How often do you see those amazingly cheap airfares, Australia to the USA $850 return! Cheap get me on the plane now right? Well; it is not till you go to book that airfare that they slap you with the 3 extra sector flights; and or a long stopover somewhere random. Fellow travellers, we are here to tell you; those airline stopovers are a fantastic way to get an express sneak peek of a city; you may not have initially thought about for a holiday.

Every airline has a central hub in which their aircraft must touch down. For Example, Emirates hub city is Dubai, Qantas’s hub city is Sydney, Malaysian Airlines hub city is Kuala Lumpur.

You will find most of their tickets will transit through their hub city, most straight-through fares will only have a few hours layover however there are the cheaper tickets that have a longer stopover.

Use the airline stopover as a bonus; it breaks up the long haul flight, and you get to visit a city that you might not have planned to. As for us, we had a 12 hour stop in Texas and the main thing we wanted to see and do, was to visit the space centre and eat ribs.

You have to make sure the stop is worth the effort of getting out of the airport, I would recommend booking at least a 12-hour interval between flights. This is the perfect amount of time to head out maybe do a city tour, walking tour or just eat lunch in a different country. Be sure to check out your airline’s website, quite often they will offer stopover packages with your airline ticket depending on the length of the stop.

 Important things to remember when booking an airline stopover

•  Be sure to keep an eye on the time; missing an international flight will be a very expensive exercise
• Check the visa requirements of the country that you are planning to spend your 12 hours in. Some do require you to get a transit visa if you plan to leave the airport.
• Choose 1 or 2 things that are achievable in the time frame that you have; DO NOT try and cram too much in or you will start feeling stressed.
• With such tight time constraints; do your research before you go, and sometimes it is best to splash a bit of extra cash to get a private tour or car. This way you have control over what you do, and you don’t have to wait for 10 other people to calmer on a minibus.

Now you know how to make the most of your airline stopover head over to our; General Travel Tips or European Travel Tips to make the most out of your travel experiences.