Four airlines that fly out of Canada will let you break a trip to Latin America at their hub and stay there for nothing extra on the airfare. The published windows range from 24 hours in Bogota to 15 days in Panama City, a difference of fifteen to one. For anyone flying south to see family, that is the difference between an airport hotel and a second holiday.
The trip is familiar to a few hundred thousand households in Canada. Once a year, or once every two years, you fly to Sao Paulo or Lima or Buenos Aires to see your parents. The ticket is expensive, the flight is long, and the itinerary is built around other people’s calendars. What most travellers do not check is whether the airline will let them stop somewhere on the way at no additional airfare cost.
