direct round-trip to Athens — 90,000 miles in business class. Sofia’s US airline program would have charged 90,000 miles for the Athens round-trip plus an additional 35,000 miles for the Istanbul segment — a total of 125,000 miles for the same trip.
By choosing the right program, Sofia saved 35,000 miles and got four days in Istanbul included in her ticket. The program selection — not the destination selection — made the stopover possible.
How to Build a Stopover or Open-Jaw Itinerary
Step One: Define Your Cities
Start with the cities you want to visit. Which is the primary destination? Which could serve as a stopover? Is there a natural geographic connection between them that makes a stopover routing logical?
Stopovers work best when the stopover city is geographically between your origin and destination — or at least along a plausible routing. Seoul works as a stopover between the US and Japan because many flights route through Korea. Reykjavik works between the US and Europe because Iceland is a natural North Atlantic stepping stone. Dubai works between the US and Southeast Asia because Middle Eastern carriers route through the Gulf.
Step Two: Identify the Right Program
Determine which loyalty programs allow stopovers or open-jaws on the route you want to fly. Check the program’s award chart and routing rules. Not all programs publish these rules prominently — you may need to search the program’s terms and conditions or consult loyalty program forums and blogs for guidance.
Step Three: Search for Availability
Search for award availability on each segment of your planned itinerary. You need availability on the flight from your origin to the stopover city, from the stopover city to the final destination, and from the final destination (or open-jaw city) back to your origin. All segments must have availability for the itinerary to work.
This is where stopovers become more complex than simple round-trips — you need matching availability on three or four segments instead of two. Flexibility on dates helps enormously.
Step Four: Book the Itinerary
Some programs allow you to book stopover and open-jaw itineraries online through their website’s multi-city search tool. Others require you to call the reservation center and have an agent build the itinerary manually. Phone bookings may incur a booking fee — typically $25 to $50 — which is trivial relative to the value of the free stopover.
When calling, know exactly what you want before you dial. Have the flight numbers, dates, and routing ready. Explain clearly that you want a round-trip award with a stopover at the specified city. Some agents are very experienced with these bookings. Others are not. If the first agent cannot help, politely hang up and try again — the next agent may be more knowledgeable.
Step Five: Confirm the Pricing
Before finalizing the booking, confirm that the total mile cost matches the standard round-trip rate. If the agent quotes a higher price, ask whether a free stopover is permitted on the route. Reference the program’s published rules if necessary. Stopovers are a published benefit — you should not pay extra for them.
Advanced Routing Strategies
The Nested Stopover
Some programs allow stopovers on both the outbound and return legs of a round-trip ticket. This creates a four-city itinerary on a single ticket. Origin to City A (stopover). City A to City B (destination). City B to City C (stopover on return). City C to Origin.
Four cities. Two stopovers. One ticket price. This is the maximum-value extraction possible from a single award ticket and is available on a small number of programs.
The Strategic Layover
Even when a program does not allow formal stopovers, you can sometimes build in a long layover — a connection of up to 23 hours and 59 minutes — that effectively gives you most of a day in a connecting city. A fourteen-hour layover in a city allows you to leave the airport, explore for eight to ten hours, and return for your connecting flight. This is not a stopover (you do not stay overnight), but it provides a meaningful taste of an additional city at no extra cost.
The Fifth-Freedom Flight
Some airlines operate flights between two foreign cities (called fifth-freedom flights) that can be included in stopover routings. These flights sometimes provide unexpected stopover opportunities in cities that are not the airline’s normal hub. Experienced award bookers seek out these routings for unique stopover options.
Real Example: Marcus’s Four-City Ticket
Marcus, a 42-year-old analyst from Chicago, built what he considers the most valuable award ticket of his life. Using a program that allowed two stopovers on a round-trip business class award, he constructed this itinerary.
Outbound: Chicago to Istanbul (first stopover — three days). Istanbul to Bangkok (destination — seven days). Return: Bangkok to Tokyo (second stopover — four days). Tokyo to Chicago.
Four cities. Three countries. Fourteen days. Two stopovers. One business class round-trip award ticket. Total miles: 115,000.
A comparable itinerary booked as separate tickets through his US airline program would have cost approximately 210,000 miles. Marcus saved 95,000 miles — the equivalent of another international business class flight — by understanding stopover rules and choosing the right program.
Marcus says the four-city ticket was the moment he understood the real power of loyalty programs. “The miles are not just about getting from A to B. They are about designing trips that would cost a fortune if you booked them separately. Stopovers and open-jaws are the design tools.”
