Stopovers and open jaws on award tickets, by program

The clause table: what each program's own text says

Three of the five documents state a maximum stay: 45 days at Aeroplan, 30 days at KrisFlyer and 14 days on the Atmos award chart page. Delta's rules give no stopover allowance for award travel, and Virgin Atlantic's terms mention stopovers only to say that points are charged per sector, so neither states a maximum stay. The cells below stay inside what each document says. Where a document is quiet, the last column says so, and the answer then has to come from the booking screen. A United flight booked with Aeroplan points follows the Aeroplan row, which is how booking United flights with partner miles treats it.

Stopover or connection: where each document draws the line

Whether a long wait is a stopover depends on a threshold, and the two programs that print one use the same two numbers. KrisFlyer defines a stopover as "a connection above four hours in an itinerary within or between the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico or U.S. Virgin Islands, or a connection above 24 hours in all other itineraries." Aeroplan's connecting-time section sets the same pair as the longest permitted connection: 4 hours between Canada or the United States and Canada or the United States "unless otherwise permitted", and 24 hours for Canada or the United States to international, international to Canada or the United States, and international to international. Past the limit, Aeroplan says, the award can split into separate directions of travel or an Aeroplan stopover can be triggered.

Aeroplan writes that limit for "flight reward reservations booked via the Aeroplan Contact Centre", and the section does not say whether the website applies the same limits. Its worked example A prices Victoria to Vancouver to Toronto to Paris with waits of 15 and 23 hours, and the labels fit the clock: a 0 to 500 mile North America award for the first flight, then a 4,001 to 6,000 mile North America to Atlantic award, which the flown distances (39 miles, then 5,820) match. A 15-hour wait inside Canada reads as a direction break, and a 23-hour international wait does not. On that reading, a wait of more than 4 hours inside Canada or the United States splits the award, and a stopover is not permitted in either country, so a long domestic layover cannot double as a stopover. The round the world on Aeroplan points guide uses the same clock to cut a world loop into directions.

For the other three programs the documents leave the threshold to the booking tool. The Delta rules limit the number of connections and give no length: "Award Travel is limited to two connections per origin and destination for domestic travel and three connections for international travel." Virgin Atlantic's clause pairs "connecting flight or stopover" without defining either, and Atmos uses "enroute stopover" without a threshold. For those three, the booking screen is the only place a long layover shows how it is treated.

Aeroplan: the stopover is a price line, and the band follows the miles flown

Aeroplan's policy prints worked itineraries with their pricing labels, and the labels say which distance picked each band. Recomputing the flown distance of every example from airport coordinates (great-circle miles, haversine formula, R = 3,958.8 miles, coordinates from the OurAirports public-domain airport file) shows that in the worked itineraries of sections 5 and 6 the label matches the miles flown through every stop, not the straight line from start to finish. The one example that does not is the section 7 routing exception, where flights of 497, 508 and 240 miles (1,245 in all) are labelled 0 to 500 under the policy's exceptions "for travel between an origin and destination which are close in non-stop distance". The chart footnote agrees with the rule: points are based on the actual distance flown between the two cities.

The sharpest case is the first direction of example 5.2: Seattle to Toronto to Abu Dhabi to Hong Kong, with seven days in Abu Dhabi, labelled "North America to Pacific (11,001+ miles)". The flown route is about 12,698 miles, while the straight line from Seattle to Hong Kong is about 6,488 miles, a distance that sits in the 5,001 to 7,500 band. On the chart dated 2026-08, economy on the "all other partners" row is 50,000 points in that lower band and 70,000 in the 11,001 and over band, so the routing moves the base price by 20,000 points before any stopover fee. The other examples agree: 5.1 (Ottawa to Istanbul through Montreal and Frankfurt) flies about 4,873 miles against a 4,855 straight line and is labelled 4,001 to 6,000; the return of 5.2 flies about 10,931 miles and is labelled 7,501 to 11,000; the open-jaw example 5.3 flies about 6,848 outbound and 6,304 back, both labelled 6,001 to 8,000.

