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UA - LAX-SFO-HIKA-Guam and return via UA Pacific Islands $442 <2.8cps

Old Nov 1, 2017, 8:01 pm
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Last edit by: johnnywho
The fare allows you to travel on the island hopper (UA132/133) westbound and/or eastbound. HKG or MNL are both possible turnarounds and the fare is combinable with NH either way.

Who are going for this run?

UA132
  • Jan 19: westleyl, jayhawk17
  • Mar 18: Mateuszz
  • Mar 31: johnnywho,jetsflier

UA133
  • Jan 21: westleyl, jayhawk17
  • Feb 4: Spectre17, daisyatl
  • Apr 1: johnnywho, jetsflier
  • May 13: sexykitten7
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UA - LAX-SFO-HIKA-Guam and return via UA Pacific Islands $442 <2.8cps

Old Oct 24, 2017, 12:13 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by jetsflier
That was my thinking too, but I figure it's impossible to know when/if such cheap availability on the island hopper will return. I figured I'd jump on the opportunity given the holiday weekend. Let me know if you book for those dates; I'll be there and we can coordinate seat assignments and all if you're interested.
check your messages, I sent you a pm
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Old Oct 24, 2017, 1:28 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by irelayer
My only worry is...what happens if you miss one of those island connections? Do you have to wait until the next day?

-IR
Originally Posted by NecessaryIndulgences
That's not really an issue. You're on the ground for 20-30 minutes tops at each stop. You can't really go anywhere. You've got time to get a passport stamp if you want, use the head, grab a drink from the little gift shop or vending machine, and then re-board the aircraft.

They used to only let half the passengers off at each stop - left side of the aisle or right - but when we went they didn't really enforce this. We got off at every stop except Kwajalein, which is not even a stop on the East-bound flight.

Availability on this $442 fare picks back up again mid-August and continues to EOS if Feb-May doesn't work for you.
You would have to seriously screw up/self-sabotage yourself to miss the flight.

Based on what I have researched when I was looking into this, you cannot really go anywhere other than a limited portion of the airport.

I suppose if you do get yourself "lost" you could get on the next day's flight; whether there will be a financial penalty for "missing" your flight, I have no idea. I'm presuming the gate agent would be seriously questioning any reason or story one could have as the missing pax walks up to the podium and say, sorry I missed my flight (considering it is the exact same plane that brought the pax in).

Somewhere in the UA island hopper thread there have been some ancedotal evidence it can be done. It's been a while since I read it.
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Old Oct 24, 2017, 1:55 pm
  #33  
 
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Too bad there isn't a fare ex-NYC...
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Old Oct 25, 2017, 2:24 am
  #34  
 
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i did the westbound island hopper a couple years ago. i got off the plane at the first stop (Majuro), went through customs and ended up outside the airport. i took a couple pictures and tried to get back to the gate. the security area was closed and locked! i started to panic when nobody showed up. i asked around and they said just wait, somebody would come but NOBODY did. i was getting worried that the flight would take off without me. and the thing about the island hopper is that it only makes this trip every few days so if i had missed the flight, i would have been stranded for a couple of days! finally, after what seemed like forever, i found somebody who worked for united and she got security to reopen the gate. let's just say i didn't leave the plane on any of the rest of the stops...

Originally Posted by luv2ctheworld
You would have to seriously screw up/self-sabotage yourself to miss the flight.

Based on what I have researched when I was looking into this, you cannot really go anywhere other than a limited portion of the airport.

I suppose if you do get yourself "lost" you could get on the next day's flight; whether there will be a financial penalty for "missing" your flight, I have no idea. I'm presuming the gate agent would be seriously questioning any reason or story one could have as the missing pax walks up to the podium and say, sorry I missed my flight (considering it is the exact same plane that brought the pax in).

Somewhere in the UA island hopper thread there have been some ancedotal evidence it can be done. It's been a while since I read it.
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Old Oct 25, 2017, 2:33 pm
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by jayhawk17
i did the westbound island hopper a couple years ago. i got off the plane at the first stop (Majuro), went through customs and ended up outside the airport. i took a couple pictures and tried to get back to the gate. the security area was closed and locked! i started to panic when nobody showed up. i asked around and they said just wait, somebody would come but NOBODY did. i was getting worried that the flight would take off without me. and the thing about the island hopper is that it only makes this trip every few days so if i had missed the flight, i would have been stranded for a couple of days! finally, after what seemed like forever, i found somebody who worked for united and she got security to reopen the gate. let's just say i didn't leave the plane on any of the rest of the stops...
wow that sounded scary! the last thing I'd want is to be stuck like that. Glad it worked out in the end!
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Old Oct 25, 2017, 9:14 pm
  #36  
 
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The return is on UA133, which only has 3 stops, I'd recommend UA155 on Monday or Friday with 5 stops.

edit: Look into this fare KLE0ZMM2 a little bit, it's actually a LAX-HKG fare with connection in GUM when coming back. UA116 HKG-GUM only fly on 1356 and you will miss UA155 GUM-HNL which fly on 1,5(full 5 stops),3(4 stops). So the only IH option for this fare is UA133 on Sunday with 3 stops.

