Jun 30, 2016, 1:45 pm
Last edit by: thejaredhuang
Best seat advice
See update in post 500
See update in post 690
Best seat on the Island Hopper .. {closed to new posts}
An Island Hopper [Micronesia] Definitive Guide on Where to Sit [UA B737] {this thread}
FAQs derived from findark's post (post #500)
What is the Island Hopper?
The Island Hopper is a United route between Honolulu and Guam, stopping at the islands of Majuro, Kwajaelin, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Chuuk in between. The Island Hopper operates in both directions, and skips Pohnpei on certain days. You are allowed to get off the plane and "transit" at each stop except for Kwajaelin, which is a US Army base.
This route is similar to Alaska Airlines' "milk run" routes in rural Alaska. All of these routes serve as lifelines for the residents living in areas served by the routes, as the sole connection providing supplies and transportation to/from the rest of the world.
What is the Island Hopper schedule (as of 1/14/19)?
UA154 (the full Hopper) departs HNL Mon/Fri and flies HNL-MAJ-KWA-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM.
The shorter UA154 flies from HNL on Wed and does HNL-MAJ-KWA-PNI-TKK-GUM (skips KSA).
UA132 departs Sun and flies HNL-MAJ-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM (skips KWA).
UA193 (GUM-ROR-MNL)departs GUM on the evenings of Tue/Fri and flies GUM-ROR-MNL.
The Hopper arrives around 1800+1, so in order to do the entire flight without a stopover you would need to depart HNL on UA154 on Monday morning.
Should I experience the Hopper?
If you like hopping through short segments, with beautiful island views, as well as a constant parade of amazing cloudscape between islands, the Island Hopper may be for you!
Which direction (west or east) is better?
The prevailing wisdom here seems to be in favor of taking UA154 (HNL-GUM). findark did 155 from GUM to HNL, and I think there were some overlooked benefits. The eastbound Hopper has the advantage of doing all the fun stuff in the morning and afternoon when you're fresh and eager to enjoy. 14 hours onboard a 737 is a long time*, and doing it eastbound you can give in to the exhaustion and conk out for the final MAJ-HNL segment. Even the HNL arrival was actually not too bad - it's only 10:50pm Guam time, so if you head on to a hotel you're pretty much in line for a night's sleep.
The most notable downside of taking the Hopper eastbound is that you visit MAJ in darkness. We ran about 25m late the whole way, and it was full dark by the time we touched down in MAJ. Whichever way you go, don't do it on a Wednesday! Kosrae was my favorite island, and it would be a shame to miss it.
*And, I learned, while the flight mechanic hops off in MAJ and the pilots get to work in shifts, the cabin crew are on duty for the whole 14 hours. They were understandably a bit burnt out by the middle of MAJ-HNL, but were simply outstanding nonetheless - greeting kids and handing out wings as they boarded in MAJ.
What's with the plane configuration?
The Hopper is currently flown by a GUM subfleet 737-800 (currently Version 4 on the United website - Row 1 is set back several inches which yields fewer E+ seats). The seatmap is loaded as the "Asia local" 737 map, which looks roughly like a 737-700. Like with other "generic" maps, it will update to the full seatmap about 4 days before departure, when the additional rows will appear.
1AB are blocked for the augmented flight crew, who change places with the pilots in the cockpit at MAJ. 2AB are also blocked because the crew rest seats at 1AB will recline until almost touching row 2, and it is usually used for crew storage.
Where should I sit?
The key here is understanding approach and wind patterns, along with each airport's runway configuration. The following stops and runways are on the north side of their respective islands:
TKK (4/22), PNI (9/27), KSA (5/23)
The following stops have runways on the south side of their atolls:
KWA (6/24), MAJ (7/25)
The prevailing winds at this latitude blow from the east, so a typical landing goes from west to east (into the wind). Therefore, in order to have best views on final approach and initial takeoff, you want to be on the starboard (right, F) side for TKK, PNI, and KSA, and on the port (left, A) side for KWA and MAJ. If you are flying westbound, or you land backwards at any stop on the eastbound flight, then the flight may need to position into the approach, usually by overflying the island at higher altitude out to sea. In this case, both sides of the aircraft will get views, although the closer views belong to the "correct" side. In my case, we landed "backwards" on 22 at TKK, and used the regular 9, 5, 6, and 7 at the other stops.
