While booking flights is a great way to redeem points and miles, what if we told you it was also possible to score two trips for the price of one? Enter the endless possibilities of stopovers and open-jaw award redemptions – your new secret weapons when it comes to squeezing in an extra destination on an upcoming trip. Best of all, most airline loyalty programs let you add stopovers for free — or for slightly more miles.
Here’s everything you need to know about the best stopover and open-jaw award redemptions for your next trip, whether you’re just getting started with points and miles or already a pro at putting together complicated travel itineraries for less.
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What are stopovers?
By definition, a stopover is any stay of at least 24 hours that occurs between your original city and your final destination (anything under 24 hours is called a layover). They typically happen in the airline’s main hub city, since it’s a natural stopping point that connects flights throughout its network. Stopovers can be strategically planned so you can visit a new city for a day, a week, or longer.
While the possibilities for stopovers are plenty when it comes to flights booked with cash, the rules are more complicated if you’re redeeming points and miles. For this article, we’re focusing on the best stopover and open-jaw redemptions you can book via various airline loyalty programs. That said, the following carriers offer free stopovers on cash fares:
Copa Airlines: Panama Stopover Program. Stay in Panama for up to seven days.
Icelandair: Iceland Stopover. Stay in Reykjavik or beyond for up to a week.
Iberia: Stopover Hola Madrid. Stay in Madrid for up to nine nights.
TAP Air Portugal: Portugal Stopover. Stay in Lisbon or Porto for up to 10 days.
Turkish Airlines: Stopover in Istanbul. Stay in the capital city for up to 7 days.
Etihad: Abu Dhabi Stopover. Stay in Abu Dhabi for up to two nights (hotel included).
Qatar Airways: Stopover Packages. Stay in Qatar for up to 4 days (12-96 hours).
Note that additional taxes and fees may apply if you add more than one stop. And while the rules vary by airline, one stopover is typically offered in either direction, but not both.
What are open-jaw flights?
Anytime you fly in from one city but make your own way to another locale and depart there for your return trip, that’s called an open-jaw flight. Let’s say you live in Los Angeles but want to visit Sydney and Melbourne. An open-jaw flight means you’d fly from Los Angeles. to Sydney, and at some point travel to Melbourne, then fly back to Los Angeles.
In other words, you’re not doing a complete round-trip flight (i.e., from Los Angeles to Sydney and from Los Angeles back to Sydney), and the “open” portion between your two award flights (Sydney and Melbourne) is arranged separately.
It’s also possible to book a double open-jaw, where you fly back into a different airport than your original departure city. An example would be flying from Los Angeles to Sydney, then from Melbourne to San Francisco.
Why you’d want to book a stopover or open-jaw
Booking stopover or open-jaw flights is an easy way to break up a longer trip and visit new places without having to circle back to your original destination. It can also save you money on taxes and fees in the long run since booking several one-way awards means you’d have to pay separate surcharges for each one.
As in the example above, you could redeem miles for a one-way flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, and for another from Melbourne to Los Angeles. You’d have to cover the taxes and fees for each one, which might be more expensive.
Alternatively, you’d only have one set of taxes and fees to worry about when booking the open-jaw version mentioned above. Some airlines, such as Delta, also charge “carrier-imposed surcharges” when flying from certain international destinations back to the U.S., which can be up to $650 each way.
If anything changes or you need to cancel your flights, it can be more complicated when several one-way trips are booked compared to one single open-jaw or stopover flight. Depending on how many loyalty programs were involved, you might also need to deal with multiple rounds of customer service to change or cancel your flight.
While you can’t use point.me to book stopover and open-jaw flights directly, you can still use the platform to easily track down award availability for each one-way leg, then go through your preferred loyalty program to complete the booking.
Which airlines allow free stopovers or open-jaw award redemptions?
While many carriers do allow free stopovers and open-jaw award redemptions, we’re focusing on five of the best that are easy to book and offer the widest range of options.
Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards: One stopover per one-way award; flexible partner redemptions.
Air Canada Aeroplan: 5,000 miles per stopover; rules vary by destination and partners.
Air France/KLM Flying Blue: One stopover for up to a year, even on partners, if you call.
All Nippon Airways Mileage Club: Round-trip redemptions only, great premium class options.
Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank: Three to seven stopovers on partner awards only (rules vary).
Alaska Airlines
Thanks to its wide range of partners, Alaska Airlines offers a ton of stopover options for those looking to redeem Atmos Rewards points (formerly known as Mileage Plan miles).
The program lets you reserve one stopover per one-way award when you fly internationally (between the U.S. and another region, not inter-region on another continent), or two stopovers on round-trip redemptions.
Since stopovers typically happen in the partner carrier’s natural hub, that means you could redeem points to fly from Los Angeles to Sydney on Fiji Airways and stop over in Nadi on your way there (or back). Or, you could do a free stopover in Iceland on the way to or from Europe by redeeming Alaska points with Icelandair. Between Alaska’s Oneworld alliance and non-alliance partners, you have plenty of options to work with.
Another rule: For round-trip redemptions, you can only fly with one Alaska Airlines partner. You couldn’t, for instance, fly on British Airways and American Airlines during the same redemption, but you could snag a round-trip flight with points on either carrier.
Alternatively, you could break round-trip redemptions into two one-way awards to book two stopovers in two hubs on two separate partners airlines. For example, you could fly to Europe on Iberia and include a stopover in Madrid on your way to your destination, then do a stopover in London via British Airways, or Helsinki via Finnair, on your way home.
On the Alaska Airlines website, select “All search options” in the bottom left corner of the search box. Choose “Multi-city” and check the “Use points” box on the right. Here’s where you’ll need to separate your stopover legs. For example, you could look for a flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Singapore (SIN) with a stopover in Hong Kong (HKG) on Cathay Pacific by plugging the details for each segment (first, LAX to HKG, then HKG to SIN).
The results reveal all the available flights, plus the number of points needed. Click on “Details for flights” to view stopover information before continuing the booking process.
In some cases, you might need to go back to the top and select “Change your search” — make sure “Multi-city” and “Use points” are checked off on the left, and “Points only” appears in the drop-down under “Award type” on the right, then click “Find flights.”
One thing to watch out for in your search results: You may need to fly into one airport and out of another if you’re stopping in a city with multiple airports (like Tokyo or London).
Air Canada
Air Canada Aeroplan points can be used to book stopovers on flights with any of its Star Alliance partners, plus non-alliance partners like Emirates and Etihad. You could build in a stopover at major airport hubs like Istanbul, Tokyo, Zurich, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Seoul, Abu Dhabi, or Dubai, among others, depending on the partners booked.
It only costs an additional 5,000 Aeroplan points for each stopover. On partner flights, you can have up to six segments per one-way redemption. You also have the flexibility to fly with any number of airline partners, not just one.
There are a few restrictions to be aware of. Flights within Canada and the U.S. cannot include stopovers and are limited to layovers of up to 12 hours. And while you can book one stopover of up to 45 days per direction (or up to two stopovers on a round-trip flight), open-jaws are only allowed after you reach your destination, but not between stopover segments.
For instance, you would need to land and depart from the same city your stopover is in. You can’t fly into one city and out of another before continuing the rest of your trip. That said, you can fly home from a different city later as an open-jaw.
Keep in mind that Air Canada operates within four designated zones — North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America), South America, Atlantic (Europe, Africa, and the Middle East), and Pacific (Asia and Oceania) — and there are different mileage award charts and rules for flights between and within them.
To get a rough idea of how many points you’ll need, map out your route with Great Circle Mapper, then consult the appropriate Aeroplan mileage chart and note the cost for partner airlines versus its own metal.
You can search for award availability for each leg of your trip through the Air Canada website. Once you have your dates and destinations laid out, log into your Aeroplan account and do a multi-city search to bring it all together. Plug in your dates and destinations, then enter the stopover city and the number of days you want to spend there.
Stopovers can be booked online (up to four segments in one direction), while there’s a booking fee of about $30 if you call to book via the Aeroplan Contact Centre.
Air France/KLM
While Flying Blue is known for its Promo Rewards, the Air France/KLM loyalty program also offers a solid stopover set-up. These can be done in either of the carriers’ main hub cities (Paris and Amsterdam) or any number of locales, thanks to the carrier’s connections with more than 30 partner airlines, including Delta Air Lines, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, China Airlines, and other SkyTeam alliance members.