Last edited by gokeeper; Oct 25, 2017 at 10:44 pm
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Old Oct 25, 2017, 10:04 pm
  #37  
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Originally Posted by NecessaryIndulgences
That's not really an issue. You're on the ground for 20-30 minutes tops at each stop. You can't really go anywhere. You've got time to get a passport stamp if you want, use the head, grab a drink from the little gift shop or vending machine, and then re-board the aircraft.

They used to only let half the passengers off at each stop - left side of the aisle or right - but when we went they didn't really enforce this. We got off at every stop except Kwajalein, which is not even a stop on the East-bound flight.

Availability on this $442 fare picks back up again mid-August and continues to EOS if Feb-May doesn't work for you.
It used to be a lot nicer back in the mid-90s with CO when they had the 727, I think it was, and were a lot more casual about getting out and walking around at stops except for KWA and Johnston Island (no one allowed off there except those bound for there). My first exposure was on a trip to MNL as the final destination where I was stuck overnight in GUM either way so I booked myself into the Island Hopper.

Pohnpei inspired me the most, with Majuro #2 and Kosrae #3 . Would go visit all of 'em on subsequent trips out of MNL on 25K awards using stopovers to see 2 places (and maybe 24 hrs in GUM) rather than one.

Pohnpei was kinda neat because you could see the rock (Sokeh's), and at the time they had Coke II, which was one of the last holdouts of the "new" Coke formula. It also looked strangely frozen in time from 1979-ish.

After 9/11 the flight really was kinda miserable, as you were put in a small holding-pen room at PNI and not allowed to go anywhere.

Other adventures in 5-6 trips on the IH included having to miss an island because of storms that wouldn't lift (they circled but had to give up and move on) and an ear-popping aborted landing. Did later visits of at least 3 days to MAJ, KSA, PNI, YAP (once for Yap Day, highly recommended), and ROR, and of course GUM. Couldn't get excited enough about TRK or KWA/Ebeye.

It sounds like a form of torture to get a fare like that and not be able to stop over anywhere and strictly to have to do it as a turn (especially in this age of diminished RDMs), but hopefully uall at least get to walk around and see enough to get motivated like I did.
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Old Oct 25, 2017, 10:49 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by 764toHI
Too bad there isn't a fare ex-NYC...
There is a $650 fare ex EWR.

Code:
     AL FLGT  BK   DATE  TIME  FARE BASIS      NVB  NVA   BG                    
 NYC                                                                            
XSFO UA  1483 K *  02FEB 0600  KLW0ZTM2        02FEB02FEB 0P                    
XHKG UA   869 K *  02FEB 1315  KLW0ZTM2        02FEB02FEB 0P                    
XGUM UA   116 K *  03FEB 2355  KLW0ZTM2        03FEB03FEB 0P                    
XHNL UA   133 K *  04FEB 0820  KLW0ZTM2        04FEB04FEB 0P                    
XLAX UA  1221 K *  04FEB 1153  KLW0ZTM2        04FEB04FEB 0P                    
 NYC UA  1882 K *  04FEB 2335  KLW0ZTM2        04FEB04FEB 0P
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 2:35 am
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by gokeeper
The return is on UA133, which only has 3 stops, I'd recommend UA155 on Monday or Friday with 5 stops.

edit: Look into this fare KLE0ZMM2 a little bit, it's actually a LAX-HKG fare with connection in GUM when coming back. UA116 HKG-GUM only fly on 1356 and you will miss UA155 GUM-HNL which fly on 1,5(full 5 stops),3(4 stops). So the only IH option for this fare is UA133 on Sunday with 3 stops.
You're absolutely right about UA133 only making 3 stops, but I couldn't find the same fare for UA155. Nor was I able to include a stopover in HKG and/or GUM.

I would love to spend 1-2 days in either place.

I tried to use matrix, but I couldn't even find the same flights jetsflyer found on gf.

So if anybody has suggestions with a stopover in either Guam or HKG, I'd be up for it.

Last edited by johnnywho; Oct 26, 2017 at 3:41 am Reason: additional comment
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 9:10 am
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by johnnywho
You're absolutely right about UA133 only making 3 stops, but I couldn't find the same fare for UA155. Nor was I able to include a stopover in HKG and/or GUM.