You should absolutely have a window seat - why else are you here?! The best seats are therefore any window in the Business cabin (note that 1A and 2A are blocked), 7AF and 8AF in Economy Plus (10AF has a misaligned window but is okay, the missing window will kill you in 11 and then the wing really starts intruding), and anything nice and far behind the wing in Economy. In this vein, I declined an upgrade on GUM-TKK since only 2E was left, and we flew in 4A/7F, 2F/4A, 2F/3F, 3A/4A, 3A/4A, 2F/7F.
What can I do at the stops?
The best thing to do is get off the plane! You can take tarmac photos and get amazing close-ups of the plane. You will then be shepherded into the gate area, where there are restrooms (some lacking soap and/or towels) and often locals selling souvenirs and snacks. On our trip, the most substantial souvenirs were available at MAJ. If the flight is running late they will make an announcement requesting transfer pax to stay on the plane; however, as obviously savvy travelers who were along for the whole ride and could get on/off quickly with no bags to stow, we got absolutely no pushback from the purser whenever we went outside anyway.
If you do disembark, you are required to take all carry-on baggage with you. They conduct a security sweep onboard the aircraft and will remove unclaimed bags. As is mentioned many times in this thread, KWA is the exception - as it's a US Army base you cannot get off unless ticketed to there. On our flight, we were requested not to take photographs but were allowed to look out the window. I didn't see anything terribly interesting.
You can also use WiFi in the terminal/transit area when you disembark and at some stops you can get your passport stamped. MAJ, PNI, and KSA have confirmed free WiFi. Passport stamps have been confirmed at PNI, KSA, TKK without "exiting" just ask security about getting a stamp at these 3 airports and they should be able to accommodate you.
Should I check my bags?
Yes. As annoying as it was to wait ~10 minutes for our bags in HNL, it was a lot less annoying than having to haul them around each stop, and find bin space again once on board.
What is the food situation?
Going east is a slightly different meal schedule than west. GUM-TKK and KSA-KWA are coded Snack, and MAJ-HNL is Dinner. The first and last meals are reasonably substantial in J (think like a Breakfast and Dinner code) and somewhat small in Y (somewhat less than a meal in int'l Y - was six pieces of fruit and a muffin in the morning, followed by a turkey sandwich for dinner). The middle snack was just a pass of the snack basket up front; neither of us sat in Y that segment but I would guess they just offered almonds. Additionally, every segment they were offering J pax some packaged almonds.
My general verdict is if going the distance in Y, pack some snacks or buy them at the stops along the way. If you're in J then there's enough food for 14 hours of sitting.
And how about IFE?
Look outside! That's actually about all the IFE there is. The GUM fleet has no WiFi and only DirecTV. Note that DirecTV does not work outside of CONUS, so really it just has the 8-10 looping movies of DirecTV (slightly different movie set for an Asian audience). The movie loop resets at each stop, so unless you want to watch the first 1h30 of a movie six times, there's not much use to the IFE. It is at least free in Y. I brought a book and read it for the middle 20 minutes of each segment and until I fell sleep on MAJ-HNL.
Can I get an upgrade on the Hopper?
Empirically, yes! We were offered upgrades of 11/12 eligible segments; I declined a GUM-TKK upgrade to keep my window, and my companion's MAJ-HNL upgrade was eaten by UA IT (agent in MAJ apologized profusely but understandably wasn't going to remove the already-handed-out upgrades to the next 2 pax on the list).
In order to have any shot, however, you need to be able to split the direct flight into six segments. This generally cannot be done on a mileage ticket or a paid through fare, and would need to be done via multi-city ticketing if visiting an island. In my case, I spent a very long time getting an extremely wonderful pmCO agent who was able to hack my ticket together with 9 connections on the way home. As this is also the only way to choose different views for the different approach directions, I recommend asking for this rather than for upgrades. It causes quite the headache for UA systems, but in the end I felt like it was a huge benefit to fly pretty much all of it in J. Absolutely something I credit to the value of being 1K: I was able to ring the 1K desk many times to get agents to deal with the various hiccups that came along with a PNR that had eight tickets and at one point 36 segments attached to it.
