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, ....
Mar 31, 2018, 1:55 am
#586
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,917
Noted. I'll stop fretting about it. I managed to NOT be in 1F anymore, so at least I got some legroom now, so I'm far less worried about it than before. Thanks!
Mar 31, 2018, 4:05 pm
#587
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: ORD
Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,727
I spent entirely too much time fretting about which side to sit. Grabbing F and staying with it would have been fine.
The F side has great views of Pohnpei and Sokehs Rock. Kosrae is also very pretty from the F side. Chuuk has views of various islands from both sides. Kwajelein somehow manages to overpower the "beautiful tropical island" vibe with "military base". It felt like Gitmo. Majuro is 30 miles long and about two inches wide. The landing is like an aircraft carrier - water on both sides, so neither side gets a great view.
Coming into Guam, we traveled northwest, and once on the island turned northeast. So both sides got a view of Tumon Bay and Two Lovers Point.
The F side has great views of Pohnpei and Sokehs Rock. Kosrae is also very pretty from the F side. Chuuk has views of various islands from both sides. Kwajelein somehow manages to overpower the "beautiful tropical island" vibe with "military base". It felt like Gitmo. Majuro is 30 miles long and about two inches wide. The landing is like an aircraft carrier - water on both sides, so neither side gets a great view.
Coming into Guam, we traveled northwest, and once on the island turned northeast. So both sides got a view of Tumon Bay and Two Lovers Point.
Apr 3, 2018, 1:30 pm
#588
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: TPA
Programs: DL Diamond, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,256
island Hopper has been on my radar for a while, but I think I'm serious about booking it now. I want to try to build in stopovers (a day or two) in both the Marshall Islands (MAJ or KWA) and Micronesia (PNI or TKK). What are my best booking options, paid or miles (economy more than likely)?
MAJ sounds like it would be cool to stop in, more so than KWA. PNI seems like the obvious choice as well since TKK seems more like a diving destination.
Final destination doesn't matter (ROR, GUA, MNL, anywhere etc) too much and origination can either be in the continental US or in Hawaii.
Edit - Meant MAJ or KSA (not KWA)
MAJ sounds like it would be cool to stop in, more so than KWA. PNI seems like the obvious choice as well since TKK seems more like a diving destination.
Final destination doesn't matter (ROR, GUA, MNL, anywhere etc) too much and origination can either be in the continental US or in Hawaii.
Edit - Meant MAJ or KSA (not KWA)
Last edited by ChiefNWA; Apr 3, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Apr 3, 2018, 1:37 pm
#589
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,381
Your stopover duration will be heavily constrained by flight schedules and duration. Honestly, I think the best deal by far is to use the unrestricted Z fare published from almost any US city to GUM which is between $3,300 and $4,000 r/t but allows very liberal routing (including various cities in Asia) with unlimited free stopovers and is also refundable.
However, most discount Economy fares to GUM allow 2 free stopovers, 1 in each direction, and routing the Hopper explicitly. This looks to price out more like $2,000 r/t. I doubt you can build in stopovers for a whole lot less - getting Economy award space is going to be hard, although with some finesse I guess you could visit two islands on an award ticket. I would also give serious consideration to visiting KSA.
However, most discount Economy fares to GUM allow 2 free stopovers, 1 in each direction, and routing the Hopper explicitly. This looks to price out more like $2,000 r/t. I doubt you can build in stopovers for a whole lot less - getting Economy award space is going to be hard, although with some finesse I guess you could visit two islands on an award ticket. I would also give serious consideration to visiting KSA.
Apr 3, 2018, 2:13 pm
#590
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: TPA
Programs: DL Diamond, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,256
Your stopover duration will be heavily constrained by flight schedules and duration. Honestly, I think the best deal by far is to use the unrestricted Z fare published from almost any US city to GUM which is between $3,300 and $4,000 r/t but allows very liberal routing (including various cities in Asia) with unlimited free stopovers and is also refundable.
However, most discount Economy fares to GUM allow 2 free stopovers, 1 in each direction, and routing the Hopper explicitly. This looks to price out more like $2,000 r/t. I doubt you can build in stopovers for a whole lot less - getting Economy award space is going to be hard, although with some finesse I guess you could visit two islands on an award ticket. I would also give serious consideration to visiting KSA.
However, most discount Economy fares to GUM allow 2 free stopovers, 1 in each direction, and routing the Hopper explicitly. This looks to price out more like $2,000 r/t. I doubt you can build in stopovers for a whole lot less - getting Economy award space is going to be hard, although with some finesse I guess you could visit two islands on an award ticket. I would also give serious consideration to visiting KSA.
Apr 4, 2018, 6:21 am
#591
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,263
Apr 4, 2018, 6:28 am
#592
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,917
Kosrae has banana chips that say “Made in Kosrae” for $1
Apr 4, 2018, 12:05 pm
#593
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,381
The seashells were certainly of the "I combed the beach this morning and brought the spoils to the airport" variety.