I would love to spend 1-2 days in either place.

I tried to use matrix, but I couldn't even find the same flights jetsflyer found on gf.

So if anybody has suggestions with a stopover in either Guam or HKG, I'd be up for it.
Not for HKG fare, as I explained in earlier post UA116 run on 1356 arrive HKG on 2,4,6,7, so the only possible connection to IH will be UA133 on Sunday, not UA155 on 1,3,5.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:52 am
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by gokeeper
Not for HKG fare, as I explained in earlier post UA116 run on 1356 arrive HKG on 2,4,6,7, so the only possible connection to IH will be UA133 on Sunday, not UA155 on 1,3,5.
As I said earlier my skills are pretty limited when it comes to using matrix.
I wish I could find the same fare on any of the island hoppers. I don't even care too much about the direction (going east or west) or the number of stops (of course more would be better). I'd be happy if I wouldn't have to do an immediate turn-around and get to spend some time in either Guam and/or HKG. My dates are quite flexible, pretty much anytime between March 25 and April 5.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 12:37 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by johnnywho
I'd be happy if I wouldn't have to do an immediate turn-around and get to spend some time in either Guam and/or HKG.
As stated previously, this is a HKG fare. You cannot stop at GUM without breaking the fare. Must continue within 24 hours and as gokeeper explained, that's a real problem (only 2 flights work).

Presumably, you can spend as long as you want in HKG. The problem is searching LAX-HKG RT doesn't pull up any IH routings. In theory you should be able to stitch together any outbound set of K flights with any return. But you might have to play around with dates in multicity, probably LAX-HKG-GUM-LAX. Personally I'd use GF, not ITA as it's faster.

Update: I just tried 2 sample dates and could not pull up the fare. Often when you specify intermediary points you lose the cheap fares due to married segment logic Much like the new award engine, you had to take the routing they give you!
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Last edited by sexykitten7; Oct 27, 2017 at 12:48 pm Reason: update
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 3:29 pm
  #43  
 
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Exclamation

I just booked this fare for $415(!) from 1/19/18 - 1/21/18.

LAX-SFO-HKG-GUM-TKK-PNI-MAJ-HNL-LAX


https://www.google.com/flights/#sear..._ALLIANCE;eo=e

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fli...ndorQuery=True

Last edited by westleyl; Oct 27, 2017 at 3:37 pm Reason: Clarify details.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 7:37 pm
  #44  
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Originally Posted by westleyl
I just booked this fare for $415(!) from 1/19/18 - 1/21/18.

LAX-SFO-HKG-GUM-TKK-PNI-MAJ-HNL-LAX


https://www.google.com/flights/#sear..._ALLIANCE;eo=e

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fli...ndorQuery=True
Base fare of $323.60 / 15,725 miles = $0.021/mile!

Awesome!

David
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 8:04 pm
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by sexykitten7

Presumably, you can spend as long as you want in HKG. The problem is searching LAX-HKG RT doesn't pull up any IH routings. In theory you should be able to stitch together any outbound set of K flights with any return. But you might have to play around with dates in multicity, probably LAX-HKG-GUM-LAX. Personally I'd use GF, not ITA as it's faster.

Update: I just tried 2 sample dates and could not pull up the fare. Often when you specify intermediary points you lose the cheap fares due to married segment logic Much like the new award engine, you had to take the routing they give you!
Stop in HKG is possible, just little bit extra tax.
Code:
     AL FLGT  BK   DATE  TIME  FARE BASIS      NVB  NVA   BG                    
 LAX                                                                            
XSFO UA   708 K    15JAN 1030  KLE0ZBM9        15JAN15JAN 1P                    
 HKG UA   869 K    15JAN 1315  KLE0ZBM9        15JAN15JAN 1P                    
XGUM UA   116 K    20JAN 2355  KLE0ZBM9        20JAN20JAN 1P                    
XHNL UA   133 K    21JAN 0820  KLE0ZBM9        21JAN21JAN 1P                    
 LAX UA  1231 K    21JAN 0705  KLE0ZBM9        21JAN21JAN 1P                    
                                                                                
USD   261.00      15JAN18LAX UA X/SFO UA HKG130.50UA X/GUM                      
CAD   332.00      UA X/HNL UA LAX130.50USD261.00END                             
CAD     7.00YC    XT CAD 22.92US CAD 5.04XA CAD 8.91XY CAD                      
CAD    22.92US    8.91XY CAD 79.70YQ CAD 21.39AY CAD 19.58HK                    
CAD   194.21XT    CAD 14.69G3 CAD 7.34I5 CAD 5.73XF SFO4.50                     
CAD   556.13                                                                    
RATE USED 1USD=1.273279CAD
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