midnightio

Does anyone have experience flying UA via Guam? It looks like flights UA180 HKG<->GUM and UA200 GUM<->IAH.

Is the plane/seat configuration the same as flights from SFO/ORD to Hong Kong? I found an old thread a few weeks ago which referenced a lower level of service by United when traversing through Guam saying that the there was little to no competition on the route and that the plane config and service was different and not pleasant.

Any help/insight regarding GUM flights would be great as I'm trying to decide if a BusinessFirst ticket via Guam would be the same experience as SFO to HKG... which is not a great product, but it is what I would be expecting if I make the booking.

Thanks in advance!

MBS MillionMiler

HKG-GUM, think domestic UA first seat. Little recline, little legroom and not comfy at all. GUM-HNL-IAH, if you take the direct flight may have more of a true business class seat with flat beds, but expect old UA777 style Barcaloungers with legrests and no AVOD.

It will be night and day taking the GUM routing. It takes longer, and while it does earn more miles, there's a reason it's significantly cheaper than going via SFO.

If you're looking to do it on the cheap, the GUM routing in J is better than Y through SFO, but do yourself a favor if you can afford it and take the SFO routing.

sincx

Going through Guam has the curious effect of giving a traveler the experience of living through the same calendar night and same calendar morning twice.

I've done it once, in Y when I had no other choice. It wasn't too bad, but I was only going to SFO and the flights were pretty empty (upgraded HKG-GUM, GUM-HNL empty, HNL-SFO 777 pretty comfortable). All business classes on the flight are domestic-style seats, at least 2 years ago.

Nevsky

Just did it and got upgraded using a RPU from HKG-GUM and got a lie-flat bed by moving to the back of the plane and taking three seats in coach.

sbm12

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The GUM-HNL-IAH flight is on the "islands" config 777. That is decidedly NOT a "real" business poduct. You might get lucky and have one of the planes which isn't reconfigured yet, but I wouldn't bet on that.

It will be very different from the experience on the non-stops between HKG and the US Mainland.

landrew

I just did this and it was...um...interesting.

As has been stated, the planes are old and marginally comfortable.

Although upgraded on most legs, there was no IFE or WiFi on any of them (with our connecting flight, total 23 hours of self amusement without power).

Food was OK.

There was a marathon sprint at HNL where you have to take a jitney OUTSIDE the terminal around to the international arrivals area up and down a couple of escalators to collect bags and go through customs even though it wasn't a REAL international arrival...so no G.E. kiosks (and oh yes, they didn't stamp your passport, only took the forms which they required but didn't even glance at), then back up several escalators and run through the airport, go through security again and traverse the airport to get to the gate. Despite the fact that I believe it may have been the same aircraft...

It was interesting to leave HK on Monday, get to Guam on Tuesday, get to HNL on Monday, get to IAH on Tuesday (at least I think that's what we did). Devil of a time booking it, but it was considerably cheaper than the alternatives. I found myself wondering if the route was designed by/for military, but didn't see anyone in uniform.

midnightio

Thanks so much for this valuable feedback! I am looking for upgrade space for April and there really are no good options to HKG. What is showing up is either transit through GUM, or spending the night in EWR (Newark).

Based on this info, I will keep searching and avoid the GUM routing.

Nevsky -- happy to hear you were able to make an improvised lie-flat bed!

halls120

I may be flying to MNL next month, and because I have to stop in HNL, the GUM flights are an option. As others have noted, the flights look fairly open for example, UA201/UA183 are both showing J8 JN8 C8 D8 Z8 ZN8. However, when you look at the seat map for UA201, it says "BF sold out," yet for UA183, it shows seats available.

Is this another UA.com glitch? I checked other days, and got the same result.

UrbaneGent

This was great! ^

Wow just decided to check HKG-GUM-HNL-SFO in Biz and considerably lower than the non-stop (of course service is much lower). I wonder if this routing is popular in coach? For someone who is 5'7" 100lbs. and ready to sit in a seat for 20 hours, why not?

kenziid3

Have you considered IAH-NRT-HKG? There seems to be decent R availability starting April 1 when UA starts the second IAH-NRT flight per day. The major drawback here is that you will have to spend the final 4 hours on ANA which will be pure HELL in Y. But at least you will have a nice ride for the TPAC segment.

To do this you will have to choose the multi segment option as the UA website doesnt ususally display this option when just searching for IAH-HKG.

OT-- Had one single UA EXEC sat in Y on this NRT-HKG segment on ANA they would have maybe thought twice about this foolish strategy. ANA is not a viable option for UA pax via NRT either to HKG OR BKK.

trust77

in your search select businessfirst and the business cabin will display. when searching for coach, the business cabin will not display and will show that "sold out" sign. or, search using the reward option and all cabins will display.

halls120

thanks, worked fine. Odd that when you run the search in economy, the HNL-GUM leg with the 777 won't show BF, but the GUM-MNL leg with the 738 does.