The first five Hopper segments (going east) are CPU eligible; MAJ/HNL requires a GPU. We had GPUs on our reservation and did a mixture of advance clearing and clearing at the gates in the islands (where amazingly enough they had the new J BPs waiting!).
Where to stay and what to do in GUM and HNL?
I think this depends on lot on which way you're going. Flying east, we arrived in GUM around 11pm (maximizing time in Tokyo, but not crazy enough for the 2am arrival), and spent the night at the Days Inn Tamuning. It was at the very bottom of my quality standards, but quite affordable and with 9h45 of total ground time all in the dark I did not want to pay double for a beachfront property I would never enjoy.
In HNL, I took up the excellent recommendation in this thread of the Best Western Plaza Honolulu. It was the cheapest of the few airport hotels in HNL. Having cleared customs by 3:45 (we arrived late), it was off to bed quickly. The arrival is only ~11pm Guam time, so I highly recommend going straight to a bed on arrival in HNL. Afterwards, we took advantage of the 24h connect rule to spend the whole day in HNL before continuing on home to SFO. We were pretty exhausted after another redeye home, but the beach time in Hawaii was well worth it, especially after being taunted by all the beautiful mid-Pacific islands.
Big Metal Bird Episode 8: Island Hopper - 2018
See update in post 500
See update in post 690
Best seat on the Island Hopper .. {closed to new posts}
An Island Hopper [Micronesia] Definitive Guide on Where to Sit [UA B737] {this thread}
FAQs derived from findark's post (post #500)
What is the Island Hopper?
The Island Hopper is a United route between Honolulu and Guam, stopping at the islands of Majuro, Kwajaelin, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Chuuk in between. The Island Hopper operates in both directions, and skips Pohnpei on certain days. You are allowed to get off the plane and "transit" at each stop except for Kwajaelin, which is a US Army base.
This route is similar to Alaska Airlines' "milk run" routes in rural Alaska. All of these routes serve as lifelines for the residents living in areas served by the routes, as the sole connection providing supplies and transportation to/from the rest of the world.
What is the Island Hopper schedule (as of 1/14/19)?
UA154 (the full Hopper) departs HNL Mon/Fri and flies HNL-MAJ-KWA-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM.
The shorter UA154 flies from HNL on Wed and does HNL-MAJ-KWA-PNI-TKK-GUM (skips KSA).
UA132 departs Sun and flies HNL-MAJ-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM (skips KWA).
UA193 (GUM-ROR-MNL)departs GUM on the evenings of Tue/Fri and flies GUM-ROR-MNL.
The Hopper arrives around 1800+1, so in order to do the entire flight without a stopover you would need to depart HNL on UA154 on Monday morning.
Should I experience the Hopper?
If you like hopping through short segments, with beautiful island views, as well as a constant parade of amazing cloudscape between islands, the Island Hopper may be for you!
Which direction (west or east) is better?
The prevailing wisdom here seems to be in favor of taking UA154 (HNL-GUM). findark did 155 from GUM to HNL, and I think there were some overlooked benefits. The eastbound Hopper has the advantage of doing all the fun stuff in the morning and afternoon when you're fresh and eager to enjoy. 14 hours onboard a 737 is a long time*, and doing it eastbound you can give in to the exhaustion and conk out for the final MAJ-HNL segment. Even the HNL arrival was actually not too bad - it's only 10:50pm Guam time, so if you head on to a hotel you're pretty much in line for a night's sleep.
The most notable downside of taking the Hopper eastbound is that you visit MAJ in darkness. We ran about 25m late the whole way, and it was full dark by the time we touched down in MAJ. Whichever way you go, don't do it on a Wednesday! Kosrae was my favorite island, and it would be a shame to miss it.