Three limits shape every Aeroplan multi-stop award, and the round the world on Aeroplan points guide works through them for a loop. A reservation holds 1 to 6 directions, up to 6 segments per direction and 12 in all. Routing may not exceed twice the non-stop distance for a given direction, and backtracking within a direction via the same connecting airport, city or country is barred. And a direction with both ends in one zone cannot connect through a third: section 8 says "connecting via a third travel zone is not permitted", while section 9 lets two-zone trips connect through a third "if it meets the other conditions". Mixed cabins price per direction, at the highest class of service flown in that direction. Waitlisting is not permitted, and "All Flight Reward reservations are subject to approval by Aeroplan and the operating airline(s) on the itinerary", which matters because a multi-segment award needs every segment confirmed at once. The Aeroplan partner awards with bank points guide covers the partner list and the cash side.

KrisFlyer: stopovers handed out by award type, with a 30-day cliff

KrisFlyer's stopover rule is a table of counts. Under the heading "Award Ticket and Redemption Ticket - Calculation Rules", the terms give the allowance by ticket type for Singapore Airlines awards: a Saver award gets "No stopover" one-way and "1 stopover" round-trip; an Advantage award gets 1 one-way and 2 round-trip; Access Redemption tickets match Advantage. The 30-day line sits in the next clause, which points back to the table: "Subject to sub-clause (c), complimentary stopovers are only permitted for durations of up to 30 days." The same clause adds "Paid stopovers are not permitted for tickets issued after 1 August 2022." For tickets issued on or after that date, "Two separate redemption bookings will be required for stopovers of more than 30 days". So the Aeroplan option of staying 45 days on one award has no KrisFlyer equivalent, and a longer stay is two bookings by rule, not by choice.

Because the allowance rides on the award type, the stopover can be the reason to look at the Advantage price. A one-way Saver award has no stopover and a one-way Advantage award has one. The guide to Southeast Asia on points works through that trade for Singapore. The terms define the two tiers only as awards "which may be redeemed using KrisFlyer miles on the terms set out in award charts published on singaporeair.com.sg", so the price gap lives in the chart, not in the terms.

Star Alliance partner awards sit under section J and are stricter. "One complimentary en route stopover is permitted for round-trip awards, unless otherwise stated below." "Complimentary stopovers are not permitted for one-way awards." A one-way award at half the round-trip price applies only "provided there is no stopover included in the one-way award itinerary". Complimentary stopovers are also barred "in a purely domestic itinerary, or within the country of departure in an international itinerary", if the itinerary "contains only European cities", and between the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Section J defines a stopover with the same 4-hour and 24-hour line quoted earlier. Ticketing matters too: "Award travel on Singapore Airlines and Star Alliance partners can be ticketed as one itinerary. Award travel on all other participating airlines must be ticketed separately."

Open jaws are narrower than on Aeroplan. For a Star Alliance round trip, "One origin or destination open-jaw is permitted", with examples such as Singapore to San Francisco out and Los Angeles to Singapore back, and "Open-jaws are permitted across different award zones but the higher award level will apply." But "En route open-jaws are not permitted", so the open jaw is a feature of the two ends of the trip and never of the middle. Side trips are not permitted either: "A separate award ticket is required for a side trip." Backtracking is barred, with the line "Travel must be made via the most direct route."

KrisFlyer also states the two-awards workaround in so many words: "If a member wishes to claim an award for an itinerary that is not available on the award chart, he or she may combine two or more redemptions to do so." Section J caps a Star Alliance itinerary at six travel segments. The round-the-world award has ended for new tickets: the terms say "Round The World Awards will not be available for ticketing via Singapore Airlines from 1 May 2024. Award tickets issued before 1 May 2024 will remain valid."

