blu816305

This is my very first trip report so please forgive the mundane details. I didn’t realize that there were so many TR superstars whose trip reports I should have read first (Seat 2A, GoldFlyer, Petrus, Lucky9876Coins, etc). I will include pictures and witty commentary in the future. And sorry if I jump from past tense to present. I was writing it while I was on my trip but just quickly edited it since I'm just posting it now.

To start, if someone showed me this itinerary a year ago, I would have called them a crazy bleeping nutjob. But I see the light now, and I never want to fly coach again.

BrianIAH that found this incredible fare ($754 for 25K+ miles) with this incredible routing, and it caught my eye. My business travel dropped significantly last year and I was short of 1K for 2011. Being on the wedding circuit this year with 4 of them in far places, I was disappointed with 2P. But luckily in January, I got an email for the 1K challenge and thought “how hard can it be to complete 25K miles in 90 days”? Harder than I thought. I signed up in Feb knowing I could do 5K for work and quickly booked 2 back to back trips netting 28K miles. Where? Japan. When? During the earthquakes. So, not wanting to waste my $500 fee, I got my refunds, waited patiently for a good long haul fare to appear, and voila, here is my report of my long and moderately painful journey to requalification...

Leg 1: 5/6 EWR - DFW 6:15pm - 9:00pm (positioning flight using United points)
I don’t know why I did this to myself since it is so hit or miss, but I decided to take the EWR Liberty Express out of Port Authority during rush hour. I got there at 4:25 and the bus came at 4:35. But just my crappy luck, the bus filled up right before it got to me with 1 person ahead of me. The next bus at 4:45 took 15 mins to load. I arrived at the airport at 5:45, flew through security at 6:02 and ran like the wind to gate 107 and arrived at 6:04. The gate agent was just about to close the gate but I made it by the skin of my teeth. The flight was half full and I had a seat near the front with entire row to myself. I had a 1 night stay at DFW and booked the Fairfield by Marriott DFW North Irving on hotels.com for $54.64.

DFW arrival: nice and toasty outside! What a welcome change from the cold NY spring. Everything at the airport was closed at 9:00pm so I couldn't grab any dinner. DFW is huge and the 4 pickups took about half an hour before we even headed to the hotel. The hotel was a bit far from the airport, out on a service road with all of the other airport hotels with nothing nearby but highway. Check in was quick and the bed was comfortable enough. Reviews gave the hotel 4.5 stars on hotels.com, which was a bit generous... It was no-frills 2.5 star hotel, outdated (think 80s faux wood paneled furnishings). I walked down the service road to Whataburger, which took at least 10 mins in a dark desolate area. Not the smartest recommendation by the front desk girl for a single woman to do but I came out of it alive, and the burger wasn't too bad either! Went to bed at 12:30 and woke up at 4:00am. Shuttle drops off every 30 mins so I caught the 4:30. Morning drop off was much faster than the pick up so i could have easily slept another hour for the 5:00am. Flight was at 6:20 and got there at 4:45. Security line was short but painfully slow. At the gate by 5:15.

Leg 2: 5/7 DFW – EWR 6:20am - 10:40am
Another lucky break, 3 seat row, middle seat empty. I only slept 3.5 hours the night before so I was able to sleep the entire flight to EWR. It was freezing cold so I asked for a blanket. The FA practically laughed at me. "There are NO blankets on this flight", she cackled at me, even though everyone up front had their blankets unused and still in their wrappers on the floor. All I could think at that moment while I shot daggers at her with my eyes was "I WILL BE 1K AGAIN YOU EVIL FA. WHEN I AM, I WILL ASK FOR 2 BLANKETS IN FIRST." I will be all worth it to be 1K again and get a thin scratchy blanket on an upgrade when I request one. On a side note, I had my favorite Brookstone travel blanket with me also but this flight was THAT COLD. Anyways, I arrived on time in concourse C, my favorite concourse at Newark. There's a sushi bar, a steak restaurant, diner, Coach, Lacoste, Crumbs, Dunkin donuts, L'Occitane, and tons of other shopping and dining options. Love this terminal. Ended up at Grand Central Oyster bar and had some littlenecks and cherrystones with a tall Bloody Mary.