*And, I learned, while the flight mechanic hops off in MAJ and the pilots get to work in shifts, the cabin crew are on duty for the whole 14 hours. They were understandably a bit burnt out by the middle of MAJ-HNL, but were simply outstanding nonetheless - greeting kids and handing out wings as they boarded in MAJ.
What's with the plane configuration?
The Hopper is currently flown by a GUM subfleet 737-800 (currently Version 4 on the United website - Row 1 is set back several inches which yields fewer E+ seats). The seatmap is loaded as the "Asia local" 737 map, which looks roughly like a 737-700. Like with other "generic" maps, it will update to the full seatmap about 4 days before departure, when the additional rows will appear.
1AB are blocked for the augmented flight crew, who change places with the pilots in the cockpit at MAJ. 2AB are also blocked because the crew rest seats at 1AB will recline until almost touching row 2, and it is usually used for crew storage.
Where should I sit?
The key here is understanding approach and wind patterns, along with each airport's runway configuration. The following stops and runways are on the north side of their respective islands:
TKK (4/22), PNI (9/27), KSA (5/23)
The following stops have runways on the south side of their atolls:
KWA (6/24), MAJ (7/25)
The prevailing winds at this latitude blow from the east, so a typical landing goes from west to east (into the wind). Therefore, in order to have best views on final approach and initial takeoff, you want to be on the starboard (right, F) side for TKK, PNI, and KSA, and on the port (left, A) side for KWA and MAJ. If you are flying westbound, or you land backwards at any stop on the eastbound flight, then the flight may need to position into the approach, usually by overflying the island at higher altitude out to sea. In this case, both sides of the aircraft will get views, although the closer views belong to the "correct" side. In my case, we landed "backwards" on 22 at TKK, and used the regular 9, 5, 6, and 7 at the other stops.
You should absolutely have a window seat - why else are you here?! The best seats are therefore any window in the Business cabin (note that 1A and 2A are blocked), 7AF and 8AF in Economy Plus (10AF has a misaligned window but is okay, the missing window will kill you in 11 and then the wing really starts intruding), and anything nice and far behind the wing in Economy. In this vein, I declined an upgrade on GUM-TKK since only 2E was left, and we flew in 4A/7F, 2F/4A, 2F/3F, 3A/4A, 3A/4A, 2F/7F.
What can I do at the stops?
The best thing to do is get off the plane! You can take tarmac photos and get amazing close-ups of the plane. You will then be shepherded into the gate area, where there are restrooms (some lacking soap and/or towels) and often locals selling souvenirs and snacks. On our trip, the most substantial souvenirs were available at MAJ. If the flight is running late they will make an announcement requesting transfer pax to stay on the plane; however, as obviously savvy travelers who were along for the whole ride and could get on/off quickly with no bags to stow, we got absolutely no pushback from the purser whenever we went outside anyway.
If you do disembark, you are required to take all carry-on baggage with you. They conduct a security sweep onboard the aircraft and will remove unclaimed bags. As is mentioned many times in this thread, KWA is the exception - as it's a US Army base you cannot get off unless ticketed to there. On our flight, we were requested not to take photographs but were allowed to look out the window. I didn't see anything terribly interesting.
You can also use WiFi in the terminal/transit area when you disembark and at some stops you can get your passport stamped. MAJ, PNI, and KSA have confirmed free WiFi. Passport stamps have been confirmed at PNI, KSA, TKK without "exiting" just ask security about getting a stamp at these 3 airports and they should be able to accommodate you.
Should I check my bags?
Yes. As annoying as it was to wait ~10 minutes for our bags in HNL, it was a lot less annoying than having to haul them around each stop, and find bin space again once on board.
What is the food situation?
Going east is a slightly different meal schedule than west. GUM-TKK and KSA-KWA are coded Snack, and MAJ-HNL is Dinner. The first and last meals are reasonably substantial in J (think like a Breakfast and Dinner code) and somewhat small in Y (somewhat less than a meal in int'l Y - was six pieces of fruit and a muffin in the morning, followed by a turkey sandwich for dinner). The middle snack was just a pass of the snack basket up front; neither of us sat in Y that segment but I would guess they just offered almonds. Additionally, every segment they were offering J pax some packaged almonds.