Delta, Virgin Atlantic and Atmos: three documents that say less

Delta's open-jaw sentence is the most useful thing in its rules, and it is short: "All open jaw itineraries will be priced based on One-Way Award Travel pricing rules." The rules text prints no award chart, so the sentence does not predict a number. It does say how the booking will be priced: each direction of an open jaw is a one-way award, priced the way any one-way is. The same rules section says "Routing restrictions apply for Award Travel. Valid routings vary based on the operating carriers of the Award Ticket. Any exceptions or variations to these routings may require additional mileage for the Award." Stopovers come up in two places in the document, and neither is an award allowance: the Pay with Miles clause says "Open jaw, routing, stopover and ticket validity rules for Pay with Miles tickets are determined by the fare rules of the ticket purchased.", and the Mileage Upgrade Awards clause says "Any stopovers are governed by the fare rule, and additional mileage will be required for broken fares." Whether a plain SkyMiles award can carry a stopover is a question for the search tool, and Delta flights with bank points covers how that search behaves.

Delta's change rule matters for anyone trying an open jaw: "Except as mentioned below, for travel originating from the United States and Canada to anywhere in the world (including flights operated by joint venture and codeshare partners), Members may change the origin, destination, routing, date, and time, or cancel Award tickets for travel without a redeposit or change fee, excluding Delta Basic experience fares for which a change fee will apply if changes are permitted." The next sentence adds "Mileage difference, taxes and fees apply for any changes." For some travel originating outside the United States and Canada, the rules say restrictions vary and tickets may be non-cancelable or changeable for a fee.

Virgin Atlantic's rule is one clause in the current terms: "Partner Airline Reward Flights are valid for one way or round-trip travel, if a journey requires a connecting flight or stopover to reach the destination, Virgin Points are charged for each sector. Any exclusions can be found on the VAA website via the partner page." The edition effective until 29 October 2024 (clause 15.1.6) said "In most cases, Partner Airline Reward Flights are valid for one way and round-trip travel between the destinations specified by the Reward Provider as listed on our website. If a journey requires a connecting flight or stopover to reach the destination, Virgin Points are charged for each sector." The 2024 edition drops "in most cases" and the Reward Provider wording, and adds the pointer to the partner page; the per-sector charge is unchanged. The terms do not define a sector, so a connection on one ticket could be read as one sector or several. On the Delta partner page the chart states that "All mileage is for a one-way ticket" and that "Redemptions can only be made on Delta Air Lines operated flights including Delta Connection® services." The terms do not say which distance band a stopover sector takes. Virgin Atlantic points on Delta flights sets out that chart. Virgin's own flights are described separately, as "one way or return Reward seats", and neither edition of the terms mentions open-jaw or multi-city awards.

Atmos Rewards words its rule as a permission rather than a guarantee. The terms list the shapes an award may take: "a one-way, round-trip or open jaw itinerary". Multi-city is not on that list. The stopover sentence reads "One enroute stopover at an eligible city may be allowed for each one-way award on eligible international itineraries", plus an open-jaw exception for travel between Alaska and the lower 48 states with a stopover in Southeast Alaska, and "When award travel is redeemed solely on Alaska Airlines, one enroute stopover is allowed for each one-way award." The saved award chart page adds the numbers the terms omit: "One (1) enroute stopover of up to 14 days is allowed per one-way on eligible international itineraries. On a roundtrip international itinerary two (2) stopovers are permitted with one (1) in each direction of travel." That page also prints the partner fee, "a $12.50 (USD) nonrefundable fee will be collected per person, each way", on itineraries with one or more partner segments. The terms say "may be allowed" and name no list of eligible cities, so the list is another thing only a search can show. Atmos Rewards points from bank transfers has the chart.

What an open jaw changes in the price

An open jaw swaps one of the two ends of a round trip: fly into one city, leave from another. Three of the five documents show how it is priced. Aeroplan prices each direction against the chart separately, as example 5.3 shows (the outbound and the return are separate cells, 6,001 to 8,000 miles each). Delta writes the rule outright: one-way pricing. KrisFlyer prices a Star Alliance round-trip award at the higher of the zone levels when the ends are in different zones. Virgin Atlantic's terms and Atmos's terms and chart page publish no pricing sentence for it. An open jaw therefore prices as the sum of its directions on Delta (the sentence is printed) and on Aeroplan (read from the policy's per-direction examples, not a printed open-jaw rule), and as one round-trip award at the higher level on KrisFlyer.

