Stopover Paid By Carrier (STPC): All You Should Know

The list of airlines offering free stopovers changes fairly regularly, as some are temporary promotions and others simply alter what’s included from time to time. While this list is a good starting point, it’s not exhaustive.

If you’re curious about an airline’s STPC program and it’s not on this list, you can search for “stopover” or “free stopover” on the airline’s official website to see if they’ve got anything available when you’re ready to book.

• Air Canada
• Iberia
• Icelandair
• TAP Portugal
• Turkish Airlines
• [Etihad Airways] (https://www.etihad.com/en-us/abu-dhabi/stopover)

While Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines don’t offer free stopovers per se, both official websites allow travelers to book multi-city itineraries with no additional “stopover” fees.

To book a free stopover with one of the airlines listed above, simply click on the link and follow the instructions. If the airline you’re flying isn’t listed, or the city you want to add on isn’t an option with one of these airlines, you’ll need to go the DIY route and book a multi-city itinerary. Just keep in mind that this isn’t a “free” stopover, though the difference in price when adding a stopover may be relatively small.

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As if getting an additional city to explore isn’t a sweet enough deal, sometimes you’ll see options for free hotel stays or tours to make a stopover even harder to resist. As noted above, these offerings change periodically, so this list isn’t exhaustive.

• Air China
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• Turkish Airlines (there’s both a free tour and a free hotel option)

It’s not just airlines that put together free stopover packages. Sometimes it’s the airports themselves that do it.

• Changi Airport in Singapore
• Incheon Airport in Seoul
• Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei

In some cases, airlines and airports offer stopover packages for a small added fee, so they’re not technically free, but they’re so cheap they might as well be. 

• Travelers through Doha can get a stopover package from Qatar Airways that includes a free visa and between 1–4 nights in a hotel, starting at $14 per night. The airline also organizes special-priced tours and excursions, depending on the length of your layover, for travelers through Hamad International Airport. For instance, with a three-hour layover you could opt for a massage without leaving the airport for about $80 per person. With a little longer layover, you could get a Doha city tour for about $30 per person, or a desert and sea excursion for around $60 per person.
• Emirates offers stopover travelers discounted rates on accommodation, experiences, and excursions.
• The Transit & Stay Program at Tokyo’s Narita Airport typically pairs travelers with volunteer tour guides for a variety of experiences (such as a tea ceremony in a Japanese temple) in the city at all budget levels. Note that tours are currently suspended due to Covid-19 but are expected to resume in the future.

The length of a stopover paid by carrier varies by carrier. For example, Icelandair allows passengers to stay up to seven days in Reykjavík for no additional airfare while TAP Portugal allows stopovers of up to five days. When the airline or airport is paying for a hotel, the stopover is generally one day.

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It’s when an airline includes a planned extended layover in your itinerary at no extra cost, often to promote tourism in their hub city. The carrier typically covers or offers discounted accommodations during this stopover.

Airline stopovers let you pause your journey in a connecting city for 24 hours or more (usually), giving you time to explore before continuing to your final destination. Some airlines offer free or low-cost stopovers as part of their ticket.

A stopover package is a bundled deal offered by airlines or tourism boards that includes flights, hotels, and sometimes activities during your stopover city. It’s designed to make exploring the layover location easy and affordable.