My general verdict is if going the distance in Y, pack some snacks or buy them at the stops along the way. If you're in J then there's enough food for 14 hours of sitting.
And how about IFE?
Look outside! That's actually about all the IFE there is. The GUM fleet has no WiFi and only DirecTV. Note that DirecTV does not work outside of CONUS, so really it just has the 8-10 looping movies of DirecTV (slightly different movie set for an Asian audience). The movie loop resets at each stop, so unless you want to watch the first 1h30 of a movie six times, there's not much use to the IFE. It is at least free in Y. I brought a book and read it for the middle 20 minutes of each segment and until I fell sleep on MAJ-HNL.
Can I get an upgrade on the Hopper?
Empirically, yes! We were offered upgrades of 11/12 eligible segments; I declined a GUM-TKK upgrade to keep my window, and my companion's MAJ-HNL upgrade was eaten by UA IT (agent in MAJ apologized profusely but understandably wasn't going to remove the already-handed-out upgrades to the next 2 pax on the list).
In order to have any shot, however, you need to be able to split the direct flight into six segments. This generally cannot be done on a mileage ticket or a paid through fare, and would need to be done via multi-city ticketing if visiting an island. In my case, I spent a very long time getting an extremely wonderful pmCO agent who was able to hack my ticket together with 9 connections on the way home. As this is also the only way to choose different views for the different approach directions, I recommend asking for this rather than for upgrades. It causes quite the headache for UA systems, but in the end I felt like it was a huge benefit to fly pretty much all of it in J. Absolutely something I credit to the value of being 1K: I was able to ring the 1K desk many times to get agents to deal with the various hiccups that came along with a PNR that had eight tickets and at one point 36 segments attached to it.
The first five Hopper segments (going east) are CPU eligible; MAJ/HNL requires a GPU. We had GPUs on our reservation and did a mixture of advance clearing and clearing at the gates in the islands (where amazingly enough they had the new J BPs waiting!).
Where to stay and what to do in GUM and HNL?
I think this depends on lot on which way you're going. Flying east, we arrived in GUM around 11pm (maximizing time in Tokyo, but not crazy enough for the 2am arrival), and spent the night at the Days Inn Tamuning. It was at the very bottom of my quality standards, but quite affordable and with 9h45 of total ground time all in the dark I did not want to pay double for a beachfront property I would never enjoy.
In HNL, I took up the excellent recommendation in this thread of the Best Western Plaza Honolulu. It was the cheapest of the few airport hotels in HNL. Having cleared customs by 3:45 (we arrived late), it was off to bed quickly. The arrival is only ~11pm Guam time, so I highly recommend going straight to a bed on arrival in HNL. Afterwards, we took advantage of the 24h connect rule to spend the whole day in HNL before continuing on home to SFO. We were pretty exhausted after another redeye home, but the beach time in Hawaii was well worth it, especially after being taunted by all the beautiful mid-Pacific islands.
Big Metal Bird Episode 8: Island Hopper - 2018
They just did a video in the Micronesia island hopper flight which is pretty interesting
https://youtu.be/TPueM5OF1Wc
https://youtu.be/TPueM5OF1Wc
UA's Micronesia Island Hopper - consolidated questions, advice, ....
Dec 8, 2017, 11:07 pm
#541
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: SJC, SFO
Programs: United Premier Silver, Southwest A-List, Marriott Lifetime Gold, Hilton Gold, Starbucks Gold :)
Posts: 30
Thank you findark for the heads up on Business Class on the HNL-GUM through trip not wanting to be sold. A friend and I were looking at multi segment SFO-HNL / HNL-GUM / GUM-NRT-SFO in April, Z fare bucket, $3500 all in. Right before we pulled the trigger, I came across this thread and was prepared for a hiccup. Sure enough, after going through the entire booking process, I was unable to complete the final purchase page. (I was buying two tickets.) I tried another browser just to ensure it was not me. Called United (in India...thinking how am I going to explain wanting to take the 5-stop flight - but didn't have to) and agent also got an error. After many minutes of typing away on the other end, agent finally concluded my fare was no longer available on HNL-GUM flight. It was showing Z3 inventory before but when I tried to buy, it disappeared?? Strange. He put me on hold, talked to a supervisor who ended up honoring my original price. Despite the hassle of calling and a longish wait (30-45 minutes), it was worth it for a decent fare. Checking inventory on UA154 now and it is showing Z2.
