A Guide to the United Island Hopper

Featured Image: A United Airlines Boeing 737-900 at Portland International Airport

As many of you know, recently, an Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 crash-landed in the water while landing at Chuuk International Airport. This brought many people’s attention to the United Island Hopper, which also flies to Chuuk. I then decided to write about the United Island Hopper, and explain what it is, where it flies to, what to expect, and what it costs.

What Is It and Where Does It Fly To?

First of all, the United Island Hopper is probably one of the very top items on my bucket list – I would love to go on it. The United Island Hopper is a flight that flies between Guam and Honolulu on a Boeing 737-800 which makes multiple stops at Micronesian airports. The flight operates 3x weekly in both directions (Departing Honolulu on Fridays, Wednesdays, and Mondays) – from Honolulu to Guam and from Guam to Honolulu. It exists for one primary reason: to act as a lifeline for islands in Micronesian Islands. The flight operates from Honolulu to Majuro to Kwajalein to Kosrae to Pohnpei to Chuuk to Guam. except on Wednesdays, when the outbound and return flights skip the stop in Kosrae. For reference, I put a map of where the flight operates to below:

United Island Hopper Route

The Island Hopper is the only way that most of these islands receive basically any supplies. Because not many airlines fly to these islands, there is almost no other way for them to receive mail, packages, imported food, and other supplies. It simply is a lifeline for many of these communities. The United Island Hopper has actually operated for quite some time. It was operated by Continental Micronesia before the merger with United in 2012, and has been flying for around 50 years. The flight also operates so that one can travel to many Micronesian islands which usually should be accessible, but due to the flight, are practically inaccessible for tourists. Passengers can get off of the aircraft at each destination (except for Kwajalein) to walk around at the aircraft terminal where there should be food vendors, get their passport stamped, or stay there for a couple of days to visit that island. Passengers can both book to fly right through from Guam to Honolulu or Vice Versa, or they can select to stop at a specific destination along the route.

The United Island Hopper operates as UA154 westbound and as UA155 eastbound. I have put together a list of the stops it flies to, notes about the destination, and flight times below.

What To Expect On Board:

The flight is operated by a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 in both directions on all days. It features recliner seats in a 2-2 configuration in business (domestic first class is labeled business class because this is an international flight) class without leg rests and features regular economy class seats in a 3-3 configuration. All seats feature personal video screens which play multiple tv shows and movies throughout the flights in a loop (which means that you can’t fast forward, pause, etc…). Since there are only a few looping movies, and you will be on board the 737 for more than 10 hours in one day (if you do the whole Island Hopper in one segment), you might want to bring some of your own entertainment. All seats in economy plus and first class come with power outlets, although seats in the regular economy section are not fitted with them. There is no wifi fitted on board these aircraft, so please be aware that you will not be connected on all flights. On longer segments of the Island Hopper, you will receive warm meals on board in all travel classes, although you may want to pack food at your originating destination, as food at stopping airports is not widely available.

Booking The United Island Hopper:

The best way to book the island hopper is through the United website. As stated earlier, the island hopper only runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays departing from Honolulu. Theoretically, you can fly straight from Honolulu to Guam, but if you really want to get a taste of any of the islands, I recommend that you stop at one or two of them for two-three nights in between the days that the Island Hopper runs. Flying directly from Honolulu to Guam, it costs around $1,300 in economy class, around $1,500 in economy plus, and around $1,600 in business class. Please also note that you can select different seats on board each flight and that you can upgrade on one segment without upgrading on another segment.

Booking A Full Island Hopper Itinerary

One way on the full island hopper itinerary, economy class costs 27,000 miles per person and business class costs 110,000 per person, which is a very steep award price if you ask me for just a recliner seat. So basically, don’t book with miles in business class unless you have a million United miles.

You can also buy tickets from any of the stops along the route to any other stop. Generally, booking all the way from Honolulu to Guam in any travel class will be much cheaper than booking separate tickets from island to island, so it’s not like each segment has a fixed price that gets added up to a grand total amount that you get if you book all the way through. From what I can see, intra-island flights excluding Honolulu cost a bit less than $400 in economy, and cost around $450 in business class. Finally, if you are one of the people that only wants to travel from Honolulu to Guam, United has a nonstop flight in between the two cities on a 777 which takes a fraction of the time of what the Island Hopper takes.

United Airlines recently did an episode of their behind the scenes documentary series Big Metal Bird on the Island Hopper; you can watch it below to get some more history on it.

Bottom Line:

The Island Hopper is probably the most unique flight in the entire world. It acts as a lifeline for multiple Micronesian islands, as well as providing the world a way to see some of the most remote places on the planet. While you probably won’t get fantastic service on board and you probably don’t want to spend over 12 hours on a 737, the experience of taking the Island Hopper is well worth it, due to the exclusivity and beauty of the places you visit with the Island Hopper.

Have you ever flown on the United Island Hopper? Share about your experience below!