When IcelandAir launched its stopover program in 1948, the year the airline made its debut, it was out of necessity—not savvy marketing. Without a license to travel directly from North America to Europe, the only way for the carrier to fly was to offer a layover in Reykjavik. “Back then, the airline operated flights on two separate licenses,” explained Michael Raucheisen, a spokesperson for IcelandAir. “One from North America to Iceland, and another from Iceland to Europe.”
By 1955, said Raucheisen, “the thought stuck that we should let these travelers see Iceland,” and the free stopover was officially born. Being able to pit stop in Iceland for a few daysbetween connecting flights was like getting a free vacation within a vacation—it became an instant hit with hippie backpackers through the ’60s, and though it has been offered continuously since then, a concerted marketing effort a few years ago brought it back into the spotlight.
Since 2012, Iceland’s stopover program has seen year-on-year increases of 30 percent to 39 percent, with 50 percent of IcelandAir’s passengers flying via Iceland and 31 percent of that subset taking advantage of the free extended layovers, which can range from one to 13 nights. Ask any tour operator in Iceland what effect the stopovers have had on local tourism, and they’ll unanimously agree: IcelandAir’s promotion has been the single largest catalyst for the exploding Iceland tourism industry.
At least a dozen other airlines since 2012 have followed suit with similar programs. Last year, the Portuguese airline TAP added a robust stopover program with one- to three-day layovers in Lisbon, which is the second-closest European capital to North America, after Dublin. “In our 75-year history, we had essentially been selling ice to Eskimos,” said Gareth Edmondson-Jones, a TAP spokesperson, about the airline’s tendency to sell Portugal to the Portuguese diaspora. Focusing on a core group of visitors to Portugal meant planes were full in the summer and empty in the winter, and the airline was struggling to stay afloat. “A stopover program became the key to our expansion strategy—it lets us sell all of Europe to all of North America,” he added. Approximately 40,000 travelers have taken advantage of the program since its launch, and the airline is in the midst of a renaissance moment.
Since not all stopover programs are created equal, we’ve put them to the test. Here are the ones worth trying and the ones to skip—plus a few extra hacks that’ll get you two vacations for the price of one.
The Best Airline Stopover Programs
IcelandAir
Stopping in Reykjavik is convenient for many itineraries from the U.S. to Europe—particularly if you’re heading to Scandinavia. And a user-friendly tab on the airline’s homepage makes it easy to find and book stopover flights from 18 destinations in North America to 26 destinations in Europe. Not all city pairs will yield solid results, though: Route availability was limited when we plugged in a trip from New York to Barcelona, for instance, forcing us into an inconvenient (and expensive) itinerary for the sake of a weekend in Iceland.
TAP
This is one of the best deals, and not just because Portugal makes a natural stopping point en route to most European (or even African) capitals. First, the stopovers are easy to book and superflexible: They’re available in either Lisbon or Porto, for intervals of 24, 48, or 72 hours. Then there’s the companion app, which helps you get around or book partner hotels at special rates (or get a free bottle of wine at select restaurants). But the best part? Adding a stopover decreased the total cost of our flights by as much as $40.
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