Leg 3: 5/7 EWR - HNL 1:10pm - 5:50 pm
No UDUs on this flight. First it was delayed till 2:00, then it was back to 1:20 and we boarded at 1:20. Everyone was on the plane, luggage stowed, comfortable in their seats, and everything was looking good for me with a 2 seat row to myself for the 10 hour flight.... of course, there's a mechanical error. Everyone has to disembark the plane because they are swapping it out. Awesome. But I felt worse for those parents with the strollers and diaper bags and toys out, with their kids all settled in, then having to re-pack up everything to get them off. What a nightmare. It made me think I should start up a "child delivery" service where you can ship your kids with all kid crap anywhere in the world to meet you there, kind of like luggage. I think it would really fly. Anyways, we finally boarded at another gate at 3:10 but all of the standby coach passengers from other flights made it to this one and I had a neighbor for the 10 hour flight. For the delay, I received a free drink/$15 off $75 duty free voucher and a 10% off co flight voucher. Flight was full, screaming baby in my row, and the in-headrest entertainment is terrible. The broadcast quality is really poor, the shows cycle instead of on demand and there are only a few selections. I haven't sat in regular coach without extra legroom for a while so it's pretty snug with the seat in front of me reclined, but luckily, I'm short. Missing UA’s economy plus right now. Pretty bad flight overall. 2 screaming children nearby, the guy next to me sniffled and throat-cleared every couple of seconds for 10 hours, unfriendly rude clueless unhelpful flight attendants (a male FA was talking down to some foreign people about how to fill out the forms, and the guy in front of me got scolded for not knowing his snack selection before the cart got to him, the nerve!). They wouldn't take United drink vouchers, the FA didn't give me a receipt and when I asked for one, she seemed annoyed and wrote it out by hand (don't blame me for your machine paper running out!) and also no free meal or snacks, only for purchase. I bought a $8.49 tapas box that held me over but was it was truly crap. Oh and lastly, the entertainment only went on once during the 10 hour flight and didn't cycle like the video promised, so no games, or entertainment. Oh and one more thing, my seat was freezing cold even with my Brookstone nap blanket. Hmm, what else can I complain about this flight? Another thing about this co flight was that it was very impersonal. I went to Hawaii twice on United and I remember the pilot and FAs making a big deal out of going to Hawaii (halfway to Hawaii game), all the “Alohas” and fun Hawaii announcements, which in turn got everyone on the flight excited and happy. There was none of that on this flight.

Leg 4: 5/7 HNL - MAJ 10:30pm - 1:40am (5/9)
Ahh, this is more like it. With the delay, I only had a 2 hour layover at HNL airport. It was pouring rain in beautiful Honolulu, and I love the open airport where outside is in. Grabbed some food (which was unnecessary) and went to gate 13. Upgraded to first! It was 10:30pm Hawaii time and 4:30am NY time so I was excited for the entire exit row to myself to sleep. I guess the row filled up since I checked in so the upgrade was a nice surprise. HNL to GUM isn't domestic (I don't think) so it was nice to see that CO upgrades lower level elites so readily, CO seems to be better than UA in this respect. Boarded with a glass of champagne, and even better, upgraded to first AND there was no one next to me. First class was half empty. The seat recline wasn't too bad and the snack was a yummy turkey and cheese in a croissant, fresh fruit, pickled mushrooms and peppers, and chocolate truffles. And it came with the cutest mini salt and pepper shakers. Service was WONDERFUL, my pinot grigio was never empty and I got a nice buzz before falling asleep on my way to Majuro. What a nice reprieve after getting gouged and suffering through a crappy 10 hour flight to HNL. Arrived in Majuro at 2:00am and had a great sleep. First class and passengers on the right side of the plane (?) didn't need to depart plane for inspection. MAJ was 16 hours ahead of NY and GUM was 14 hours. Crossed the International Date Line! Left on Saturday and arrived on a Monday.