Jan 4, 2018, 3:16 am
#542
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PWM
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 1,335
Island Hopper can be done for cheap
Much discussion here: UA - LAX-SFO-HIKA-Guam and return via UA Pacific Islands $442 <2.8cps
Jan 4, 2018, 7:55 am
#544
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,269
I'm thinking of finally doing the island hopper this year.
PHL/EWR-SFO-HNL-MAJ-KWA-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM-YAP-ROR-MNL-HKG
Then fly home via ORD or straight to EWR
I assume I'll have to overnight in HNL.
I would like to overnight in MNL as well
Are there any tips for the best time of year to go? Being so close to the equator I assume the amount of sunlight is about the same. I'd light to avoid any stormy seasons where I have a higher chance of IRROPS. Is there a time a year where it is less busy improving my odds of R>0 at booking? What would be the best upgrade strategy here using RPU/GPUs? RPU to HNL, GPU for island hopper and another to get back home?
PHL/EWR-SFO-HNL-MAJ-KWA-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM-YAP-ROR-MNL-HKG
Then fly home via ORD or straight to EWR
I assume I'll have to overnight in HNL.
I would like to overnight in MNL as well
Are there any tips for the best time of year to go? Being so close to the equator I assume the amount of sunlight is about the same. I'd light to avoid any stormy seasons where I have a higher chance of IRROPS. Is there a time a year where it is less busy improving my odds of R>0 at booking? What would be the best upgrade strategy here using RPU/GPUs? RPU to HNL, GPU for island hopper and another to get back home?
Jan 4, 2018, 11:16 am
#547
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SRQ, PDX
Programs: UA 1 MM, AA, DL
Posts: 930
Jan 4, 2018, 11:19 am
#548
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,395
And I don't think you'll be able to do GUM-YAP-ROR-MNL. I think the best you can do is GUM-ROR-MNL. The problem is that while UA does fly GUM-YAP-ROR and (GUM-)ROR-MNL, that would require a transfer at ROR and I don't think that will be allowed by the fare rules -- at least, not without a big additional charge and several days in ROR (GUM-YAP-ROR operates on Saturday, and GUM-ROR-MNL operates on Tuesday and Friday).If you want to go to MNL, I'm pretty sure it would end up pricing this as PHL/EWR-MNL instead of -HKG, which would give you as much time as you wanted in MNL. (You likely can't route to HKG via MNL, but you can route to MNL via HKG). You'd likely be on CX or KA for MNL-HKG, although PR may be a possibility also.
Jan 4, 2018, 12:19 pm
#549
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,269
Thanks. Yes, I am assuming non-UA for MNL-HKG and hoping there are direct flights and booking phl-mnl/hkg-phl. The only way I'd to UA would be MNL-GUM-HKG.
Though since I have to stop in HNL for a night to catch the island hopper, I'm not sure if PHL-HNL has to be a separate ticket.
OK, then I guess I'll have to cut out YAP. Actually, I think I'm remembering an announcement about YAP getting cut.
Weather wise, I guess I'll plan for spring or late fall. Late fall, I should know if I'll be short on PQD
Though since I have to stop in HNL for a night to catch the island hopper, I'm not sure if PHL-HNL has to be a separate ticket.
OK, then I guess I'll have to cut out YAP. Actually, I think I'm remembering an announcement about YAP getting cut.
Weather wise, I guess I'll plan for spring or late fall. Late fall, I should know if I'll be short on PQD
Jan 4, 2018, 12:48 pm
#550
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,395
Thanks. Yes, I am assuming non-UA for MNL-HKG and hoping there are direct flights and booking phl-mnl/hkg-phl. The only way I'd to UA would be MNL-GUM-HKG.