You are allowed one stop per one-way redemption, though taxes and fees may add up. Best of all, stops can be spread out over 12 months, and they won’t cost you any extra miles.
Using this perk, you could keep things simple by adding a stop in Amsterdam or Paris on your way from New York to Munich, for instance, or in Singapore on a trip from Paris to Bali (with the Paris to Singapore leg on Air France, and the Singapore to Bali leg on KLM).
You can also make your itinerary more complicated by combining several partners and open-jaw routes. You could, for example, do a stopover in Taiwan on a trip from Los Angeles to Bangkok with China Airlines, or a stopover in São Paulo on a trip from Buenos Aires to Atlanta via Gol Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
The only real catch is that stopover redemptions can’t be booked online, so you’ll need to call customer service at 1-800-375-8723. Make sure you’ve searched for award availability for each leg of the trip ahead of time through the website so the agent can book it — ask if they’re familiar with the stopover rules before you begin, just in case.
All Nippon Airways
ANA Mileage Club made some changes to its program in June 2025, including retiring its popular Star Alliance Round the World Award Ticket. However, it’s still a decent option, especially if you’re aiming to secure stopovers for business and first-class flights.
While one-way redemptions are now possible, you still can’t book a stopover unless it’s on a round-trip redemption — and only if you’re beginning your trip outside of Japan. One stopover and open-jaw award are permitted (on either the outbound or inbound) when flying on ANA metal or with any of its partners. That means you could add a stop in Bangkok on a round-trip flight from Singapore to Tokyo, for example, or a stop in Tokyo on a round-trip from Honolulu to Okinawa.
Note that ANA uses different award charts for its domestic flights within Japan, international flights on its own metal, and partner airline redemptions. You’ll also have to take into account the zones you’re flying between and the time of year you’re traveling, as there are different rates for low season, regular season, and high season. That said, redemption rates are still quite reasonable when compared to other carriers. Just be aware that certain ANA redemptions carry high fuel surcharges, so while the mileage itself may work out, the taxes and fees may not.
When you’re ready to book your flight with ANA Mileage Club, log into your account, click on “Flight Awards,” then on “Flight Award Reservations” to reach the page where you can enter the dates and destination details for your round-trip redemption. Then, choose “Multiple Cities and Mixed Classes” to input your stopover info. For more complicated itineraries, reach out to ANA’s customer service center at 1-800-235-9262.
Japan Airlines
Partner awards are the way to go when redeeming JAL Mileage Bank miles for stopovers. While you’re not allowed to book them on the carrier’s own flights, you can include up to three stopovers and six segments per award with a non-alliance partner (such as Emirates, JetBlue, or Hawaiian Airlines). You can have up to seven stopovers and eight segments on awards redeemed with JAL’s Oneworld partners.
Depending on which partner you go with, additional restrictions may apply. If you’re flying with Korean Air, for instance, you can only fly two segments with a stopover. Meanwhile, other partners like Hawaiian Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, and China Eastern let you book up to four segments. It’s also not possible to book a stopover in China if you’re redeeming for flights on China Eastern.
Note that you won’t be able to mix-and-match between the two partner categories (Oneworld or non-alliance), so you’ll have to do your whole redemption through one or the other. You can’t backtrack to the first city (or country) at any point in your trip, either.
You’ll have plenty of options when it comes to partner redemptions. You could, for example, use JAL to book an epic round-the-world adventure from Los Angeles to New York with stops in Paris (via Air France), Dubai and Sydney (via Emirates), and Shanghai (via China Eastern).
To estimate the number of miles you’ll need, plug your route into Great Circle Mapper, then check the correct distance-based mileage chart — there are separate ones for Oneworld award tickets and non-alliance partner awards. When it’s time to book, log into your JAL Mileage Bank account and click on “Redeem your miles.” Enter your desired destinations and dates in a multi-city search and complete the booking process.
Summary
Whether you’re trying to break up a larger trip by adding more destinations to your itinerary or you have just enough time to sneak in an extra city side quest before flying home, redeeming points and miles for stopovers and open-jaw tickets can be a great way to turn one trip into two. Thanks to the airline loyalty programs listed above, it’s easier — and more affordable — than ever, as many carriers allow you to do this for free or by paying just a few more miles. If you’re feeling inspired to make your next trip a little more interesting after reading this, go for it!
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