When you buy an airline ticket, you can turn the burden of a connection into a serious opportunity for adventure and fun with just a little bit of know how. The 24 hour rule is a simple and easy trick to stretch your buck (and Instagram photos) a bit further by finding flights which give you the most time possible in a city, along the way. Basically, you’re allowed to spend up to 23 hours and 59 minutes, which can be an afternoon, evening and morning without paying a bit more, you just have to build it...
Searching Is Easy.
If the best priced ticket already includes a connection in a city you want to visit, half the work is already done, you’ll just need to learn to stretch it. If it does not, you’ll need to see which cities you may be able to stop in along the way by checking which airlines operate the route you’ll fly, and figuring out where you could stop along the way, notably where there hubs are. Hubs are another word for connections you can create…
How To Create The 23:59 Connection…
To build or “force” a longer connection, you’ll want to book a “multi city” ticket instead of your usual round trip. You’ll get the same price, but booking multi city puts you in control of each individual segment, rather than just getting whatever connection the airline computer spits out.
Creating The Multi City Itinerary…
Once you’ve pulled up the multi city booking tool, rather than round trip, you will input each segment of your desired trip individually. For the first segment you’ll enter your departure point to the place you want to stop along the way for up to 23:59 hours. Next, you’ll enter the stopping point to the destination. For the next line, the destination back to the same or a different stopping point, and finally, the stopping point back to your departure point.
Is 23:59 Worth it? Seems Too Short…
Don’t think hours, think days. If you land in a city at noon on a Wednesday, you have until 11:59AM the NEXT DAY to leave, without paying more. Many cities can be done in just a day, and even if you can’t conquer a city, it’s nice to get a feel and decide whether it’s worth returning to. Hey, it’s free, and if you were going to have a connection anyway, or just wanted to stretch your travel dollars, it’s pretty hard to argue with lunch, dinner, a nights stay and drinks and then breakfast in a great destination…
