Layover vs Stopover With Kids
Layover vs stopover with kids is worth understanding before you book, because the two are not the same thing and one of them can turn a miserable connection into an extra destination. A layover is time spent waiting for a connecting flight on one ticket. A stopover is a deliberate stay of a day or more on the way. Used well, either one can make a long trip easier on everybody.
What Is a Layover?
What do you mean layovers and stopovers, isn’t that the same thing?! Nope! Let’s talk about layover vs stopover and how they could benefit your travels.
A layover is the amount of time in a destination while you wait for a connecting flight on a single ticket purchase. This typically ranges from 2 to 24 hours (but can be more or less). A stopover is making use of a stopover program that some airlines offer, or by simply booking separate airfare to your stopover destination and a separate ticket to your final destination. There can be great value in a long layover or stopover so let’s discuss each a bit more to get you inspired or help resolve a flight where the timing just isn’t working for you.
Layovers and How to Use a Long One
If you are booking a ticket to a destination where there are no direct flight options, or the cost of a direct flight is too much, odds are you are going to end up with a layover somewhere. Look at your options for layover cities for routes from your starting point to your destination. Are any of the cities, places you are interested in seeing, even if only briefly? When you are on a flight search engine, filter for one stop and then filter for layover duration so that it is more than 24 hours to see if there are any options. Sometimes it is a much cheaper flight and it gives you time to sleep and explore the city in between flights!
We did this on our way home from Berlin to San Francisco. We had to have a layover, so we opted for London and booked a 22 hour layover. We landed around 11am, checked into our airport hotel to dump our bags, then headed into the city to see as much as we could in 8 hours. We did a ton in those few hours and took a taxi in between sites to save time. Here is a look at what we did and saw in that 7-8ish hours in London…
A strut across Abbey Road…
Buckingham Palace…
Westminster Church…
Big Ben and a stroll across Westminster Bridge…
Rode the London Eye… (where Kaida pooped at the beginning and with no where to change a diaper, the poor souls stuck in that bubble with us got a lovely smelling treat!)
Walked through China Town…
Ate some ridiculously good fish n’ chips…
Picked up a Paddington bear in Paddington station on our train back to Heathrow airport.
After all of this we got a solid 8 hours of sleep before heading to the airport for our 9am flight. Not only was it a lot of fun seeing London in a chaotic fashion but we also broke up the trip and now only had a direct flight back to San Francisco making for an easier travel day for the kids.
This layover tactic is especially helpful when you have kids and the flight times are terrible. Like, for example, your layover is from 9pm-midnight, then you have to hop another plane and land in your destination in the morning. That travel day and first day at your destination are likely not going to be enjoyable. Sometimes it is worth looking at a longer layover, staying the night at an airport at the hotel and then continuing to your destination to land rested and ready for fun. If there are options for a really long layover, then you might get a chance to explore that layover city too!
Stopovers and Airline Stopover Programs
Some airlines specifically try to entice customers with a stopover program that allows you to spend a specific amount of time in their country, usually 1 to 7 days before flying on to your final destination all in one ticket purchase. Icelandair is a great example. When flying between Europe and the US on Icelandair, you can add a free stopover in Iceland for a duration of days allowable by the airline. Now I say “free” as in there is no added cost to the airfare ticket, but you will still have to pay for accommodations, food and activities while in Iceland.
I like to make my own stopovers whenever I can. For example, we wanted to fly from California to Peru and there were zero good options for direct or affordable flights. Almost everything had a layover and Panama City was consistently the layover location on all of my searches. So I decided to see how much it would be to fly to Panama, spend 6 nights in there (of course you could do just 2 or 3 days), and then buy a separate ticket to Lima. Turns out it was about the same price. So we were able to enjoy Panama AND Peru; which is not only fun but in my opinion a better monetary value considering you would otherwise have to pay twice as much to fly from California to Panama and California to Peru on two separate trips.
So while you are searching for flights using all of our tips for Finding a Flight, I highly encourage you to start thinking creatively (layover vs stopover). Especially if you are finding that the options for your home airport to your preferred destination has unpleasant layovers or the timing of departure/arrival for the flight just plain sucks!
Layover vs Stopover With Kids: Making a Long One Work
A long layover only works if you treat it like a very short trip instead of a delay. A few things that made London work for us.
Book a hotel by the airport and drop the bags before you do anything else. Dragging carry-ons around a city for eight hours with kids is its own kind of misery, and a room you have already checked into means you can come back and collapse.
Spend the money on taxis. We would normally take public transportation everywhere, but when the clock is the whole constraint, a taxi between sights buys you another stop.
Protect the sleep at the end of it. We got a solid eight hours before a 9am flight, and that is the difference between arriving home wrecked and arriving home fine.
Try to make the last leg the direct one. Breaking the journey in London meant the final flight to San Francisco was non-stop, which made the real travel day much easier on the kids.
Pick the layover city on purpose. When you are searching, filter for one stop, then filter the layover duration to more than 24 hours and see what comes up. Sometimes the long version is the cheaper one.
And be honest about which layovers are worth extending. A 9pm to midnight connection is not an opportunity, it is just a bad night. Those are the ones worth paying to avoid, or turning into a proper overnight instead.
Planning the Rest of Your Trip
If you are newer to travel, make sure to check out our pages on travel safety tips, hotel vs airbnb and where to start when travel planning!