Leg 5: MAJ - GUM 2:40am - 4:35am
Loved this flight. First class filled up with new passengers in MAJ. I met my neighbor who was a contractor for the military and really interesting and nice, and our FA was awesome and attentive. She kept me drunk but hydrated for the entire flight. The snack was awesome! It was a grilled chicken burger, with a small dish of artichokes, fruit and chocolate. The chicken was perfect, moist and cooked well, with this tangy melted cheese on a sesame bun. I mean, it was actually really good. The FA kept asking me and my neighbor if we wanted another one. She said she gets a lot of requests for seconds I wish all legs on my mileage run could be like this.

Arrived in Guam and went through immigration, which was pretty empty this early in the morning. Once out of immigration, I decided to get out for some Guam air before my next leg. If you plan to leave the airport, make sure you fill out the agricultural form. That part took another 5-10 minutes but it was pretty empty. I would plan for more time at a busier time of day. My new flight friend offered to drive me around Guam but it was already 5:15 and with my next flight at 7:10, and I didn’t want to chance it. I walked outside and wow it was tropical, hot and humid at 5:30 am. Took in some Guam air and headed back to security. The line was very long and I didn't notice the elite line on the right so it took about 15-20 mins to get through. There were lots of Japanese travelers at the airport. The airport overall is pretty big, lots of military influence and decent shopping early in the morning. Headed to my gate where there was a Clippers smoking lounge in front of gate 8. Grabbed a beer (kind of weird at 6:30am but I rationalized that it was 4:30 pm NY time, so whatever!) and waited for my 7:40 boarding. All in all, most of my layovers had been short and productive. Wiped myself down with a cleansing wipe and was ready for my short flight to Narita.

Some random thoughts almost midway through the mileage run...
I would recommend doing any long mileage run with a friend. Gets a bit lonely, but I had lots of time to think about my life and now much I hate my job. I've done quite a bit of drinking so far but made sure to drink lots of water. My EWR- PDX run a few couple of days prior was a bit rough and my hangover intense since I wasn't hydrated. Getting upgraded is awesome, which is why I'm even doing this 25k in 4 days. Plan your sleep properly, I slept the entire Guam leg so I'm wide awake for my Japan leg and plan to stay up until i get to Korea and sleep the night there. Bring clean socks, no one likes stinky feet, and wear comfortable clothes. I usually wear something cute when I travel (I wouldn’t dream of dressing how I'm dressed right now) since you never know who you're going to meet, but comfort is a must. I'm wearing yoga pants, a slouchy tee and sneaks. Eye glasses all the way. Pack light. Compact travel coat, noise canceling earbuds, gum, nap blanket have been lifesavers.


Leg 6: 5/9 gum - nrt 7:10am - 9:45am
Another upgrade despite Premier status! Loving Continental (minus EWR-HNL). Really happy I'm not trekking through this mileage marathon all in coach, which is what I was expecting. It felt like a quick flight but I guess after EWR to HNL, any flight less than 10 hours feels quick. I actually think the short hops makes long haul mileage running more bearable.

