Save on travel: How to book two destinations for the price of one

CHICAGO – If you are planning on traveling overseas this fall or for the holidays, you know how expensive it can be.

In a FOX 32 special Money Saver report, we’ll show you how you can add an extra stop to your trip for next to nothing.

From Paris to London to Rome. There’s always so much to see when traveling abroad and usually not enough time — or money — to do it all. Until now.

“We looked at the fare rules for a hundred different airlines and found that 26 allow free stopovers,” said Kevin Brasler, executive editor for Consumers’ Checkbook. Those are the results of a recent survey by Consumers’ Checkbook.

“The difference is instead of doing a long layover, you’re actually baking into the price of your ticket this ability to stop over for four to seven days before you continue on,” Brasler said. “So it really lets you buy two destinations for your vacation for the price of one.”

Brasler says stopover cities are usually going to be where the hub is for that airline.

So let’s say you are taking a trip to Paris. You could also see the sights in Madrid if you schedule a stopover when flying on Iberia.

If you are flying Air Canada, you could wind up with a stopover in Toronto. Taipei is another stopover if you’re flying China Airlines or EVA Air. There’s also Dublin and Dubai depending on which airline you choose.

“Most airlines that do this are either owned outright by their nation’s government or they’re heavily subsidized by their government,” Brasler said.

Brasler says these airlines are usually offering free stopover flights as a way to increase local tourism.

“The most famous is Iceland Air. It’s really responsible for the big tourism in Iceland now,” he said. “Where they started offering this ability to — on your way to some other destination in Europe, you can stop over in Iceland for four or five days without having to pay extra.”

So how exactly do you book a stopover?

“You book these stopovers just like a regular ticket,” Brasler said. “The key is you have to book them on the airline’s website. You’re not going to find these deals on Google Flights, Kayak, or Expedia.”

“Look for the stopover tab at the top of the webpage,” he said. “Some make it tricky. It’s kind of hard to find them. But usually what you’ll see is a separate booking page for stopovers.”

“We did find there are a few airlines you actually have to call in order to make these bookings,” he added.

Now that you are getting two destinations for the price of one, how can you keep your hotel costs down too?

“Some of these airlines, they actually subsidize discounted hotel rates so you can stay for a discount in their home cities,” Brasler said. “And then you continue on your journey without having to book a second ticket.”

If your airline doesn’t offer a hotel discount when traveling internationally, you are not out of luck.

“You can use travel booking sites like Hotels.com or Trivago. If you are going away for an extended period, I like Hotels.com because they have a robust reward program,” said Andrea Woroch, consumer finance expert.

Woroch adds you should check other booking sites to see what rewards they have to offer as well as hotel reviews.

When it comes to seeing the sights for little to nothing, she said, “You can run a simple Google search with the city name and the term ‘free things to do.’”

Woroch also suggests checking out GPSMyCity.com for free walking tours abroad and to check with your hotel for local meal deals.