Hi all,

I'm in the process of investigating a trip on which I use frequent flyer miles to do the United Micronesia Island hopper. I'm usually pretty good at determining the best option for complex itineraries, but my trip has enough free parameters that I'm struggling to find the most cost effective option.

Most importantly, I'd like to have ~1-3 day stopovers in four countries along the way: Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau and the Philippines. A stop in Guam would be great, but not required. I'd begin in New York or Philadelphia.

So far, I've found the following economy class itinerary:

EWR-HNL-MAJ-KWA-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM for 47.5K United miles

followed by

GUM-ROR-MNL-EWR for another 47.5K United miles

(if I try to add ROR to the first itinerary, it won't allow a lengthy stopover in GUM, for instance.)

My questions are:

(a) Are there better Star Alliance miles to use that allow more stopovers? I know, for example, that ANA miles used to be AMAZING for this type of itinerary, although they recently removed their generous stopover rules. I have plenty of Starwood points and Membership Reward points that could be moved into lesser-known programs.

(b) I have loads of OneWorld miles, as well, and it would be nice to fly business on the longer legs. Would there be a better way to construct this itinerary with NYC/PHL-HNL and MNL-NYC/PHL in Business class and do a one-way trip that stops in MAJ, PNI, ROR and MNL?

(c) Is anyone familiar enough with the scheduling in this part of the world to see if a slightly less than one day layover might be available in GUM (i.e. not an official stopover) so that ROR could be added to the first itinerary at no extra cost?

THANKS!