Though since I have to stop in HNL for a night to catch the island hopper, I'm not sure if PHL-HNL has to be a separate ticket.
OK, then I guess I'll have to cut out YAP. Actually, I think I'm remembering an announcement about YAP getting cut.
Weather wise, I guess I'll plan for spring or late fall. Late fall, I should know if I'll be short on PQD
Though since I have to stop in HNL for a night to catch the island hopper, I'm not sure if PHL-HNL has to be a separate ticket.
OK, then I guess I'll have to cut out YAP. Actually, I think I'm remembering an announcement about YAP getting cut.
Weather wise, I guess I'll plan for spring or late fall. Late fall, I should know if I'll be short on PQD
) In my experience, it's actually rather hard to get UA to sell you MNL-GUM-HKG, and I'm not sure you'd want to do it anyway -- with the elimination of the morning MNL-GUM flight, you'd be looking at about a 14 hour layover in GUM.You shouldn't need to buy a separate ticket for PHL-HNL just due to the overnight at HNL; if you're only staying one night there, it wouldn't be considered a stopover.
Jan 4, 2018, 12:51 pm
#551
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SRQ, PDX
Programs: UA 1 MM, AA, DL
Posts: 930
Jan 4, 2018, 2:30 pm
#552
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
Depending on how much time you have to kill and how wide you're willing to open your wallet, there is a long-standing unrestricted Z fare US to GUM which allows the Hopper, most sensible Asia routings, and unlimited free stopovers and unlimited transfers. Between $3500 and $4000 r/t a/i depending on origin.
Jan 4, 2018, 2:37 pm
#553
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,269
There are definitely plenty of nonstop flights between MNL and HKG. Try pricing it as part of a single ticket vs. as separate tickets; you may be surprised. Even though UA doesn't operate MNL-HKG, they'll likely sell you that flight, and it may be cheaper than booking the open jaw + a one-way. (Of course, in true FlyerTalk fashion, I should point out that if you want to fly for a few extra hours, you can route MNL-BKK-HKG on a TG award and get a free massage at the spa. ) In my experience, it's actually rather hard to get UA to sell you MNL-GUM-HKG, and I'm not sure you'd want to do it anyway -- with the elimination of the morning MNL-GUM flight, you'd be looking at about a 14 hour layover in GUM.
You shouldn't need to buy a separate ticket for PHL-HNL just due to the overnight at HNL; if you're only staying one night there, it wouldn't be considered a stopover.
) In my experience, it's actually rather hard to get UA to sell you MNL-GUM-HKG, and I'm not sure you'd want to do it anyway -- with the elimination of the morning MNL-GUM flight, you'd be looking at about a 14 hour layover in GUM.You shouldn't need to buy a separate ticket for PHL-HNL just due to the overnight at HNL; if you're only staying one night there, it wouldn't be considered a stopover.
If I can put my overnight stay in the same itinerary, I wonder if I can use one GPU to cover me from PHL all the way to MNL versus using up a RPU. Assuming I can find R>0.
Depending on how much time you have to kill and how wide you're willing to open your wallet, there is a long-standing unrestricted Z fare US to GUM which allows the Hopper, most sensible Asia routings, and unlimited free stopovers and unlimited transfers. Between $3500 and $4000 r/t a/i depending on origin.
Jan 4, 2018, 2:45 pm
#554
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,395
I'll try some pricing and see what it gives. In the past, anytime UA offers me a non-UA flight its always absurdly expensive, but maybe this will be different.
If I can put my overnight stay in the same itinerary, I wonder if I can use one GPU to cover me from PHL all the way to MNL versus using up a RPU. Assuming I can find R>0.
If I can put my overnight stay in the same itinerary, I wonder if I can use one GPU to cover me from PHL all the way to MNL versus using up a RPU. Assuming I can find R>0.
You may be able to extend a single GPU all the way to MNL by calling. The website is likely to request multiple instruments.
Jan 7, 2018, 2:43 am
#555
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PWM
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 1,335
Another Cheap Fare
Last edited by sexykitten7; Jan 7, 2018 at 2:45 am Reason: Fixed links that merged together...