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Not Knowing the Rules Before Searching
Every program has different stopover and open-jaw rules. Searching for a routing that your program does not allow wastes time and creates frustration. Learn the rules first, then design the itinerary within those rules.
Assuming Online Booking Shows All Options
Most program websites do not display stopover options in their standard search interface. You may need to use the multi-city search tool or call the reservation center to build a stopover itinerary. If the website does not show the routing you want, call before assuming it is not available.
Ignoring Taxes and Fees
While the mile cost of a stopover itinerary is typically the same as a direct round-trip, the taxes and fees may be higher because you are landing in an additional city and may incur additional departure taxes and airport fees. Check the total taxes and fees before booking to avoid surprises.
Not Checking Visa Requirements
A stopover in a foreign city may require a transit visa or a tourist visa, even if your final destination does not. If your stopover is in a country that requires a visa for your nationality, research the visa requirements before building the stopover into your ticket. Some countries offer transit visas or visa-free transit for stays under a specified duration.
Overbooking the Stopover
A stopover does not need to be a full vacation. Two to three days is often enough to see the highlights of a city, eat well, and absorb the atmosphere before continuing your journey. Overextending the stopover can create fatigue and reduce the enjoyment of your primary destination.
The Mindset Shift
Stopovers and open-jaws require a fundamental shift in how you think about award travel. The shift is from destination thinking to routing thinking.
Destination thinking asks: where do I want to go? The answer is a single city. The booking is a round-trip to that city. Simple, direct, and limited to one place.
Routing thinking asks: what is the most interesting way to get there and back? The answer is a multi-city itinerary that includes stopovers, open-jaws, and creative routings that turn the journey into the destination. The booking is an experience design — a trip that covers more ground, visits more places, and extracts more value from the same miles.
Once you make this shift, every award booking becomes a creative exercise. Every round-trip search becomes a multi-city possibility. Every hub city becomes a potential stopover. And every mile becomes more valuable — because each mile is doing more work, carrying you to more places, and funding more experiences than a simple round-trip could ever deliver.
20 Powerful and Uplifting Quotes About Exploration, Discovery, and Going Beyond
1. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
2. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust
3. “Not all those who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien
4. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” — Saint Augustine
5. “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” — Anonymous
6. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” — Neale Donald Walsch
7. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey
8. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” — Confucius
9. “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” — Amelia Earhart
10. “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” — Gustave Flaubert
11. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Andre Gide
12. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
13. “Once a year, go someplace you have never been before.” — Dalai Lama
14. “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” — Unknown
15. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” — Aldous Huxley
16. “Investment in travel is an investment in yourself.” — Matthew Karsten
17. “Collect moments, not things.” — Unknown
18. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” — Mary Anne Radmacher
19. “Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” — Jaime Lyn Beatty
20. “The best ticket is the one that takes you to more places than you paid for.” — Unknown
Picture This
Close your eyes for a moment and really let yourself feel this.
It is your third morning in Seoul. You are eating a bowl of kimchi jjigae at a small restaurant in Insadong that you found by walking down an alley that looked interesting. The broth is spicy and warming and exactly right for the cool morning. Through the window, you can see a street vendor setting up across the lane, stacking towers of hotteok — sweet pancakes filled with cinnamon and brown sugar — that you will buy on your way out.
Three mornings ago, you were in your house in Dallas. Tomorrow morning, you will be on a flight to Tokyo. And the four days in between — the four days you are spending in Seoul right now — cost you zero additional miles.
Zero. The stopover was included in your round-trip award to Tokyo. The flight from Dallas to Seoul, the flight from Seoul to Tokyo — both segments of the same ticket, both covered by the same miles, both part of a routing that the program offers as a published benefit that you simply asked for when you booked.
Eighty thousand miles. A round-trip to Tokyo. And Seoul was free.
You finish the jjigae. You pay — approximately eight dollars for one of the best breakfasts you have ever had. You step outside and buy two hotteok from the vendor — one cinnamon, one red bean. You eat them standing on the sidewalk, watching Seoul wake up around you, feeling the particular magic of being in a city that was not even on your itinerary three months ago.
Three months ago, you were booking a round-trip to Tokyo. Standard booking. Enter origin, enter destination, search for flights. And then you read an article about stopovers. An article that explained that your program allowed a free stopover on round-trip awards. An article that showed you how to add a city to your ticket at no additional cost.
You called the airline. You asked for a stopover in Seoul. The agent said yes. The miles stayed the same. The ticket now included two cities instead of one.
