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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 Dec 3, 2017, 10:33 pm
  #106  
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I had given up on this fare, but chose to take another look at it tonight, and I have finally figured out what's been making me crazy about!

Apparently, even though this this is technically a flight to Guam, you cannot stopover on Guam. You must depart within 24 hours.

Please someone correct me, because I feel like I've been eating pot brownies or something.

Another thing is, even though the Island Hopper flights on Sunday trigger the fare, you can also take the non-stop GUM-HNL, which, uhm, might be better for me. Haven't thought that far in advance.

But if I can't stopover in GUM, it's moot to me, as that's where I want to go.
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Old Dec 3, 2017, 10:56 pm
  #107  
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Originally Posted by In The 216
Any anecdotal evidence of upgrade probability on UA155; particularly for a 1K?
I flew the Island Hopper as a CO plat back when it was an Air Mike route, and it was "forget it". Each segment had to clear, or none would.

I have no idea how these flights are treated now, that's just my experience from when I was younger and the world was nicer.
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Old Dec 4, 2017, 12:24 pm
  #108  
 
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Read the thread plz ;)

Originally Posted by notsosmart
Apparently, even though this this is technically a flight to Guam, you cannot stopover on Guam. You must depart within 24 hours.
As noted several times at the top of the thread, this is a HKG fare.
Originally Posted by notsosmart
But if I can't stopover in GUM, it's moot to me, as that's where I want to go.
It may be possible for a fee.
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Old Dec 4, 2017, 12:34 pm
  #109  
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Originally Posted by sexykitten7
As noted several times at the top of the thread, this is a HKG fare.
See? That's the power of suggestion. I had started reading originally and had convinced myself that it was a Guam fare. Not until last night did I notice that it specifically states "no stopovers in Guam" in the rules.

Originally Posted by sexykitten7
It may be possible for a fee.
The fee appears to range between $1800 and $2500

If someone can come up with a different fee option (say, $200) I'm all ears (well, eyes).
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Old Dec 9, 2017, 5:36 pm
  #110  
 
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Just thought I'd update everyone regarding a change in my itinerary. I logged onto my reservation to double check that my island hopper hadn't been switched with the nonstop flight; it hadn't. However, my LAX-SFO flight had been moved up by nearly two hours.

Once I accepted the changes, it flipped my flights around, making my SFO-HKG flight come before the LAX-SFO one. I called and the agent said it was a strange occurrence. He offered to put me on the flight from LAX to HNL with continuing service to GUM. I accepted it primarily because it gave me the ability to spend a night in Guam before heading back.

Since this was something many people asked about, I figured I'd let you all know here. If UA changes your outbound, try calling them and they may be able to switch it and give you a brief 14 hour layover in Guam - better than 2 hours for sure! For MRers, this probably isn't the best change, but for those of you that aren't doing this for the miles like I am, I'd consider it!
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Old Jan 2, 2018, 6:20 pm
  #111  
 
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Can't select seats

Online the seat assignment page looks a bit weird. It has GUM-HNL, GUM-TKK, PNI-PNI, and PNI-MAJ. GUM-HNL brings up a seatmap but selections don't stick. The rest just say "Advanced seat assignments are not available on united.com for this flight. Please see an airport agent during check-in to receive your seat assignment."

I called in and the agent couldn't select seats either. Her explanation was that the airport wants control over seats due to multistop nature of flight. Sounds plausible to me although it doesn't explain why I could originally grab a seat. And I don't want to end up windowless, of course!

Anyone know a work around?
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Old Jan 2, 2018, 10:44 pm
  #112  
 
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I had this issue too, though never got any message re advance seat assignments. I would just pick and seemed fine but would disappear. Never was resolved but I ended up upgrading and then was able too choose seats.
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Old Jan 3, 2018, 12:54 pm
  #113  
 
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Can Split Direct Flights

Originally Posted by daisyatl
I had this issue too, though never got any message re advance seat assignments. I would just pick and seemed fine but would disappear. Never was resolved but I ended up upgrading and then was able too choose seats.
Congrats! Did you clear all the way?

Did some reading last night (the trouble with advanced trips is I always procrastinate) and came across this blog post from MatthewLAX which discusses the upgrade problem (namely, may need to clear on all segments) and solution (have direct segments split). I prob won't catch an upgrade but it might solve the seating problem.

