The <24 hour 'stopover' - your experiences

[smit0847]

Most FF programs allow unlimited transits of up to 24 hours each on any award redemption. I know these are especially popular with redemptions in North American programs. It’s a great way to see a little bit of a city that you might not otherwise get to see, though it can be very rushed and you may end up not seeing much of the city at all. I’ve done this in BKK, HKG, NRT, ICN and TPE and had some excellent ’24 hours’ and some pretty ordinary ones. This is usually related to the amount of time spent travelling to from hotels/airports/attractions etc.

For those who purposely plan a ‘stopover’ – what have been your experiences? Any cities youd especially recommend or avoid doing it in?

PS I'm not talking about those transits where you arrive at midnight, stay at an airport hotel and then fly out at 9am the following morning - I mean where you purposely plan the flights so you have time to get out and see/do something.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

Great idea for a thread and I will watch with interest.

Although in the past I've generally had the luxury of taking my time on stopovers, the next few international trips will be a lot shorter and I might look at working some of these in to make the most of the travel time.

 

[Limewood]

Last week in J on QR flight CGG/DOH stop 20 hours then DOH to PER, at check in they refused to offload our luggage at DOH due to being under 24hour stopover, yet sent on same flight we were on later, protested to QR manger but she would not give in, lucky as seasoned travellers we had spare set clothes and few toiletries in small carry on, so we got by.

 

[JB83]

When I was flying SQ between Syd and Europe, I was always booking with an 8 hr gap in SIN between my flights each way. Made for a great 5-6 hr arvo stopover, exploring the city bit by bit. The MRT gets you from Changi to the city in 30 mins, and once I tried the city tour shuttle Changi run for people on long stopovers starts at T2, got me to the singapore flyer and was able to jump the queue as a VIP. Last under 24 hr stopover I did, was MEL, when I switched to EK going from SIN-SYD, got in on the morning arrival from SIN and then booked to go on QF around 7pm. Skybus was fairly good, in and out of the city in 20-30 mins.

 

[Mattg]

I have purposely planned stopovers (which are technically "transits") of just under 24 hours many times, both on award redemptions and regular paid fares.

I completed my first 140K Qantas oneworld award last year, using it to fly around the world. I was only allowed 5 stopovers (over 24 hours) but made use of quite a few "transits", e.g. in Kuala Lumpur where I spent a full day. Similarly, on a recent AAdvantage redemption from Auckland to Broome I spent an afternoon in Brisbane along the way at no cost before flying further west the next morning.

Sometimes on Qantas international bookings I'll start or end the trip in Brisbane or Melbourne, even though I live in Sydney. I find that it often costs no extra to add on a flight to/from there, and then overnight in Sydney (at home) before/after connecting to/from the international leg.

 

[kpc]

I have done a few but generally I find it adds to my tiredness levels....recently, I stopped over in London for a long lunch with some AFFers:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....events/aff-london-lunch-1pm-sunday-65206.html

 

[dodgeyhack]

I had an unscheduled 13 hour stopover in Dubai recently.
Definitely a good city for it.
Had time to take the metro to the old city, both malls, and do some skiing.
Think I'll probably aim for a 10 hour or so stopover in Dubai every time I fly through now just to do a bit of skiing.

 

[juddles]

I had an unscheduled 13 hour stopover in Dubai recently.
Definitely a good city for it.
Had time to take the metro to the old city, both malls, and do some skiing.
Think I'll probably aim for a 10 hour or so stopover in Dubai every time I fly through now just to do a bit of skiing.

Forgive mi ignorance of Dubai - never been there, but intend to soon. Skiing? waterskiing?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Forgive mi ignorance of Dubai - never been there, but intend to soon. Skiing? waterskiing?

Indeed, snow skiiing in dubai! Supposedly quite fun.

 

[Mattg]

Forgive mi ignorance of Dubai - never been there, but intend to soon. Skiing? waterskiing?

I'm guessing it was here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_Dubai

 

[serfty]

Is it less than 24 hours for a transit or greater than 24 hours for a stopover?

Some years ago I was not charged APD on an exact 24 hours transit 10am into LHR with 10AM the next day out of LGW.

 

[Mattg]

Is it less than 24 hours for a transit or greater than 24 hours for a stopover?

Some years ago I was not charged APD on an exact 24 hours transit 10am into LHR with 10AM the next day out of LGW.

Correct...

Anyone know whether exactly 24 hours would be a transit or stopover? (Based on this I'm guessing "transit".)

 

[Limewood]

or fly in Dubai the A380 Simulator I did was so much fun

 

[blackcat20]

Have done a 23 hour transit in NYC, that was fun. Doing one in LHR next year. So literally going to London for dinner. Family think we're bonkers.

 

[dodgeyhack]

I'm guessing it was here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_Dubai

That's the one.

