In addition to being cheap, connecting flights sometimes come with free accommodation and free day trips!

With free stopovers at no additional cost, you can add a city (or even a country) to your trip before continuing your journey. Many programs also offer benefits such as free hotel rooms or city tours. Some airlines will even process a visa for you.

Here are a few examples: Air China

Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin or Chongqing

Air China provides free accommodation to international passengers , breakfast and hotel airport transfers, with transfer time ranging from 6 to 30 hours. The service is available at hubs in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing. It also provides up to 24 hours of connectivity to domestic passengers. China Southern Airlines

Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Urumqi, Shenzhen or Dalian

International to international, international to domestic, domestic to international 8≤connection time≤48 hours, conducted in Guangzhou Passengers who are in transit can apply for free transit accommodation on China Southern Airlines.

Wuhan, Shenzhen, and Dalian also have free transit accommodation, but you need to call the local counter to make a reservation. In addition to transit accommodation, Wuhan will also provide "free meal coupons" for transit passengers to collect. Asiana Airlines

Seoul, South Korea

Asiana Airlines offers genuine stopover benefits to passengers transiting through Incheon Airport.

On certain itineraries in the United States and Oceania, passengers who stay in Seoul for less than 24 hours can receive hotel, meals and bus transfer services provided by Asiana Airlines. If you don't qualify, Incheon Airport also offers free tours for passengers with less than 24 hours of connection time.

In addition to offering free travel and free hotels to certain passengers, Asiana Airlines is also partnering with local travel agencies to offer the "Stop & Joy Seoul" stopover promotion for a small fee. These include hotel accommodation, lounge access, duty-free and airport food discounts, and Asiana Airlines award miles. Singapore

Free transit tour at Changi Airport

When transiting in Singapore, you can participate in the "free transit tour" event at Singapore Airport. Transfer passengers whose transfer time is between 5.5 and 24 hours and who meet the entry requirements can participate in this 3-hour "free transfer tour" at the designated registration office at the airport.

Singapore Airlines offers stopover packages of one or two nights starting at just S$41 (approximately US$30), including hotel accommodation. You can choose from nearly 40 hotels, including 40-star hotels, including transfers from the airport.

If you book an upgraded stopover holiday package, you can enter more than 20 attractions across the city, while the two-night stay package includes a day pass to Universal Studios Singapore. Qatar Airways

One-day trip to Doha

It is similar to the one-day trip from Singapore Airport. But the difference is that only passengers flying on Qatar Airways can participate. Moreover, from now on, one-day tours in Doha have begun to charge. The price is approximately RMB 140 per person.

There are 6 time slots every day, first come first served. In addition to basic one-day tours, there are many other one-day tours, which of course also charge a fee. Anyway, 140 yuan is not bad. A one-day trip to Doha is almost enough.

Transit accommodation in Doha

Passengers traveling with Qatar Airways whose transit time in Doha exceeds 12 hours can apply for transit accommodation on the Qatar Airways official website. A four-star hotel costs $23 a night. A five-star hotel costs $28 a night. But the price for two nights will start to get weird, so the most cost-effective option is to book a transit hotel for one night.

Whether it is domestic airlines or foreign airlines, in order to attract passengers to take connecting flights (to promote consumption), they will provide a variety of preferential activities.

Next time you fly, if you are not in a hurry, you might as well try a layover flight and get one more place to visit for free!