With the new system, I was debating whether to try at all. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I call reservations and explain the situation. She will try to sell flights and send to rate desk!

She kept mentioning there’s an equipment change at each stop and I said “I really don’t think so. These are tiny islands in the Pacific. But it really doesn’t matter.” Big mistake. She said they can only split if there are equip changes (what???) and now she would have to investigate that! So then I had to backtrack, “Oh ya know, I must have been confused with some other flight.” “That must be it.” Crisis averted.

After a while on hold, she got everything stored and sent over and it was confirmed!!!!!!!! Shocked is an understatement. Clearly K space was not avail so they must have worked some magic. And I can choose seats online now


Last edited by sexykitten7; Jan 3, 2018 at 1:41 pm Reason: I discovered something interesting PM me for details.
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Old Jan 3, 2018, 7:20 pm
  #114  
 
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Originally Posted by sexykitten7
Congrats! Did you clear all the way?

Did some reading last night (the trouble with advanced trips is I always procrastinate) and came across this blog post from MatthewLAX which discusses the upgrade problem (namely, may need to clear on all segments) and solution (have direct segments split). I prob won't catch an upgrade but it might solve the seating problem.

With the new system, I was debating whether to try at all. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I call reservations and explain the situation. She will try to sell flights and send to rate desk!

She kept mentioning theres an equipment change at each stop and I said I really dont think so. These are tiny islands in the Pacific. But it really doesnt matter. Big mistake. She said they can only split if there are equip changes (what???) and now she would have to investigate that! So then I had to backtrack, Oh ya know, I must have been confused with some other flight. That must be it. Crisis averted.

After a while on hold, she got everything stored and sent over and it was confirmed!!!!!!!! Shocked is an understatement. Clearly K space was not avail so they must have worked some magic. And I can choose seats online now

That is great! I was frustrated too. The reservations agent too because she could not get it to work. As for my upgrade, everything has cleared other than HNL-SFO.
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Old Jan 5, 2018, 1:10 am
  #115  
 
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Folks,

Not wanting to hijack the thread or anything...but I'm in the midst of looking for a primarily UA fare to South East Asia...destination isn't as important as price, miles and dates, since the LCCs there are fairly open.

I've found a fare that I can't replicate on the UA site...looking for some advice. It SEEMS to me that nothing on the site offers any more than 3 stops. I found a desirable itinerary on ITA, but can't seem to re-create it anywhere. Powertools hasn't given me any joy. But this is exactly the type of routing I wanna do. Wondering if anyone can help me, at least point me in the right direction of making this itinerary a reality.

I'd love to make all the stops, but even just MNL-ROR(same flight #)-GUM works. How do you guys go about actually booking these?
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Old Jan 10, 2018, 11:33 am
  #116  
 
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Is there any way this can be done for a few day layover in MNL? I have tried with little success on Google Flights. Would ideally originate out of Denver, Houston, Chicago, or Minneapolis. I could deal with Newark though.
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Old Jan 13, 2018, 10:31 pm
  #117  
 
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UA133 Sked Chg

Added KSA so it's now a 4 stop hopper from GUM to HNL on Sunday 13MAY18 Appears to be true for most (all?) other dates too.
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Old Jan 14, 2018, 10:22 pm
  #118  
 
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Originally Posted by sexykitten7
Added KSA so it's now a 4 stop hopper from GUM to HNL on Sunday 13MAY18 Appears to be true for most (all?) other dates too.
It's a four-stop hopper through May 21, 2018: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...into-may-2018/
Good catch!

My flight's not until later in the year so mine is still a three-stop hopper, although I wouldn't mind if UA extended that KSA addition even further (demand permitting, of course)

I logged in to check my reservation tonight and saw the same oddness you noticed in yours on January 2.

Last edited by wkndflyr; Jan 14, 2018 at 10:30 pm
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Old Jan 14, 2018, 10:48 pm
  #119  
 
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So R availability on the hopper requires a GPU to upgrade, right?
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Old Jan 15, 2018, 2:19 am
  #120  
 
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Originally Posted by br2k
So R availability on the hopper requires a GPU to upgrade, right?
My understanding is the hopper is entirely CPUable but if it's ticketed as a direct flight you (may) need to clear all segments or none. Safest to split. GUM-HNL ns is not CPUable.
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