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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 Nov 4, 2017, 10:15 am
  #61  
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The idea doing SFO-HKG-GUM in Y, and then immediately getting on the Island Hopper is too much. Just murder on your body.

Also, the Island Hopper is tad over-rated IMO. Definitely worth doing once, but lower your expectations. And I would have lots of rest before and after, not long-haul Y flights at either end.

Just my 2 cents. Great fare though!
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Old Nov 4, 2017, 10:19 am
  #62  
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Originally Posted by lalato
It's more expensive ($726), but I just booked SFO-HKG-GUM-HNL-SFO. I have limited availability so I couldn't do better on price. The nice thing about this one is a 19 hour layover in HNL. Would have preferred more time in GUM, but HNL is nice too. Now I just need to figure out what I want to do for one night/morning near Waikiki.
Are you into strip clubs? There are some good ones...

In all seriousness, you can go for a night swim in Waikiki, I used to do it all the time. Or have yourself a great island meal, and wake up early for a beach morning. I used to advise visitors from the mainland to hit the beach early in the AM, to avoid crowds, but also to avoid the intense mid-day sun, which will fry you in no time.

Lots of locals go surfing in the morning before heading to work. It's a fun atmosphere, completely different than the Waiks you get later in the day.
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Old Nov 4, 2017, 2:41 pm
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by luv2ctheworld
Tempting... but a true glutton for punishment. The only reprieve is if you can slum it in poor man's/ghetto business class (aka full row to yourself).
Awesome price $458 but a hell of beating for 15,888 PQM and none on the 787, an easy dream liner.
Not having done this many leg since a Bahrain run, I may just join some of you.

Last edited by cocktailsfirst; Nov 4, 2017 at 2:59 pm
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Old Nov 5, 2017, 2:58 pm
  #64  
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Originally Posted by Gnopps
I'm also travelling on Jan 21st, but I think the opposite direction. I'm travellig HNL-GUM on UA132 and return over TYO with NH.
Interesting...I thought nobody could get the westbound IH flight with this fare...westbound would be my first choice. ^
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Old Nov 6, 2017, 9:58 pm
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by Flying for Fun
For $447.26 you could fly ANA LAX-NRT-HKG on the outbound and enjoy an additional 4" pitch. United SFO-HKG is 30" while ANA LAX-NRT is 34" in economy. Still allowing a HKG stopover. Priced on United via Google Flights.

James
Long time listener, first time caller here. Howdy.

Thanks for the tip - I couldnt resist the ANA LAX-NRT-HKG option with the extra pitch, and booked this deal with UA133 Island Hopper. This will be my first time on the Hopper.

Question for those who have flown the Hopper or considered it: how much am I missing by not getting to see Kosrae and Kwajalein?

With Kwajalein not allowing general pax like me without permission to disembark there or photograph there, it comes down to Kosrae which only gets visited two days per week if I understand correctly. UA133 and UA132 seem to be new routes as of January 2018, so Ill have to return to this thread in January to find out whether the onboard experience is different on the three-stop versus UA154/UA155.

For this Hopper rookie, who may or may not get to redo this trip via the full five-stopper (depends on money, miles and vacation time plus job/family/life), I figure a partial Hopper experience is better than not getting to experience any Hopper at all. Plus, I booked it for Labor Day weekend, and the holiday allows me to take one fewer vacation day from work for the voyage.

I booked it for the joy of flying and a for a little aerial photography, and the three-stopper should provide much of that, I think
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Old Nov 7, 2017, 7:49 am
  #66  
 
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Originally Posted by wkndflyr
Long time listener, first time caller here. Howdy.

Thanks for the tip - I couldnt resist the ANA LAX-NRT-HKG option with the extra pitch, and booked this deal with UA133 Island Hopper. This will be my first time on the Hopper.

...

Plus, I booked it for Labor Day weekend, and the holiday allows me to take one fewer vacation day from work for the voyage.
Welcome to FT! ^

If you don't mind me asking, what itinerary did you book? I just checked to see if I could do something similar (I like the idea of a Labor Day trip), but I can't seem to get Google flights to give me the IH option on either the eastbound or westbound legs. Do you have a link you can give me? If you'd rather PM me rather than post publicly, that's fine too! Thanks!
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Old Nov 7, 2017, 4:37 pm
  #67  
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The fact that UA doesn't allow HNL stopovers on these GUM fares is infuriating. I guess you can throw away the last segment, and then buy a separate o/w fare to LAX, but that sort of defeats the purpose.
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Old Nov 7, 2017, 8:02 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by mpiotrow
Welcome to FT! ^

If you don't mind me asking, what itinerary did you book? I just checked to see if I could do something similar (I like the idea of a Labor Day trip), but I can't seem to get Google flights to give me the IH option on either the eastbound or westbound legs. Do you have a link you can give me? If you'd rather PM me rather than post publicly, that's fine too! Thanks!
Thank you!

These should get you started: a few options from LAX, SJC, and SFO (slightly pricier). The lowest-priced options end in LAX even if you depart from SJC or SFO. Because I have to position to the west coast anyway, booking this as an open jaw would have been no issue for me.

