Extending a layover to the next day
Planning out my next vacation, I found out that the cheapest flight from my city (A) to my destination (C) happens to have a two-hour layover in an airport near one of my closest friends (B). By searching for the same flights earlier the next day, I found out that the entire trip can be bought for the same price the next day, with the friend to destination (B-C) leg a few hours earlier.
What I'm trying to do is mix and match the flight legs from the identically priced two days, so A-B happens on the first day and B-C happens on the second day, giving me 21 hours with my friend. But, whenever I try searching for the flights separately, or as a multi-city trip, or using a number of different flight booking sites, the price seems to jump from around $600 round trip to around $1100 round trip. Is there an easy way of extending this layover from 2 to 21 hours at the same price, given I have the flight numbers in hand?
P.S. The flights are all KLM/Air France partnered flights, and the flights are indeed international.
Best Answer
The Multi-City option is always more expensive and one ways often are too. Since your planned stop is less than 24h that will count as a stop-over and you should be able to get a single ticket for this.
When I have done this, I usually search a few OTA such as Expedia, Kayak and SkyScanner and sort by total duration, this usually gets me quite a few choices with a long stopover. Try it out.
When this fails, I go directly to the airline website and see if they will let me construct that itinerary. In the event this fails too, I have done a phone booking and usually got the same price as with a short stop-over plus a $25-50 phone-booking fee. All in all you still save money compared to other options.
Something that I have never tried and might help is Matrix. If you can search it and get the flights you want by putting your constraints, then you can take the output fare construction and use it to book your flight either with a travel agent or the recent BookWithMatrix site.
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Can you have a 2 day layover?
Book an Airline that Offers Free StopoversThere are some airlines that encourage people to book a multi-day layover (stopover) in certain cities. This means you can book a few days (or longer) to explore a different city on the way to or from your destination, without any change in the flight prices.What happens if you have an overnight layover?
If you do have an overnight layover and will be spending the night at the airport, remember your options. You can stay in an airport hotel both within transit or on the public side, you could sleep or rest in the airport terminal itself.Can you stay in the airport for an overnight layover?
Yes, you can leave the airport during domestic layovers. For instance, if you're a US citizen and have a layover within the country, it is legal and safe to leave the airport. Be aware that you'll probably be getting two boarding passes if the domestic layover is more than an hour.What is maximum layover duration?
A layover is a broad term that means any connection between flights. This could include a stop as short as 30 minutes (depending upon the airport) or as long as four hours (or up to 23 hours and 59 minutes on international flights). Airline crew use this term, slightly differently.A Basic Guide to Layovers
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