And here you are. Standing on a sidewalk in Seoul with cinnamon sugar on your fingers and a flight to Tokyo tomorrow morning. Living in a city that was not supposed to be part of this trip. Eating food you did not know existed. Having experiences you did not plan for. All because you learned one word — stopover — and asked one question.
Is this available on my ticket?
Yes. It was always available. On your ticket and on thousands of other tickets that travelers book every day without asking. Tickets that fly over cities they could be stopping in. Tickets that connect through hubs they could be exploring. Tickets that contain free cities, hidden inside the routing rules, waiting for someone to ask.
You asked. And Seoul said yes.
Tomorrow is Tokyo. But today is Seoul. And today cost you nothing but the asking.
Share This Article
If this article opened your eyes to the free cities hidden inside your award tickets — or if it showed you how stopovers and open-jaws can turn a one-destination trip into a multi-city adventure — please take a moment to share it with every points collector you know.
Think about the people in your life. Maybe you know someone who just booked a round-trip award to Asia without considering a stopover. They might still be able to modify the ticket to add a free city before they travel.
Maybe you know someone who always backtracks to their arrival city for the return flight when an open-jaw would eliminate the wasted day and add a destination. The open-jaw concept alone could transform how they design every future trip.
Maybe you know someone with transferable credit card points who does not realize that choosing the right transfer partner can unlock stopovers that their primary program does not offer. Sofia’s program selection strategy could save them tens of thousands of miles.
Maybe you know someone who has never heard the words “stopover” or “open-jaw” in the context of award travel. This article is their introduction to one of the most valuable concepts in the loyalty world — and the beginning of a completely different relationship with their miles.
So go ahead — copy the link and send it to every traveler you know. Text it to the friend who just booked a simple round-trip. Email it to the couple planning their next international trip. Share it in your travel communities and anywhere people are discussing award bookings.
The free cities are there. In the routing rules. In the award charts. On tickets that are being booked right now without them. All that is missing is the knowledge — and now you have it. Help us spread the word.
Disclaimer
This article is intended for informational, educational, and inspirational purposes only. All content provided within this article — including but not limited to stopover and open-jaw explanations, program routing rules, award booking strategies, mile estimates, personal stories, and general travel rewards advice — is based on general travel industry knowledge, widely known rewards strategies, personal anecdotes, and commonly shared enthusiast experiences. The examples, stories, mile amounts, routing descriptions, and scenarios included in this article are meant to illustrate common strategies and outcomes and should not be taken as guarantees, promises, or predictions of any particular program’s stopover policies, routing rules, award availability, or booking outcome.
Every booking situation is unique. Individual stopover and open-jaw rules, routing permissions, mile pricing, tax implications, and program terms will vary significantly depending on a wide range of factors including but not limited to the specific loyalty program, the operating airline, current award chart rules (which can and do change at any time without notice), the route and dates of travel, fare class, and countless other variables. Stopover and open-jaw provisions have changed significantly at many programs in recent years and may continue to change without notice.
The author, publisher, website, and any affiliated parties, contributors, editors, or partners make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, suitability, or availability of the information, advice, routing strategies, program descriptions, opinions, or related content contained in this article for any purpose whatsoever. This article does not endorse or recommend any specific loyalty program, airline, credit card, or financial product. Any reliance you place on the information provided in this article is strictly at your own risk.
This article does not constitute professional financial advice, travel consulting, or any other form of professional guidance. Always verify current stopover and open-jaw rules, award pricing, routing permissions, and visa requirements directly with the relevant loyalty program before making any transfer or booking decisions. Confirm all policies before transferring points, as transfers are typically irreversible.
In no event shall the author, publisher, website, or any associated parties, affiliates, contributors, or partners be liable for any loss, stranded points, incorrect routings, visa issues, additional taxes, financial harm, damage, expense, or negative outcome of any kind — whether direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, punitive, or otherwise — arising from or in any way connected with the use of this article, the reliance on any information contained within it, or any booking or transfer decisions made as a result of reading this content.
By reading, sharing, bookmarking, or otherwise engaging with this article in any way, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this disclaimer in its entirety, and you voluntarily agree to release and hold harmless the author, publisher, website, and all associated parties from any and all claims, demands, causes of action, liabilities, damages, and responsibilities of every kind and nature, known or unknown, arising from or in any way related to your use, interpretation, or application of the content provided in this article.
Learn the rules before you search, choose the right program, check visa requirements, and always confirm mile pricing before booking.
