More and more airlines are doing it: offering a stopover in their home country for longer (usually intercontinental)flights. Since July 2016, TAP Portugal, the national airline of Portugal, also offers the possibility of a stopover in Lisbon. All passengers flying from Europe to North or South America via Lisbon or Porto can stay in these cities for a few days at no extra cost.
A stopover? What is a stopover?
A stopover is the time you spend at a stop during your flight at another airport or outside, while waiting for a connecting flight for the rest of your journey. Don’t confuse this with a layover, or a “normal” stopover. You have a layover if your transfer time is a maximum of 24 hours. If the waiting time is longer than 24 hours, it is officially called a stopover.
More and more airlines offer this for free. Besides TAP there is Icelandair, for example, that offers you the chance to stay in Iceland for up to seven days on your flight from Europe to, for example, New York. An excellent opportunity to start or end your trip with an extra city break.
But why on earth would you want to wait longer than 24 hours for your connecting flight? Of course you don’t, unless that extra time becomes part of your journey. You suddenly get the chance to discover something of that city during your stopover! Normally you would have to book several tickets, with mostly higher prices. A stopover makes that time much more interesting.
Benefits stopover Lisbon with the TAP
The stopover from TAP Portugal can last up to three days. You have the choice of Lisbon and Porto, we always opt for Lisbon. To make this stopover as attractive as possible, TAP has connected a whole network of partners, so you get discounts in hotels, a free bottle of wine in restaurants or other benefits such as free museum visits. Not bad right?
And besides, if you fly to South America for example, it is not so radical to split such a long flight in two. It might make your trip as a whole a bit longer, but you do not have to sit in an airplane for twelve hours at a time!
Want to know more about how to book a stopover? You can find the option “stopover” in the menu on Flytap.com, or check the special site of TAP Portugal.
