What is the cheapest way to get to Guam (fewest miles, and/or cheap tickets + low mileage redemptions.)

I can find ORD-GUM FF awards on CO and NW websites, but can't seem to figure out where it is in the rewards chart. (South Pacific seemed the closest geographically, but didn't find it there. The miles were a lot more than Hawaii... Maybe its treated as Japan?)

The Guam airport web site lists a nonstop to LA, but I can't seem to find any airline that offers that. Is it a temporary or charter flight?

For Star Alliance, Guam and Saipan are both considered North Asia, which is good. On Star Alliance you can get to Guam via Osaka on ANA for 60k miles. You can get to Saipan via Seoul on Asiana for the same miles, and then continue on to Guam on CO with a paid ticket. The reason why it's good that Guam and Saipan are considered North Asia under Star Alliance, is that you can travel for 20k miles to/from Guam or Saipan to Japan, South Korea, or China.

NW: Guam is part of Southern Asia:
http://www.nwa.com/freqfly/direct/charts/us49.html
CO: Also South Asia:
http://www.continental.com/onepass/r...94A400ADF98E19

I have also seen reference in CO charts to "Micronesia."

There is no non-stop to Guam. There is a "direct" flight on CO, which makes a stop at NRT (Narita, Japan) before continuing on to IAH, with flight numbers CO6/CO7. If you take this flight on a paid basis, you lose about 1400 miles because airlines credit mileage on direct flights as if they were non-stop.

CO also flies through HNL.

On paid OZ (Asiana) flights, I'm not sure one can currently fly to SPN (or on KE to GUM), because of U.S. anti-cabotage laws prohibiting foreign carriers from transporting passengers between two U.S. locations. (Guam and the CNMI are U.S. territories.) A few years ago, OZ got hit with a big fine for this, so to be "safe" they don't even list SPN on their website, which makes it harder to book ICN-SPN flights -- they must be done offline.

Unfortunately, because this part of the country is remotely located, there is no really inexpensive way to get here. The best deals over the past couple of years have been some NW promotions and internet fare sales during the fall and winter.

I've found redeeming miles on NW has been easier than on CO. There is a good connection DTW-NGO, and then NGO-SPN. I think if you fly DTW-NRT, you will have to overnight in Tokyo both directions before doing the NRT-GUM segment or vice versa.

On CO, it is generally cheaper to fly to MNL, on the flights that go through GUM. Perhaps you can get a GUM "stopover," and continue on to MNL for a couple of days?

JAL looks like they have pretty cheap fares from ORD-NRT and NRT-GUM. (A 747 to Guam? Since that is an international airline, does that mean that I would have to book separate tickets (ORD-NRT + NRT-GUM)? Would the transfer in NRT workout with that?

What exactly are the rules for foreign carriers serving US destinations? Would ORD-NRT-GUM be ok because there is a stop in NRT, and thus it is really two international flights together?

ANA seems to allow you to book ORD-KIX-GUM - but here the ORD-KIX leg is on United. Oh to understand the bizarre regulations of air travel...

The KIX-GUM UA codeshare for NH also essentially circumvents the anti-cabotage law. JL is not supposed to be able to sell ORD-NRT-GUM due to this law. But if you bought separate round-trip tickets, ORD-NRT and NRT-GUM, this might get around it.

It is not illegal for the consumer to buy a ticket between two U.S. destinations on a foreign carrier. It is illegal for the carrier to sell it.

Keep in mind that JL is considering withdrawing from the Japan to Guam/ Saipan market effective in October 2005, and should make a decision by July.

http://www.saipantribune.com/archive...hdte=5-23-2005