Trip Report: United Airlines Island Hopper

Operating westbound on Monday, Wednesday & Fridays-only from Honolulu to Guam, this week I got to finally experience a bucket list journey on United 154, the famed "Island Hopper"!

My Boeing 737-800 in the foreground, specially configured for the route and carrying its own on-board mechanic along much of the journey along with extra sets of pilots and spare parts.

Of course you could fly on United's daily nonstop to Guam on a Boeing 777, but then you don't get to stop on 5 Pacific islands along the way! Departing exactly on time, a picture of the climb out of HNL.

The Island Hopper consists of 6 separate flights with the first flight being the longest, lasting about 5 hours from Honolulu to Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Breakfast is served on the first leg. Because the first flight takes you across the International Date Line, your first landing is on Tuesday morning and Monday is gone forever!

On approach to MAJ, a coral atoll well to the southwest of Hawaii.

 Downtown Majuro.

On the tarmac at MAJ.

If you're traveling the entire route to Guam, you're allowed to disembark at most of the stops.

At Majuro there is a transit lounge with a small snack kiosk and a table with a woman selling local souvenirs. I was able to walk into Marshall Island Customs and get my passport stamped.

Nearly all the stops have you disembark via stairs, allowing you to get up and personal with the 737. The ground time at Majuro is 45 minutes but at the other stops it was just a half hour.

Numerous atolls dot the Pacific Ocean in these parts.

The second stop is Kwajalein Atoll, a United States Army base (Bucholz Army Airfield) which is also in the Marshall Islands. Surprisingly, more than half the passengers on the plane from Honolulu disembarked here. Photos of the facilities are not allowed and transit passengers have to remain on the plane.

Leaving the Marshall's behind, we now flew into the Federated States of Micronesia. This route used to be operated by Continental Micronesia. When Continental Airlines and United Airlines merged, it became a United route.

Kosrae is one of 4 states that make up the FSM.  I was not able to enter Customs here since I wasn't actually getting off but an airport employee took my passport, obtained a souvenir stamp and brought it back to me.

The terminal here had a woman selling snacks and a small selection of FSM souvenirs. If you've ever ordered something via mail order and clicked on "F" from a drop-down menu to click on Florida for your address, but FSM was there instead, there's a reason. The United States Postal Service provides mail service for a number of Pacific island nations so they too have two-character state codes and U.S. Zip Codes.

 Soon it was time to head back to the plane.

The fourth stop was Pohnpei, where we finally experienced some weather. That's the runway over there.

I elected not to get out here due to the rain.  Each flight on the Island Hopper is approximately an hour long (except for that first leg).  Thus, the 14.5 hour flight does go by kind of quickly. You are forced to watch United's safety video prior to each take-off though, lol.

 Spotted an old Boeing 727-200F here belonging to Guam-based Asia Pacific Airlines.

Unlike the atolls earlier, Pohnpei is ruggedly and beautifully mountainous.

We now headed northwest to the last enroute stop, Chuuk (formerly Truk) which is also still part of the Federated States of Micronesia.

It has a famous lagoon for diving, filled with WWII shipwrecks.

Chuuk has a larger modern terminal.

These girls from United in Chicago, like me, were also doing the Island Hopper specifically to say they did it.  For most passengers though, the flight is a transportation lifeline to the real world.

The sixth and last leg of the Island Hopper ends at Guam, a U.S. territory and piece of America in the western Pacific.  But wait, there was more!

There was no plan to visit Guam this trip. Instead, it was time to get on United's "Manila Hopper" flight, their flight to Manila, Philippines with a stop in Koror, Palau.

 It was now nighttime and sadly could not see any Palau scenery. This is the gate area in the airport. There was a modern duty free store here with souvenirs, the nicest of any stop.

Finally, more than 15-hrs later, Manila!  A good time was had by all.