Stopover Bonanza: Explore These Cities on Free (or Cheap) Airline Layovers

In our post-merger airline environment, you could spend your whole life in your living room waiting for a decent fare sale. So if you want to see the world, it's up to you to find ways to save on international airfare. Fortunately, one of the oldest methods is still with us: free stopovers.

Stopovers are simple. An airline, usually based in another country, gives passengers permission to get off the plane in their hub city and spend a little time, as long as their final destination is another one of the destinations in their network. After a few days looking around the airline's home turf, you continue on to your final city. So it's like getting two vacations in one.

Not all airlines permit it. American-owned ones. in particular, want to charge you extreme amounts of cash to let you break your journey. Sometimes, cheap fare classes won't allow stopovers or passengers of some nationalities may be excluded. But North Americans and Western Europeans can find free (or nearly free) layovers in these places as a matter of course.

To stimulate visitorship to the United Arab Emirates' capital city, the airline's "Essential Stopover" program tacks on hotel (from $36 a night) and buy-one-get-one tickets to attractions. You just have to stay at least two nights.

www.etihad.com

Elsewhere in United Arab Emirates is the glitzier city of Dubai. One you have booked your airfare that includes a stopover, the airline will act as travel agent to hook you up with hotel, rental car, and desert tours from about $50 per night. It'll even meet you at the airport to acclimate you. Since the airline flies to some 140 other places in the world, this one can come in handy. Ask for the "Dubai Stopover."

www.emirates.com

Not only does the airline permit free stopovers for independent travel, but if it issues passengers an intinerary to another destination that includes more than 10 hours of waiting at Istanbul's airport, it will give you a free hotel in town. So if you book a ticket with a really long transit period in Istanbul, you can hop into town for some stopover fun.

www.turkishairlines.com

Any multi-hour airline transit in Shanghai or Beijing now grants you the privilege of entering China for up to 72 hours without enduring the cumbersome process of applying for a Chinese visa. Don't bite off more than you can chew, though—traffic in Beijing is a living nightmare and you'll need to get back to the airport on time. Among the many travel companies vying to serve this mini-market, Context Travel (www.contexttravel.com) puts together four-hour mini-tours of the cities that'll have you back to the airport in time.

Stop over for as long as you want on your way to Australia or the South Pacific. A beach like this sure would break up the monotony of a long, unfcomfortable transpacific flight.

www.fijiairways.com

When it initiated its codeshare with JetBlue, TAP Air Portugal enticed American passengers with this carrot: It will throw in a three-night stopover in Lisbon or Porto (pictured), and then you can continue on to one of the airline's nearly four dozen other destinations in Europe. The hotel is up to you, but there's no charge for the stop. The offer comes and goes, so ask for it. 

www.FlyTAP.com