Arrived in NRT early. Now this was a great stopover. I was wide awake and ready to see a tiny bit ofJapan! Loved this airport, modern, clean, quiet, huge, easy to get around, technologically advanced. Went straight to the info booth and the girl I spoke to had great English and gave me multiple options for my 8 hour layover. We decided Tokyo was going to be a pain with a 3 hour transit time there and back. She said it was easy to get lost at Tokyo station, and realistically I would have only 2 hours to see anything. So I decided to go to Narita instead. She mentioned there is no tipping in Japan, interesting. The Narita round bus only comes every 1.5 hours so she gave me a schedule for the times I needed to catch the bus to see the mall, the Shinshoji temple and be back to the airport by 4:30. I took the Narita round bus at location 30 in terminal 2. It's this green and red trolley that screams “tourist”, but it was only 200 yen per trip, cash only. It's 500 for a day pass but the driver couldn’t understand me so I just put in 200 per trip and called it a day, which was actually a good thing since I skipped the mall and spent 400 yen only. I was on my way at 11:05am, and it took about 30 mins to get to Shinshoji temple. They drop you off on a side street by the temple but to catch the bus back to the airport, you need to go to the stop right in front of the temple. I read a few things before my trip about Narita and I was sort of expecting this tiny place, take a stroll around and be in and out in 15 mins. But this place was huge! The grounds included the temple, shrines, side monuments, and this huge garden/forest area behind the temple. You can easily spend 2-3 hours here. It was a gorgeous day out, sunny but dry and cool in the shade. After walking around for an hour, my duffle was feeling really heavy. I recommend getting a locker at the airport if you decide to stop off here during a layover. A rollerboard would be fine but there are a lot of stairs up to the temple and then inside the forest and garden area. I should have backpacked it. After walking around the beautiful and peaceful grounds for an hour and a half, I went out the gates and took a right. There is this really adorable street with all these Japanese restaurants and shops that was awesome to stroll and absorb a bit of japanese culture. I stopped off for sushi and walked all the way to JR station but it started to get grungy so I turned around and walked back to the temple stop, about 15 mins. I was pretty tired of carrying my bags at this point so instead of stopping at the aeon mall, i took the 2:30 bus back to the airport. There was a ton of traffic due to an accident so it took about 45 mins - 1 hour to get back.

So, at this point, I haven't showered for 2 days and was walking around all day. I'm pretty sure I smelled like a homeless woman and I desperately needed a shower. I forgot that I had no lounge access as a Star Silver so I head to the shower rooms in the departure area of NRT, second floor. It was a reasonable 1000 yen for 30 mins with, shampoo, soap, a brush, toothbrush and bottled water. Now this is embarrassing but I have to tell the story. The lady kept saying to me, "do not open the shower door", over and over again, about 5 times. I took it as "don't open the shower door because you'll get the floor all wet". So I’m showering and it’s the greatest shower ever, so refreshing! Then I start to get solo-traveler paranoia in this locked room. I start wondering if she told me I shouldn’t open the door because someone is stealing all my stuff. Mind you, I know I was just being stupid since it's an airport facility and all, but I somehow can't control the urge to peek outside my shower door, just to make sure. Of course, the second I crack the door open, the shower stops and the timer turns off. What the lady actually meant was "don’t open the door because the shower will shut off and I’m telling you this 5 times because all of the stupid foreigners do this all the time and want us to reset their time". LOL. Of course I’m kicking myself for my stupidity and since I’m fairly rinsed out, I don’t shame myself by telling the desk ladies. I dress, brush my teeth, put on some new clothes and head to security. As expected, it is a million times more efficient than in America and I get through quickly. I’m at my gate by 5:00 and have time for my final sushi stop in front of the gate. Expensive, but great quality and delicious. On to the next leg.

Leg 7: 5/9 nrt - icn 6:20pm - 8:50pm
United leg. Was i upgraded? No. Am I trying to make status on this airline's program? Yes. Was I upgraded on many of the other CO legs? Yes. Tell me why I've been so loyal to United and not CO all these years? Not so sure anymore! It was a huge plane, and only about 25% full, which can’t be good for the earth, with almost all of first and business empty. I had an entire 5 seat row to myself. We got these half ham and cheese sandwiches that looked like the ones my mom made for me in grade school, wrapped in saran wrap. I actually really appreciated this small modest snack on a quick 3 hour flight, considering that CO can't even provide a free snack on a 1o hour trip from EWR - HNL. Simple, tasty, nice. No surprise that the flight service in coach was also a million times better than what I’m used to in the US. Maybe I should have asked for a blanket I arrived early again in ICN at 8:30pm.

