TIL booking a flight with a stopover in Reykjavik saved me $180

I was talking to a guy at the baggage claim in Dallas last week. He said he always books flights with long layovers in cheap cities instead of direct. I told him that sounded like a pain, but he showed me his app. He booked a round trip to London with a 14 hour stop in Reykjavik and paid $580 total. My direct flight was $760 and I got nothing extra out of it. Now I'm wondering if the time trade off is actually worth it for the cash savings. Anyone else do the intentional stopover thing or stick to direct?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbara27817d ago

Started doing this a couple years ago after a buddy showed me the trick. I flew from Chicago to Paris with a 9 hour layover in Dublin last spring and saved about $200 plus got to grab legit fish and chips and walk around Temple Bar for a few hours. That was way better than sitting in O'Hare worrying about delays like @johnthompson mentioned. You just gotta plan ahead and pack a small bag so you can leave the airport. I always check if the stopover city has cheap day rates at a hotel near the airport too, that makes it way more bearable. The time trade off is totally worth it if you treat the layover like a mini trip instead of just waiting.

johnthompson17d ago

That $180 savings sounds nice on paper, but you're trading 14 hours of your time sitting in an airport. I've got a 6 hour layover in Atlanta next month and I'm already dreading it. If you factor in buying food during that time and the general misery of killing half a day in a terminal, the math gets a lot less appealing. Maybe if the stopover was in a city I actually wanted to visit I'd consider it, but just for cash? No thanks.