Can somebody explain stopovers to me?

I just got back from a weeks vacation where I hung out with a bunch of Americans. All of them flew out of cities that were a little closer to the destination than mine. Our flight was direct, and 4 1/2 hours. With one exception, it took all of them at least 12 hrs to get there. That one exception drove from Buffalo to Toronto and flew direct. Why do they do it, and more importantly, why do you put up with it?

Zomby woof wrote: I just got back from a weeks vacation where I hung out with a bunch of Americans. All of them flew out of cities that were a little closer to the destination than mine. Our flight was direct, and 4 1/2 hours. With one exception, it took all of them at least 12 hrs to get there. That one exception drove from Buffalo to Toronto and flew direct. Why do they do it, and more importantly, why do you put up with it?

Because it's cheaper than direct, and generally there are more choices for departure and arrival times, although perhaps not in your case.

Price can be a big part of it. I live near a city that usually scores #1 for most expensive airfare. I can drive a couple hours, catch a flight (that goes back to my home airport), then get on another plane, and save hundreds of dollars.

Population density could be another issue. The hub spoke system in the US tends to lead to smaller cities not getting as many direct flights as bigger ones. Canada having fewer cities, I would assume if you are near one, you are more likely to have a direct flight, especially if you are going to a "vacation destination"

Because bosses don't often care if ya spend all day Sunday getting somewhere for Monday AM as long as the flight he is paying for is cheap.

Because their wife isn't a flight attendant.

I flew to Minneapolis a month or so ago, and if I had wished to save $150, I could have flown Saskatoon-Denver-Fort Worth-Minneapolis, 3 different carriers. 13 hours, as opposed to 115 minutes.

I've got much better things to do than save $100 that way.

I understand driving to get a cheaper rate. The closest major hub is philly, it is also one of the most expensive airports to fly into or out of. less than 2 hours from me is JFK, Newark, and BWI.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I've got much better things to do than save $100 that way.

Sometimes the difference is huge though. If it comes to a couple hundred its a no-brainer but when you have 5 guys flying to a customer on a Sunday (so arrival is irrelevant) paying an extra $600 each isn't something my company is going to approve.

I have 4 major airports within 2 hrs of me. I often can drive the extra 2 hours to get a direct flight and save 4 or more hours off the entire trip typically for same or less money.

Real examples include me needing to drive 45 minutes to Cleveland for a 7am flight that plans to stop in Detroit then leaving Detroit at Noon for my real destination. It takes me 2 hrs to just drive to Detroit and start there.

I live 10 minutes away from FLL, 45 minutes from MIA. Prices for flights are almost always cheaper out of MIA, if you can deal with the aggravation. It's really bad.

I thought of cost first, and location second, but almost all of them were from either Boston or NYC, and the prices they were paying were really high.

eastsidemav wrote: Price can be a big part of it. I live near a city that usually scores #1 for most expensive airfare. I can drive a couple hours, catch a flight (that goes back to my home airport), then get on another plane, and save hundreds of dollars.

yup... we ran into this a lot with the mission trip last year... our family had to fly to panama... with where we are we've got 3 major airports atlanta is the closest... then 2 others that are a few hrs further out...

atlanta was $$$$ compared to the others... so played with flying out of the other 2 locations... you could goto one then it would fly you to the other airport (with a bit of layover) and then fly you to your location... but it cost hundreds more (per person) to just drive right to the 2nd airport and fly direct... and because of how the system is run you can't buy a ticket from airport 1 and board from airport 2...

in the end shopping around to different airports can save THOUSANDS of dollars when it comes to flying your family out on a trip... I used a bunch of the different "trip planning" web sights and ended up using the companies own web page vs the 3rd party... same price or less every time

For me, not many direct flights out of Tulsa except to places like Dallas/Vegas/NYC/Chicago.

The people that perhaps could have best answered your question were gathered together last week

None of them had any idea why it was like that. They were really surprised that we've never had a stopover. I figured somebody in the industry might be on here, and know.

also, with united/continental's new silly policy, you get one point for each leg, rather than a point each way, so you get to Elite status quicker taking trips with layovers.

I recently went to Vegas with 7 others. I played trip planner.

Everyone I talked to said fly out of Buffalo, not Toronto. Not true as it turned out - better prices and flight times out of T.O. Neither flight was direct. Flight in was Toronto-Cleveland-Vegas. Makes sense Continental has a hub in Cleveland and it is more or less on the way. Return flight was really United (booked as Continental) - Vegas-San Fran-Toronto - What??? Fly 2 hrs west to fly 5 hrs east? Direct flights were more than twice the price. 4 days in Vegas for $600 CAD or $1200 CAD, you choose.!

They want you to fly into a hub, so that the planes going out of the hubs are full. The flights leaving Cleveland and San Fran were packed.

Also depends on the airline. In the North East, if you fly delta, you are flying into Detroit.

I often compare prices for trips that include an additional stop. For instance, I just flew from Austin to Pittsburgh last weekend. If I selected Austin-Memphis-Pittsburgh I could go round trip for $400. So I plugged in a new destination near Pittsburgh; Franklin Regional Airport. It took me Austin-Houston-Pittsburgh-Franklin for $289 round trip. So, I just took the $289 flight and never got on the second plane.

curtis73 wrote: It took me Austin-Houston-Pittsburgh-Franklin for $289 round trip. So, I just took the $289 flight and never got on the second plane.

that works fine as long as you don't have any checked bags... may be less of an issue if its all national flights but international it was a nightmare when we did that...

just another reason to keep your luggage with you when you travel...

Here's another example of stupid airline manuevers:

If you are flying WITHIN the U.S. and live near Memphis (like I used to) you can fly out of Memphis because it's a hub...but you will pay dearly for that "convenience". OR, you can drive to Little Rock, Ar. and save a few hundred dollars...and you will most likely make a stop on the way IN MEMPHIS. (That is, if you are flying east.) Northeast has a near lock on Memphis and as a result there are almost no competing airlines in Memphis...so the fares are skyhigh.

NGTD wrote: They want you to fly into a hub, so that the planes going out of the hubs are full. The flights leaving Cleveland and San Fran were packed.

This. It's also why a ticket at the hub is more expensive. I fly so seldom anymore that I just pay it.

The other weird thing about living in a hub city (at least in Atlanta) is that people in the airport are often shocked to hear you don't have to catch another plane. If I had a dollar for every time someone said, "..wow! I've never met anyone actually from Atlanta before!..", I could buy a used Miata.

Being from Atlanta that means what like 5 people have asked

nocones wrote: Being from Atlanta that means what like 5 people have asked

ROFL! Yeah the Atl Craigslist is becoming a meme, isn't it. They're cheap here, but they ain't that cheap yet..