What the open jaw buys is the missing ground leg. A trip into Frankfurt and out of Vienna removes the train or flight back, which belongs to the cost of the trip even though it is not on the award. Aeroplan's distance rules cut both ways here: because each direction is priced by its own flown miles, ending in a different city can move the return into a different band, up or down, and the booking screen shows the points for the actual routing.

Two catches apply to the open jaw and not to a plain round trip. On Aeroplan the open jaw cannot be at a stopover point, since "travel must continue with a departure from the previous arrival city", so the city where a stopover happens cannot also be one end of an open jaw. Example 5.3 shows both features in one reservation: the open jaw is between Oslo and Copenhagen, and the stopover is 10 days in Brussels on the way home. On KrisFlyer the open jaw cannot be in the middle at all, and its cabin rules are tied to the highest class on the ticket: "If your itinerary includes bookings in different classes of service, the award level corresponding to the highest class will apply for the whole award ticket." A single business sector on a Star Alliance open-jaw trip therefore prices every sector as business.

One award or two: Boston to Delhi through nine European stops

The test case is a one-way economy trip from Boston (BOS) to Delhi (DEL) with a stay in a European city on the way, flown on partner airlines outside Aeroplan's select list, so the "all other partners" row applies. Air Canada's chart update defines the Atlantic zone as "Europe, Africa, Middle East and India", so Delhi is in the same zone as every stopover city and the whole trip is a North America to Atlantic direction. The nonstop distance is about 7,133 miles, so the twice-nonstop limit is about 14,266 miles. Every routing below flies between 7,402 and 7,909 miles and stays far inside that limit.

Booked as one award, the direction is priced on the flown distance: 7,463 miles through Frankfurt falls in the 6,001 to 8,000 mile band, economy at 60,000 points on the all-other-partners row, plus the stopover fee in points. Booked as two awards, Boston to Frankfurt is a North America to Atlantic award at 3,659 miles, in the 0 to 4,000 band, at 32,500 points, and Frankfurt to Delhi is a within-Atlantic award at 3,804 miles, in the 2,001 to 4,000 band, at 30,000 points: 62,500 in all. The difference, 2,500 points, is what the stopover has to cost for the two approaches to tie, and it is small, because the second award is cheap.

The break-even depends on which side of the 4,000-mile line the second flight falls. Amsterdam (3,954 miles from Delhi), Frankfurt (3,804) and Zurich (3,820) leave the second award in the 2,001 to 4,000 band at 30,000 points, so all three break even at 2,500. London (4,183), Paris (4,080) and Madrid (4,508) are past 4,000 miles from Delhi, so the second award is 42,500 and the break-even is 15,000. Vienna, Istanbul and Rome are past 4,000 miles from Boston instead, which lifts the first award to 42,500 and gives a break-even of 12,500. Paris clears the line by 80 miles and Amsterdam stays under it by 46, so a few miles of airport-reference data decide a 12,500-point difference.

The one-award price stays at 60,000 for all nine because the total flown distance stays between 6,001 and 8,000 miles. Madrid's 7,909 miles is the closest to the upper line, 91 miles under it; a routing flown past 8,000 miles would move the single award to 75,000 points. On the "starting at" prices of the Air Canada and select partner row the one-award price is 55,000 and the break-evens are 2,500 for Frankfurt, 13,000 for London and 12,500 for Vienna; Aeroplan says "Starting at" amounts are not guaranteed with all carriers, so the all-other-partners column is the one a booking can be held to.

