Originally Posted by
jsloan
The phrase you're looking for is "direct flight with en route stops."
That said, while I agree 100% with your analysis through the end of this year, UA's system is currently showing multiple PQFs for the Island Hopper (6, for the full Hopper). So, it appears that with the switch to PQFs in 2020, UA is making this work the way it arguably should always have worked in the first place.
I must have left Guam a few months too early. First the HNL-GUM flight gets dropped down to 20 Plus Points instead of a GPU, now all segments on the hopper count toward elite status. Now is the time to be a Guam based business traveler.