AustinWeatherGuy

Interesting story developing in GUM... should see some interesting responses...
GVB acting president sorry about Facebook rant - KUAM.com-KUAM News: On Air. Online. On Demand.

mduell

How long until UA pulls back from a market they're clearly not welcome in?

FlyerTalker70

How about never! UA is a corporation not a human being, it doesn't have emotions, feelings or ethics. At the end of the day there's a reason why UA puts a significant amount of lift to GUM and the neighbouring islands and that's US government and military contracts! Sure, UA's island hopper is also a great way for Micronesians to conduct business and is an essential life-line, but at the end of the day, UA's got a lot of money to make from this. The moment UA pulls out of the market, AA or DL will gladly come in to roll around in those profits!

-James

rankourabu

When it stops being a cash cow for them?
So .. like... never..

mh3265a

UA won't pull out of GUM. They have downsized and cut routes but the Micronesia routes are so unique they won't be leaving anytime soon. And cargo profit from the HNL-GUM route does well. And if the military build-up ever does pan out (notwithstanding the Commandant of USMC reckless comments before Congress) I could see some slight expansion especially given the expeditionary capabilities on island.

What I don't get is why people on Guam think that there could be real competition out there. The numbers just do NOT justify another mainline U.S. carrier.

FlyerTalker70

Hopefully that post to FB ends up getting him special privileges for himself and his family with UA. Not a Chairman's flight per se but at least Global Services

-James

GDL

But is he wrong though?
I think not. His FB 'rant' sounds much familiar to what I read weekly on these forums. Only folks on Guam dusting this up are folks vying for his job at GVB.

elCheapoDeluxe

Probably another, "United had a delay that caused my mom to miss a connection and now she won't get home until the next flight UNITED IS THE WORST AIRLINE EVER!!!! nevermindthatitiscontinentalwiththeunitedname"

garykung

He is wrong. While I am sympathetic to the situation that many Guamanian (as well as other Micronesians are facing), the reality is far from their imaginations.

1. pmCO scaled back its service quality before the merger. It is obvious that CM followed pmCO. Yes - UA cut the meal service. But FWIW - any meals at GUM/HNL are more edible than the UA meals. So I don't really believe that anyone miss much.

2. UA is practically, not just only the U.S., but the ONLY carrier in the area. Many airlines have tried but failed at GUM. Even DL has pulled out.

3. While I don't question UA's profitability on cargo, UA seriously loses significantly on the passengers, as they are many empty spaces and non-rev on the route. Bottom line - Micronesian market is not as profitable as many see.

GDL

He mentions three things specifically in his (now deleted) FB post: That UA needs competition, a lesson in customer appreciation and customer service. I still very much think he is right in his gripe. Especially in his last two points. As many others are - myself included. Sporting many US contracts that obligate service to Guam doesn't preclude from basic respectful levels of customer service and interactions.

Transpacificflyer

It's all about subsidies isn't it?
When Jeju Air delivered new nonstop flights between Osaka, Japan, and Guam last summer the GVB kicked in $250,000.
When the discussion of providing service to Saipan was held in 2018, one item was the need for $8 million of subsidies for United if there was to be increased service. https://www.saipantribune.com/index....-more-flights/
United has the region by the nuts and there isn't a more polite way to put it. It is to be expected that people get frustrated.
We see similar comments in Canada's far north and it is often justified.

narvik

Comment on social media: "I hate it. I hate it so very much. It is awful. Like the WORSTEST ever!"
Redaction on social media (after immediate backlash): "I am sorry for my comment. I actually love it, and it is great. It is the BESTEST ever!"


Seen a million times before. Moving along....

msp3

dvs7310

I don't know that the empty seats necessarily mean lack of profitability from passengers. So many of those are on Uncle Sam contracts, even on the Japan flights there are always a very significant number of military and contractors. With the non-gov fares what they are, I believe that UA does quite well on most of their current Guam routes, the majority of the heavily tourist routes were axed a while back.

The periphery islands might be nice, but main island of Okinawa is nothing special at all and the water is much cooler than Guam (assuming you can find a public beach on Guam with water deep enough to get underwater in without walking all the way out to the end of the reef wall, lol). Guam certainly has its issues, but I enjoy it there quite a lot and would take it anytime over Okinawa main island.

therossinator

Fun fact: United only holds 40 of the 74 GSA Contracted City Pair routes from Guam to the US. Whenever I fly the Island hopper it's on the commercially available rate, no government contracted rates offered by the Government Travel System there.

Cutting the meal service, OK. but if you want to make this a domestic route, then follow the rules you have for all your other domestic routes. If you want to call this "Long Haul Hawaii" then let me use my RPU to upgrade and economy continues to not get a meal like any other UA HNL route from EWR, IAH, IAD, ORD, or DEN. You want to require a GPU then give me Polaris service and maybe lay off guaranteeing your worst lie flat business class hard product and provide me a sandwich and that rubbery cole slaw when I'm sitting in the back. Don't give the combination of the worst business class product capable of making the hop and couple that with the poorest economy class experience that you have offer anywhere in your route network. Show that you care a little more than that.

Man, I really wish DL could come back, but from someone bound to the "Fly America Act," it really does make it convenient to accrue status on one airline pretty much every single time I need to fly somewhere. I think loyalty programs played a huge part on why Delta pulled service. They just can't compete when United is such a dominating presence and their planes are as common as the wet leased Uzbekistan Air plane that flies to Guam.

I hardly ever see empty cabins on Guam routes. There are seemingly impossibly high numbers of standby passengers on the hopper, non-revs always end up filling the front of the 772 (friends of UA employees heading stateside, I presume) and the back is pretty full too from what I've seen, and getting a CPU out of MNL or HKG is exceedingly rare even for a 1K. There is definitely passenger $ being made here.