This is where the trip goes all wrong. I recognize that I’m going to have good and bad legs and this was the bad. After the easy and stress free Narita transit, in comparison, my short time in Korea sucked. I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants and didn’t book the hotel. I read some flyertalker posts about these "transfer desks" for possibly a free room so I headed over to one when I get off the plane. Now, it gets weird. Everyone practically runs off the plane through the terminal to get to the shuttle, then RUNS to the immigration desks, like it was some sort of race or something. I mean, there's walking quickly and with purpose, like in Japan and Hong Kong and NY, but the Koreans had this urgency to get the hell out of the airport like I’ve never seen before, a herd of people collectively sprinting towards the door and jostling each other. Men, women, children, babies in a mad dash. If you’re too slow, you get left behind! Anyways, I go to an empty transfer desk and security tells me to go to the Asiana transfer desk. The girl at Asiana barely spoke English and could not understand that I was just looking for a hotel or the airport hotel. I tell her I flew united, and she is so flustered and runs off to find info on how to handle united people, and I told her I would find another desk but she was already off. She sprints back to me after 5 mins and she's sweating with another girl who speaks no English to tell me that they can't help me since I flew united. Thanks, wish you told me that before you ran off. So I go looking for the airport hotel. Since I’m not leaving the airport, I go through security but I don’t have a boarding pass for the next day yet. The security people can't understand English at all as I try to explain. I show them my itin on my blackberry and I guess this suffices and I am able to get to the departures floor to the airport hotel desk. It's about $118 USD for 12 hours. I leave and get on free wifi to book on hotels.com. I booked the hotel Sky Incheon airport for about $65. Okay, so it gets really confusing here. I didn't go through immigration because I was staying in the airport. Then I book another hotel and am leaving the airport. I ask information how to get out of the airport because I don’t want to leave out of departures without going through immigration and customs in case i have issues coming back in. The info lady walks me to security again and it’s the same people before. I had to explain that I was leaving the airport now and needed to go through immigration. The language barrier was painful and I finally got through. I'm exhausted and everything had been a hurdle since I arrived. THEN, the strap on my duffle breaks. It’s official, Korea hates me. I ask the information booth to call the hotel for a pickup. It is FREEZING outside. I was so glad I brought a compact down travel jacket that rolls up tight. The shuttle came in about 30 mins. The website says the hotel is 6 minutes away. By helicopter? Or by teleportation? The actual ride was all highway about 15 - 20 minutes away in this odd little suburb with a few high buildings and some shops and restaurants. The area was kind of urban but deserted but overall seemed safe enough. I checked into a little lobby and got a metal key. My room was by the stairs in a semi dark corridor. Definitely not the type of places I'm used to staying at but it was clean, simple, kind of a little suite, wood floors, mismatched decor, and a bed about as comfortable as sleeping on a concrete box. Seriously. Again, you get what you pay for. I went out to a local Korean spot and got a bimbimbap for dinner and went to bed hoping to get a solid night's sleep before I turned around and did this whole trip again going east. The funny thing was, despite sitting and flying for 20+ hours, it's the damn hard bed in Korea that gives me the aching neck and shoulder the next day.

Woke up at 9:00, and it was rainy, gloomy and depressing out. I go next door to the Dunkin Donuts there and service is slooooow. The 1 guy working there is chatting on the phone, then chatting with a customer, and then forgetting to get the coffee, and taking other orders when he hasn’t finished the last order, and the toaster wasn’t like the ones in America that take 30 secs to toast a bagel, this one took about 5 mins. I caught the 10am shuttle and headed back to the airport. I'm sure I'll go back one day, but preferably with my Korean best friend and/or guide/translator. Arrived at 10:30, got through security ridiculously fast, went up to a food court and ordered a Korean rice and pork dish and took the shuttle train to the concourse.