Apr 4, 2018, 6:36 pm
#594
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,917
Lol yep. To be honest, I kind of liked them, so ended up buying one.
Apr 8, 2018, 10:46 pm
#595
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Calif.
Programs: SK*G, AS*MVP75k, UA*G
Posts: 110
So I was checking out this and the links in the top of the thread, but I don't seem to get them up, someone who has a past itinerary that they could post and that I could replicate please? Looking to travel on 4/29 or 4/30
Apr 9, 2018, 1:14 am
#596
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PWM
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 1,334
Apr 30, 2018, 3:28 pm
#597
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 38
I'm doing the hopper, UA 132, on Sunday/Monday May 6/7. It appears that everything is in order on my R upgrade in seat 2F. Based on all the comments in this thread it doesn't sound like it's worth it to break the ticket into segments in order to get different seat assignment for each leg. And, looks like I am confirmed in 2F for all the segments. I checked the seat map for each segment and my seat is shown as taken so I guess that's a good sign that it's my seat the whole way through but would appreciate insight from others.
I definitely want to deplane and get passport stamps. Sounds like that is possible based on upthread. Any other hints on how to make this happen would be much appreciated.
Lastly, anyone else here on UA 132 at the same time as me? possible meet up!
I definitely want to deplane and get passport stamps. Sounds like that is possible based on upthread. Any other hints on how to make this happen would be much appreciated.
Lastly, anyone else here on UA 132 at the same time as me? possible meet up!
Apr 30, 2018, 4:07 pm
#598
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: CLE
Programs: UA GS+LT UC, AA EXP+LT PLT, Fairmont LT PLT, Marriott PLT, Hilton DIA, Hyatt Glob, Avis CHM
Posts: 4,669
i'm doing the hopper, ua 132, on sunday/monday may 6/7. It appears that everything is in order on my r upgrade in seat 2f. Based on all the comments in this thread it doesn't sound like it's worth it to break the ticket into segments in order to get different seat assignment for each leg. And, looks like i am confirmed in 2f for all the segments. I checked the seat map for each segment and my seat is shown as taken so i guess that's a good sign that it's my seat the whole way through but would appreciate insight from others.
I definitely want to deplane and get passport stamps. Sounds like that is possible based on upthread. Any other hints on how to make this happen would be much appreciated.
Lastly, anyone else here on ua 132 at the same time as me? Possible meet up!
I definitely want to deplane and get passport stamps. Sounds like that is possible based on upthread. Any other hints on how to make this happen would be much appreciated.
Lastly, anyone else here on ua 132 at the same time as me? Possible meet up!
in the island hopper tr on my blog i wrote how i did it in detail:
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-tra...s-time-to-hop/
we got stamps from every stop except except kwa. No need to go through security, just tell them you're collecting stamps and they know the drill.
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-tra...s-time-to-hop/
we got stamps from every stop except except kwa. No need to go through security, just tell them you're collecting stamps and they know the drill.
Apr 30, 2018, 4:32 pm
#599
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,917
I'm doing the hopper, UA 132, on Sunday/Monday May 6/7. It appears that everything is in order on my R upgrade in seat 2F. Based on all the comments in this thread it doesn't sound like it's worth it to break the ticket into segments in order to get different seat assignment for each leg. And, looks like I am confirmed in 2F for all the segments. I checked the seat map for each segment and my seat is shown as taken so I guess that's a good sign that it's my seat the whole way through but would appreciate insight from others.
I definitely want to deplane and get passport stamps. Sounds like that is possible based on upthread. Any other hints on how to make this happen would be much appreciated.
Lastly, anyone else here on UA 132 at the same time as me? possible meet up!
I definitely want to deplane and get passport stamps. Sounds like that is possible based on upthread. Any other hints on how to make this happen would be much appreciated.
Lastly, anyone else here on UA 132 at the same time as me? possible meet up!
Follow the Wifi door in MAJ though. That is what got me there. On the other islands I took another tactic: I would just go straight to immigration (not telling the welcoming staff I was in transit). I’d just go to the desk, say I’m really transiting but need a stamp and it worked out OK. So in retrospect I wonder if I should’ve done that in MAJ as well - although they seemed to be far better organised so that might not have worked, not sure.
Apr 30, 2018, 8:43 pm
#600
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,198
I had the toughest time at MAJ. They _really_ didn’t want to give stamps and most of my posse abandoned. But I was insistent, finally a guy acquiesced and then he got mobbed by like five flyertalks
Follow the Wifi door in MAJ though. That is what got me there.On the other islands I took another tactic: I would just go straight to immigration (not telling the welcoming staff I was in transit). I’d just go to the desk, say I’m really transiting but need a stamp and it worked out OK. So in retrospect I wonder if I should’ve done that in MAJ as well - although they seemed to be far better organised so that might not have worked, not sure.