 

[andye]

I enjoy transit stops and always try to get out of the airport (particularly to a new city) if time allows. Two types in my experience-the shorter one where baggage has been interlined and you just whizz around the city for a flavour and the short-stopover where you stay overnight but still have some day to explore

Have had good short stops in NRT HKG and SIN and good overnights in BKK BWN KUL LHR. London works better if one of the stops is at LCY as it's quicker to get into town. The short stop is harder to negotiate as a family than when alone

 

[smit0847]

Correct...

Anyone know whether exactly 24 hours would be a transit or stopover? (Based on this I'm guessing "transit".)

I believe that in airline terms its considered a transit (a stopover is more than 24 hours and not allowed in many FF programs).

 

[smit0847]

I wanted to see if this thread got any interest before investing too much time in it but here are my 24 hour experiences:

BKK
3pm until 3pm.
Absolutely LOVED it. I normally hate Bangkok but the fact that we arrived and departed on TG F as well as staying at the Conrad as a HH Diamond contributed greatly towards my enjoyment. We purposely planned to do very little. While we wasted a bit of time in heavy traffic getting to the hotel we enjoyed the leisurely evening drinks in the exec lounge and then hit the town and had a large but great night out (didn’t get ripped off, didn’t get sick etc). Slept well, felt surprisingly good the next morning, enjoyed the buffet breakfast and then spent several hours lazing around the almost deserted pool. 24 of the best hours of my life. The key was to know your way around, stay at a nice hotel and not do much.

TPE
9am – 11pm
If I had my time again I would definitely go up the night before as it was a VERY long day but I loved Taipei. Quite easy to get around (taxis are very cheap) and as I had carefully planned a busy day there was a straightforward itinerary of seeing all the sights which were quite close together. Little English spoken but if you have things written down its easy to get from one place to another. The city had a really nice feel about it – big enough that there was plenty to do, small enough that it was easy to get around. By 7pm we hit a wall and headed back to the airport early but a very enjoyable day out. Would happily return. TPE airport is also quite nice.

ICN
3pm – 10am
I had hoped it would be easy to get around like TPE but it was not. In November it was very cold and the enormous, confusing metro system, coupled with unhelpful taxi drivers meant we wasted a lot of time and the whole thing just felt rushed and disorganised. Maybe Seoul is nicer with more time in the summer but it wasn’t for me - we should have juts stayed out in Incheon town. We did an On’go night-market food tour which was by far the highlight and a great way to see several different parts of the city in a short-time.

NRT
6pm – 11am
This was a forced overnight so not really a stopover. Given how far away from Tokyo NRT is we decided to stay in Narita town. Although there were plenty of Westerners doing exactly the same thing there we were it was still a very ‘Japanese’ town considering it’s the local town for one of the busiest international airports in the world. Stayed at the Mecure Welcome which is also the crew hotel for QF for NRT and it was dreadful. The ‘courtesy free shuttle bus’ ran only every 90 minutes which was not advertised anywhere when booking and we only discovered once landing. I don’t know why they bother?! Room almost terrible. Had a nice wander through the town – there’s plenty of restaurants around. Had a pleasant walk up to the Narita-san temple the following morning – it was quite impressive. All in all not a bad overnight but NRT certainly isn’t my favourite airport.

HKG
I’ve done this 3 times in the last year now:
10pm – 7pm
I purposely chose these times so I could work a day in my Hong Kong office. As its literally 50 metres from the Airport Express platform at Hong Kong station it was extremely convenient and apart from the humid, a very pleasant day. Booked a tiny, very forgettable hotel room in Shueng Wan. With a very easy transfer to the airport I was in the QF HKG lounge about 40 minutes after leaving my desk.
3pm – 2pm
With a bit of time to kill we decided to take the ferry from the airport to Macau. It was probably a combination of bad timing and luck but I detested Macau. We wasted a LOT of time waiting for the ferry, on the ferry, waiting for the hotel transfer bus and then being stuck in traffic in Macau. Repeat in reverse the following day. It rained the entire time we were there and I described it as being ‘about as Portugese as a Nandos store in Beijing’. I don’t regret going but will never go again – it wasn’t an enjoyable nor efficient 24 hours.
11am – 9am
With my cousin in tow who had never been to Hong Kong I tried to show him a taste of the city in one day which he loved. Stayed again in Shueng Wan (The Mercer which was a huge room by HKG standards). Took the ferry across the harbour, did some shopping at Ocean Terminal and headed up to the Peak (which at 4pm had no line at all). We then found out one of my cousins friends was in town (on holidays) and he invited us to the HKJC Wednesday night horse racing. We thought why not! It was good fun – strange watching horse racing at night but a great atmosphere. Unfortunately we drank a *bit* too much and I don’t remember large parts of the night! I do remember staggering to the Woolloomooloo rooftop once the races had ended. The view up there is incredible. Crashed into bed and woke up feeling absolutely dreadful. Thankfully I knew how to get to the airport easily as my brain was not functioning at all.

 

[Isochronous]

I've booked this twice before for DOH. Great fun.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Did a red eye from SIN to ICN, and had the whole day there before taking another night flight to SFO. Due to timezone differences, I can boast that I did 2 day trips in 2 countries on the same day.