I think I might have found a way to cruise the hopper on my biz trip to Manila, without breaking the bank. I almost always for for the DEN to NRT leg at the start of any trip to Asia, since that's really the only decent way to go when you're based out of DEN.
So, typically getting on that route both ways will make just about any ticket to Asia at least $1200, since it's such a popular route. From time to time there are good deals for <$1000 but $1200 is my basic budget for a 'good' flight to Asia.
I somehow found a trip that goes DEN-HNL-GUM (on the hopper) then takes that nice NRT route home, and it came in at $1430. Just a couple hundred more which won't be a problem, and a decent itinerary considering the fact I'm squeezing in the hopper for really no reason at all except that I want to check it out.
Here's the
Google Flights link.
Yes, there is that $500 fee for the hopper in the fare, but for some reason I am compelled to go for this trip. I was also considering a mileage run if I wasn't going to make SA Gold this year, and this will take care of that for the not-so-impressive price of .08 CPM!
I'm gonna think about this one for 24 hours then book.