The cash and the paperwork that follow the number of tickets

Points are only part of the difference. Aeroplan charges its partner booking fee "per ticket": "a $39 CAD partner booking fee will apply, per ticket" when any flight is operated by an airline other than Air Canada and its listed brands. One award is one ticket and one fee, CAD 39; two awards are two tickets and CAD 78, so the second award adds CAD 39 before taxes. The award taxes and carrier surcharges guide explains the rest of the cash line, and the policy notes that the cash amounts are quoted and charged in Canadian dollars.

The cancellation and change table works the same way. Fees are "Per direction, per ticket" for changes and "Per ticket" for cancellations, and are charged in Canadian dollars. For the Economy Standard fare option the table lists a change fee of $75 on aircanada.com and $100 through the Contact Centre, and a cancellation fee of $150 on aircanada.com and $175 through the Contact Centre; Flex lists no change fee and $75 or $125 to cancel; the policy adds that the "most restrictive cancellation fee will be assessed if a Flight Reward is reserved using multiple fare options". If both awards carry the Economy Standard fare option, cancelling the one stopover award online costs CAD 150 and cancelling two awards costs CAD 300. Taken with the CAD 39 difference, the single ticket is cheaper in fees by CAD 39 up front and CAD 150 on a cancellation, though a plan to keep the ticket makes the cancellation figure a risk number and not an expected cost. The guide to canceling an award flight covers how cancelling works across programs.

Two awards win on flexibility, not on points. Each can be booked when its own seat appears, in different programs if a different currency fits one half, and the stay in the middle can be any length: the 45-day Aeroplan limit and the 30-day KrisFlyer limit do not apply to a gap between two separate tickets. The cost is the risk of the first half being ticketed while the second half has no seat, and each award is its own reservation, "subject to approval by Aeroplan and the operating airline(s) on the itinerary". A one-award stopover books both halves at once or not at all, and phantom award space is the check to run before moving points for either.

Compare the break-even with what the stay is worth. At a stated target of 1.50 cents per point, the 15,000-point break-even through London is worth $225.00, and the 2,500-point break-even through Frankfurt is worth $37.50. If the stopover charge on the booking screen is below the break-even and the stay is wanted anyway, the single award is the better booking; if it is at or above, book two awards and keep the gap flexible. The long-haul economy playbook prices the same decision with a cash flight as the alternative.

Holding the booking screen against the clause

Start from the program's own screen and work backwards. Whatever the screen shows, the policy's examples define what an Aeroplan quote should consist of: one chart cell per direction, chosen by flown miles, plus a stopover fee in points for each stopover. A total higher than the chart cells you expect points first to the flown distance, as in example 5.2, where a detour moved a direction up a full band.

On KrisFlyer, check the ticket type first. A one-way Saver award has no stopover by rule, and the same trip as a one-way Advantage award is the version that carries one. On Atmos, check the itinerary is international and the city is eligible before assuming the stopover is available; the terms say "may be allowed". On Delta, price the open jaw as two one-ways and compare it with a round trip to the first city. On Virgin Atlantic, price each stop as a sector under clause 17.1.5 and ask Virgin Atlantic what "each sector" means for the booking if the total looks off.

Searching for the seats comes first, as always: searching award availability sets out the order. A stopover is a decision about the trip: the cost of adding a city is a stopover charge, a possibly higher band and a second set of flight availability to match, against the cost of a separate flight or two awards. The Europe on points guide works the Aeroplan Europe case, Japan on points covers ANA's stopover rule for the same decision, and the award booking guides index lists the rest of the booking-step guides.

A stopover or open jaw: what to check first

• Search the program's own multi-city tool and note whether the total includes a separate stopover line.
• Check the stay against the cap: 45 days on Aeroplan, 30 on KrisFlyer, 14 on the Atmos chart page.
• Confirm the stopover city is allowed: not in Canada, the United States or China on Aeroplan.
• Price the same trip as two awards, using the chart cell for each half and the flown miles.
• Find the break-even: two-award points minus the one-award points.
• Add the cash that scales with ticket count: partner booking fees, change and cancellation fees.
• Check that every segment shows a seat on the same screen before moving any points.