Leg 8: 5/10 icn - nrt 12:40pm - 3:00pm
United leg. No upgrade, more full that yesterday, short flight. Since passing the midway point, the shorter flights feel like a breeze. Despite heavy rain, the flight left early. I was a bit worried since my itin gave me only a 50 min layover at NRT but I had plenty of time since we arrived a few mins early. Went through security and headed to my gate. It still kind of blows my mind that I spent half a day in Japan and half a day in Korea yesterday. Not exactly like my regular business day trips to DC

Leg 9: 5/10 nrt - gum 3:50pm - 8:25pm
Upgrade to first! After that hotel in Korea, I didnt want to chance it. I booked the Hilton in Guam at the gate and confirmed my reservation. A side note for the female readers out there...the pilot was super hot!! I mean male model hot. Fantasy of a hot pilot, hot. He came out to greet first class, shook everyone's hands and thanked us for flying continental. Sorry, i know the guys reading this don’t care (or maybe you do) but this is important information for the female mileage runners out there. I love going east, shorter flights all the way back, 3 hours and 6 minutes to Guam. Dinner was cod with pasta, bread and salad. Nothing special but did the job. I took a short nap and the flight literally felt like an hour. Landed and went through customs and agriculture quickly, called the hotel and got picked up at 8:30 and was sitting at hotel bar on the beach with a Lava Flow in the warm tropical heat by 9:00pm. I was upgraded to a huge corner suite with a big lanai, too bad I was just staying for a couple hours. I just wanted to call this mileage run quits and stay in Guam for a couple of days in my giant room. My only annoyance is that the Hilton charges $10 each way for the shuttle pick up and drop off. That's just nickel and diming. The bar was hopping but I had a full day of flying the next day so I hit the sack after another drink. I got a great 5 hours of sleep, bed was so comfortable, got a wakeup call at 4:30 am took the 5:00 am airport shuttle, flew through security this time (was smart and went to the elite line) and was at the gate at 5:30 and on the plane at 5:45 to HNL.

Leg 10: 5/11 gum - hnl 6:30am - 5:55pm (5/10)
Sadly, no upgrade. The flight was delayed till 7:15. We waited for passengers from connecting flights, then mechanical issue and fueling. It was a pretty full flight, I had a neighbor in my 2 seat row, 6 hours and 40 mins. Breakfast was fruit, beef fried rice and a roll. This meal was pretty gross but they just came by with nestle ice cream sandwiches. Watched Country Strong, which I actually enjoyed, took a short nap. Snack at the end of the flight was cream cheese chives sandwich crackers, a bite sized milky way, and a turkey and cheese sub. Which gets me to thinking that the meal situation from ewr-hnl is JUST NOT RIGHT!!! I also realized on this leg while filling out my US customs form that I've finally memorized my passport number. Success! One more leg to go.

Leg 11: 5/10 hnl - ewr 7:50pm -11:30am (5/11)
Last leg!! I can't believe it, it really flew by, pun intended. Quick customs, checked in, gate 13. No upgrade. Grabbed food for the flight and was ready to get home. Flight was not full but I had a neighbor. Not a huge plane, 3 seat rows in the middle. Screaming toddler nearby and my overhead light didn't work. Luckily, I slept the entire way, arrived in EWR at 11:35 am and didn't even feel the 10 hour sting. Stayed up for the rest of the day to readjust to NY time and went to work the next day.

