Free layover days--which airline?

All airlines have bad reviews including the ones you've heard of or flown with. A "free " layover, is not necessary I have booked separate flights knowing that I should come back in time to catch the flight home that's all. This seemed to be cheaper

Another approach could be to simply book a multi-city/multi leg flights instead of two, separate RT tickets. We done that before with as many as five legs. For example -- Boston to A (stay two nights) then on to B, and then to C and finally home to Boston. Sometimes you can get some savings since everything is basically on one ticket. You have to try all the option because there is no logic to airline fares. This past summer we actually found two, one-way tickets were cheaper than the RT ticket and that was on United. It makes no sense. Run all the options.

I believe Icelandair offers free layovers in Iceland. They fly to Paris and Geneva, but not directly to southern France.

While I'm sure there are bad reviews, I think it's a pretty well regarded airline. Certainly has worked for me when I've used it.

If you hate the anxiety of plane connections, go with the smaller airport. I.e. TAP in your case. And yes, all airlines will have terrible reviews by people being upset after having bought the cheapest possible ticket and realizing they have to pay to change their flight etc.

You don't mention where in France you are going, but from Boston other options are Swiss via Zürich, SAS via Copenhagen and Aer Lingus via Dublin if you are looking for smaller airports for a transfer.

There is a thread on TAP Airline in the Italy Forum (Why Italy? I do not know) and most people have rated it well.

My goodness, Boston is the best -positioned (closest) American airport for getting to Europe. The shortest flights!!

Fly direct to Paris CDG, stay overnight, and then take the train down to southern France the next day. (Most people wouldn’t bother with staying in Paris overnight before heading south but I present it as an option.)

There is no reason to fly completely further south and out of your way, lengthening your travel time, just to avoid the anxiety of making flight connections.

Check out this posting to see if anything works for you
https://pointmetotheplane.boardingarea.com/airlines-free-stopover-programs/?utm_source=BoardingArea&utm_medium=BoardingArea

We actually flew from Boston to Lisbon on TAP and back to Boston on Iberia last year. Both flights were perfectly, 100% fine. No complaints whatsoever.

Maybe if you go looking for bad reviews, you find them.

Many thanks to all who replied. I think we'll go with TAP or Iberia, since these two cities are "on the way" to Marseille, and we've never been to either. A day or so on either end of the vacation will be fun. I've been reassured by your comments and links that either airline will be fine.

Just to clarify: we are not anxious travelers, we've just come to hate the prospects of a big rush to the connecting gate, the possibility of missed flights, or spending hours in an airport (although some can be diverting) waiting for a flight. As we've gotten older, we've found ways of easing some of the more painful aspects of travel, to enhance the pleasures.

Again, thanks for your suggestions!