FT won't let me post the URLs because I presently have fewer than five posts, but you can append these to the search string on Google Flights:

Code:
iti=LAX_HKG_2018-08-30*HKG_GUM_2018-09-01*GUM_HNL_2018-09-02*HNL_LAX_2018-09-02;tt=m;sel=LAXNRT0NH175-NRTHKG1NH811,HKGGUM0UA116,GUMTKK0UA133-TKKPNI0UA133-PNIMAJ0UA133-MAJHNL0UA133
Code:
iti=SJC_HKG_2018-08-30*HKG_GUM_2018-09-01*GUM_HNL_2018-09-02*HNL_LAX,SJC_2018-09-02;tt=m;sel=SJCNRT0NH171-NRTHKG1NH811,HKGGUM0UA116,GUMTKK0UA133-TKKPNI0UA133-PNIMAJ0UA133-MAJHNL0UA133
Code:
iti=SFO,LAX_HKG_2018-08-30*HKG_GUM_2018-09-01*GUM_HNL_2018-09-02*HNL_LAX,SFO_2018-09-02;tt=m;sel=SFOHKG0UA869,HKGGUM0UA116,GUMTKK0UA133-TKKPNI0UA133-PNIMAJ0UA133-MAJHNL0UA133
The lowest-priced options are fare basis code KLE0ZMM2 (LAX-HKG in a K fare, as mentioned upthread) both ways.


Originally Posted by notsosmart
The fact that UA doesn't allow HNL stopovers on these GUM fares is infuriating. I guess you can throw away the last segment, and then buy a separate o/w fare to LAX, but that sort of defeats the purpose.
I agree, and actually I'm considering doing just that - adding a stopover in PNI or TKK for $100 per person, and throwing away the last segment and booking HNL-ORD using economy saver miles @ 22,500 per person. This would still be substantially cheaper than booking the itinerary outright, because I couldn't get KLE0ZMM2 both ways otherwise. I figure I still have some time to decide, unless another devaluation follows quickly on the heels of the November 1st one.
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Old Nov 8, 2017, 2:08 pm
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by jayhawk17
I'm also on the 1/19-1/21 flights... 8F on the hopper
I'm now in 7F. Right in front of you!
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Old Nov 9, 2017, 11:08 am
  #70  
 
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I just booked this for 4/1 coming back. Kinda sad that there's no KWA or KSA stop, but I figured I'd try to do the full island hopper some time later when I get cleared to go scuba diving again and make my way to ROR and TKK on a future vacation.

Did I find a loophole? I have UA MPG for this year thanks in part to last year's EWR-MNL deal, but have flown zero miles with UA in 2017 and will have no status next year. Yet when I went to select my seats on this itinerary, it let me choose E+ for every leg??

If this is indeed a loophole, I need to book all my flights for next year right now!
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Old Nov 9, 2017, 11:13 am
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by binkata
I just booked this for 4/1 coming back. Kinda sad that there's no KWA or KSA stop, but I figured I'd try to do the full island hopper some time later when I get cleared to go scuba diving again and make my way to ROR and TKK on a future vacation.

Did I find a loophole? I have UA MPG for this year thanks in part to last year's EWR-MNL deal, but have flown zero miles with UA in 2017 and will have no status next year. Yet when I went to select my seats on this itinerary, it let me choose E+ for every leg??

If this is indeed a loophole, I need to book all my flights for next year right now!
What does it show for your status when you login to mystatus.united.com?
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Old Nov 9, 2017, 2:48 pm
  #72  
 
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Is it possible to make an island hopper between March 17-20 with the departure from any US airport (EWR,LAX,ORD,SFO etc.)?

Unfortunately I can not find anything. Just the day before from LAX, but this in my case does not work.
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Old Nov 9, 2017, 4:07 pm
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by mpiotrow
What does it show for your status when you login to mystatus.united.com?
It says I'm MP Gold, keep flying to reach Premier Gold for 2018 (shows 0 PQM, PQS, PQD). Like I said, I haven't flown them at all this year.

BTW, I selected 8F for the island hops. Hopefully it'll be a nice view!
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Old Nov 9, 2017, 8:23 pm
  #74  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
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Originally Posted by Mateuszz
Is it possible to make an island hopper between March 17-20 with the departure from any US airport (EWR,LAX,ORD,SFO etc.)?

Unfortunately I can not find anything. Just the day before from LAX, but this in my case does not work.
Try this itinerary with the westbound Hopper for $649 pp, play around with it in GF to price out other options as you wish (copy and paste-append to a Google Flights search query, the part after /flights/#search; )

Code:
iti=LAX,SFO_HNL_2018-03-17*HNL_GUM_2018-03-18*GUM_HKG_2018-03-19*HKG_LAX,SFO_2018-03-20;tt=m;sel=LAXHNL0UA1170,HNLMAJ0UA132-MAJPNI1UA132-PNITKK1UA132-TKKGUM1UA132,GUMHKG0UA159,HKGNRT0NH812-NRTLAX0UA33;eo=e
For a bit more WiFi along the way (no WiFi on the Hopper), this itinerary is $670 pp (copy and paste-append to a Google Flights search query, the part after /flights/#search; )
Code:
iti=LAX,SFO_HNL_2018-03-17*HNL_GUM_2018-03-18*GUM_HKG_2018-03-19*HKG_LAX,SFO_2018-03-20;tt=m;sel=LAXHNL0UA1158,HNLMAJ0UA132-MAJPNI1UA132-PNITKK1UA132-TKKGUM1UA132,GUMHKG0UA159,HKGSFO0UA862-SFOLAX0UA256;eo=e
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Old Nov 10, 2017, 12:32 am
  #75  
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Originally Posted by binkata

BTW, I selected 8F for the island hops. Hopefully it'll be a nice view!
As a sailor, I can tell you definitively that the ocean is a big place, and you're going to be seeing a lot of it.
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