Skip leg 12: 5/11 ewr - dfw 6:15pm - 9:19

Overall thoughts:
I really enjoyed this mileage run overall (minus Korea and EWR-HNL legs). I psyched myself out before I started but its actually kind of fun. Upgrades, empty rows, on time departures, good layovers. I was most worried about jet lag (none), missing connections (none), boredom (none, kept busy with iPad) and comfort (pretty decent considering layovers to stretch and upgrades). The idea of a 10 leg mileage run scared me more than the actual trip. Once it started, it all just kind of flowed nicely and was over before I knew it. All of my flights were on time for the most part and my layovers were long enough to be stress free. I didn't need to do much planning and made use of my time between layovers as I saw fit. The overnight breaks really got me recharged and it was all pretty fun, jumping around islands and countries and seeing a bunch of airports. I think I became a better traveler after this. I know what to pack and what not to, I memorized my passport number, ate some international and airline cuisine, was able to navigate foreign countries pretty well, and learned how worthwhile being an elite member can be (hello scratchy blankets!). I also learned that turning off my mobile and not working while traveling can be very liberating. I'm happy that am 1k for the rest of the year and overall it was completely worth it. My back felt fine, I caught up on Survivor, watched a half dozen movies, read a book, wrote the crap out of this trip and got some much needed sleep. I kept contemplating bringing my netbook I'm glad i didn’t. My iPad was all I needed. I did my typing on it, checked my email, read my books, downloaded a bunch of movies and shows on it. The battery was amazing and I was always somewhere to charge it. Great trip overall, the hopper was a great add-on and well worth it. Until next time!

6rugrats

Loved your trip report. Thanks so much for writing it. Very enjoyable reading one by a woman traveling alone.

todd-r

What a fun read. Thanks for the detail and sharing the adventure and most importantly, congrats on making 1K!

ORDnHKG

Not a bad first timer trip report, just hope there are some photos, as your segments would probably yield some interesting ones.

I don't know where you read about free hotels for anyone with layovers in ICN. If there are it would cost ICN a fortune.

Free layover hotels are only for OZ to OZ pax (KE may also have this service but unsure), and only paid pax not awards, and not intentionally force layover (if there is a flight with shorter layover time and you choose to take the one with longer layover, then you won't qualify)

concorde02

No picture?? I would like to see the hot pilot!

Exleftseat

Nice trip report, but your description states "Island Hopper". I hate to break it to you, but your flight from/to GUM was not on the Island Hopper! The Island Hopper is a CO 737 with 5 or 6 stops between GUM and HNL. I myself have been on it a couple of times and was looking forward to read another trip report. Well, you came close. Try it another time. It's tons of fun.

blu816305

Oh. My apologies. I always thought the Island Hopper was ANY routing to Asia through Guam in any variation including but not limited to MAJ/PNI/TKK/KWA. Thanks for bursting my bubble. I'll go change my title.

And thanks for the responses. It was definitely a fun trip and hope to do the real hopper soon!

Exleftseat

O, no need to apologize. When you take the "real" Island Hopper and you have regained your 1K status, remember that this flight is UDU eligible. I took it once using miles and once paid. The award trip left me in my exit seats, the paid fare got me upfront.

blu816305

Thanks for the advice and for correcting me. Color me embarrassed. Definitely hoping to do the real hopper before the end of this year and will follow up with a trip report with no misrepresentation in the title!

Exleftseat

Heads up, at every stop en route it's the left side, right side routine. At the first airport let's say the right side stays on board, the next stop it's the other side and then back to the right side. We developed a routine where we just switched sides and stayed on board. The departure lounges on the islands are nothing to write home about. Pretty funny actually, yet so stupid.
Hope you will find your hot pilot again

FriendlySkies

Great trip report! ^

worldtraveller73

Entertaining!!!

Nice to get the perspective from a woman for a change.

Although we needed more dirt on the pilot!!

TWAB747nomore

uggh.... sounds like you had fun. Though WAY TOO much coach flying on longhauls for in short period of time for me.

Not to mention that any stop through hawaii is not complete without a round of golf

but it was an enjoyable read

i dunno for some reason i cannot get excited about the ideas of Trans Pac flights

warreng24

Great report! Thanks for sharing it.

However, two corrections:
NRT-ICN-NRT on the pre-merger UA (PMUA) is a route operated by the 3-class aircraft (first/business/economy). Thus, there's no complimentary upgrades on this route.

Same goes with these other PMUA routes out of NRT:
NRT-BKK-NRT
NRT-SIN-NRT
NRT-TPE-NRT
NRT-PEK-NRT (this is a seasonal route)

AirForceFlyer

Your style of writing is a breath of fresh air. Wouldn't have guessed it was your first TR either. Good job!