Hi this is Tutor Nick p and this is Lesson 449.
The title of the lesson today is the difference between
layover, stopover and connection. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here.
When looking at dictionaries, the first two terms you
know, layover and stopover have almost
the same meaning. Yeah. When you look at the definitions of them. It's
really hard to distinguish any difference. Because sometimes I'll get a
student ask what's the difference between these two ?
And you got to look at it again and again. And when you just look at
dictionary definitions you can't see much of a difference.
So let's continue. Both are defined as a short stop,
during a trip , especially during a flight or a brief stay during a journey. That's ...
both of them almost say that. All right. Let's continue.
However airlines have very specific differences
between these two words and it may be important for travelers
to know if they are using a reward ticket. Okay. Now what's a reward ticket ?
A reward ticket could be one that you have earned through
mileage. So if you were lucky enough to be you know, in the
you know a mileage program and you eventually built up enough mileage,
I had that a few times where you could actually get a free flight
and you want to trade that in for a flight. And then you
wanted to have a stopover at another city between that flight. This is where
a big problem could come in. So let's continue. A reward ticket could be one
that you've earned through mileage or offered
or or one offered for giving up a seat for completely booked (flight). Yeah.
This is probably more likely on local flights though where they overbook
and they have a problem. Everybody showed up for the flight. So
there were no no-shows. So they actually have too many people booked
and they have to ask someone to give up a flight,
to give up their seat. And usually they have to offer them something. So they
might give them another free flight. So that
would also be a reward flight in that sense too.
Let's continue. According to airlines, the airline's definition of a layover is a
stop between two flights. Okay. That could be as
short as 30 minutes. Yeah. If there's any stop at all, it's usually at least
30 minutes or up to four hours on a domestic
flight. So if it's within the country and if it's longer than 30 minutes
and you know shorter than four hours then that is actually referred to
simply as a layover. Now to make things more confusing though,
if it's an international flight the time is different.
Or up to 23 hours and 59 minutes or just
under 24 hours. So just less than a day on an international flight
that could still be called a layover. So there's a difference between a domestic
flight and an international flight of what a
layover is. Now the dictionary definitely doesn't talk
about this. All right. Let's continue. Anything longer than that is a stop
over. Okay. So basically I guess if you you
know stay at least a night in a hotel or something that's
usually kind of a stopover. Different airlines have many different
rules if you're allowed to do this with a
reward ticket . So maybe some will allow you
to do it and some won't. If you want a stopover added to
a flight that you are paying directly. Like a cash ticket not a reward ticket
Oh yeah. So for usually there will be an additional charge. So
you'll have to pay more money. Yeah. Almost every airline will ask for some
more money to do that. All right. Let's continue. Now what's a
connection ? A connection usually means one is
changing a vehicle during a long trip. So
thus a connection usually means.. Yeah. If you fly to one
city and you need to change to another plane
to continue on to your destination that
is a connection. And we also use the term connection for...
This also applies to trains and buses as well. So if you were traveling across
the country on a bus and maybe you went to a hub and they
this bus didn't continue on to your destination , you had to switch
to another bus that would also be a connection. So that could be connections
with buses and trains too. So , so connections are clearly different.
And connection applies to all forms of transportation in that
sense. All right. Let's continue. All right. And we just have three
examples of how we use this. All right. Here's number one.
I prefer a direct non-stop flight without any layover. So,
so direct means going directly to the destination and there's
it's non-stop. So it's not stopping anywhere. So you don't have any layovers.
It goes from point A to point B directly. No stops in between. So no
layovers. All right. Number two. On my flight to
Europe, there was a stop in Iceland. I decided to
pay an extra charge for a two-day stopover
in Iceland. So that's the way we would use that. And here's the third one here
I had to deboard the plane and make a connection in LA and catch a
flight to my local city. So maybe the local city
there was no direct flight from a major city you had to
switch to another major city and then they had a shorter flight to a more
local city. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I
hope it's clear. I hope it was very informative Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.