Originally Posted by
krazykanuck
Man that is quite the ordeal, but a cool story since it's not like you HAD to be somewhere on the other side of the Pacific. When I flew the Hopper a couple weeks ago everything went smoothly. Though it sure does tell you something when they fly a second set of pilots and a mechanic.
You raise a point I think is very central to the issue of Island Hopper reliability/IRROPS, but did NOT apply to me. For me this was a trip for fun, but the Island Hopper isn't specifically a touristy flight: it's the Marshall Islands and Micronesia's lifeline. As the Airways article on it in 1998 put it, "bringing the mail in and sick patients out." People going to family weddings or funerals, business travelers, the like. There is no other flight most of the time for most of these islands. So when the Island Hopper runs really late it really can hurt others, even if I was able to take the delays in stride.