[Go197]

A little over 2 weeks later, a refund for £1100 of the original £1700 has hit my card entirely automatically.

Of course, I’ve still spent quite a lot of money and will have to spend even more for another attempt at the hopper, but at least I’ve got back a significant sum with zero time, effort, or hassle.

I wish they’d done a far better job on the day, but I can’t fault the fairness and speed of their refund procedure.

[Go197]

I retract my earlier praise. Intercontinental Chiang Mai rooms are cramped, breakfast in the club lounge was poor, and although the evening service in the lounge is still very nice it is the same menu and cocktails as yesterday, and that’s disappointing.

[Go197]

Good evening from the club lounge at Intercontinental Chiang Mai.

Club Intercontinental varies widely. Hong Kong, rubbish. Bangkok excellent.

First time at Chiang Mai, and it’s a really good one.

Beautiful space, superb food, good drinks (not quite a match for Bangkok), great service.

I go the Bangkok IC very often from my base in Samui. IC Chiang Mai is now going to get more visits.

[Go197]

redlilly wrote:

Oh no!! That’s awful news ☹️. Sounds like a complete nightmare situation.

Very basic question – are the aeroplanes United have on this route and their other routes in the Pacific “up to scratch” or are they on their last legs? As you say this route is regularly hacked and chopped, often due to plane maintenance issues. I completely appreciate the remoteness of the locations, logistics etc.

I get the impression the Micronesia fleet is indeed very much on its last legs.

I thought I had fairly good chances given good weather, but I think the reality is that until United spends some cash on aircraft instead of throwing it all at hotel and meal vouchers for stranded passengers there is an unusually high chance of becoming one of those stranded passengers

[Go197]

John wrote:

If I were to do this flight I’d want to get off and see every island “properly” – yes expensive but I’m only going to go there once.

With infinite time and infinite money, so would I. I could only pick one, and I was looking forward to seeing what life is like on the tiny strip of sand that is Majuro.

The other stops are popular with divers, but as a non-diving, non-swimming, non-watersports person there wasn’t much appeal for me.

The flight schedules are a long way short of daily, so it can be tricky to find a schedule that doesn’t force far too much time in one place or no time at all.

I’m now in Palau, where there is much more to do that meets my interests. In particular there’s a lot of second world stuff.

Same on Saipan, where I will be heading next, if United can find a 737 that actually works. The war in the Pacific was of course a large part of the reason why these routes and the US territories exist out here.

Along with the Hopper, United flies to Palau, Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands), and Yap (Micronesia), so once you’ve made the long trek to get out here there’s quite a lot of places to see fairly close by.

Guam was quite interesting. A slice of USA dropped in the Pacific. It put me in mind of Reunion, which is a slice of what looks and feels just like mainland France dropped in the sea off the east coast of Africa.

[Go197]

I knew that delays were common, but I wasn’t prepared enough for a complete cancellation right at the start, or for the United agent being so utterly unhelpful.

In hindsight, if I was going to try this again, now knowing that a complete cancellation will usually be reattempted the following day, I would allow 4 or 5 days extra in Guam between my scheduled return and and onwards flights.

The problem there is that Guam accommodation is not cheap, and it was hard to find any that allowed cancellation up to day of check-in or even a day before. I can’t imagine HNL being a cheap place to build in a buffer either.

Also if you plan to overnight at one of the islands then on most there are few accommodation options and they also aren’t cheap.

[Go197]

1pm Guam airport.

I’m getting into a taxi with 2x taxi vouchers, 3x $20 meal vouchers, and 1 voucher for some dump of a hotel.

And I do not have any flight on the hopper.

All this way, all that expense, all the time spent planning and researching. Nothing.

The United lady was so unhelpful, and I couldn’t find enough info for flight schedules on my phone in the airport while talking to her to be able to figure out how I would get back to link up with my flight to Tokyo, and all my plans that follow that.

I could have flown the hopper the following day – with the same risks of chaos – then have to find 2 nights accom on tiny Majuro – maybe sleeping on the beach – with the possibility of being stuck there longer if another flight was cancelled because they only go 2x per week, then not knowing what flights would get me to Saipan and back to Tokyo and all this time the United lady refusing to help.

She was awful. On reflection I think a different agent could have worked something out, but I ended so annoyed and flustered and feeling time running out with no clear set of options to consider and I became resigned to not flying the hopper.

I tried to speak to another agent and she just said “you’ll have to go online”

United Airlines – Your agnets at GUM are horrible and unhelpful.

[Go197]

11:30am. Guam airport check-in desks.

We’ve been escorted back through an unstaffed immigration to collect bags and then there was a foot race to get in the queue for rebooking. I need to try to get the window seats again or it’s pointless.

The lady from United is awful. Completely unhelpful.

“You can fly tomorrow” she says.

Ok, great, and what about coming back?

“What do you mean?”

Well I was booked to go to MAJ today and back on the Hopper tomorrow.

“But that flight will have gone before you get there”

Er, yes, I know, that’s why I need you to help rebook.

“Well that’s not my problem. What do you want me to do?”

“Well what flights are available to get back from Maj and join back up with my return flight to Tokyo from Saipan?

“As I said, you can fly the to MAJ tomorrow. We have to put safety first.”

So how do I get back from MAJ? What flights can you get me on?

“So you want me to cancel?”

Oh good grief.

This went on for some time, and it only got worse.

[Go197]

10:30am. I’m onboard a United 737 flying in circles just east if Guam to burn fuel before we can land.

My head is also going around in circles. What now? Is it going to be cancelled? Hopefully just a delay, maybe an aircraft swap, maybe they’ll skip some of the later island stops but surely there must be chance I’ll still get to see some of it.

We land, but they don’t deplane. What’s happening?

“Ladies and gentleman, pilot speaking. We’re taking a look to see if it’s a quick fix. It’ll be another 20 or 30 minutes or so.

11am. We’re still here, they are still working on it. There must be hope or they would have got rid of us already.

I decide to use the facilities so I can be ready for the eventual resumption of the flight. As I pass the galley, I overhear the FAs.

“Completely cancelled”

[Go197]

8:30am. I board, completely this time, and take up position in 2F.

As we get airborne I’m treated to gorgeous views of a sunny Guam and I’m so happy to be going.

We’re in the air, at the very least going somewhere east, and they haven’t yet said we’ll be missing out any of the hopper stops because the delay was only 90 minutes.

Given my excitement and eagerness to take a million photos from the window I’m stunned to notice that everyone else I can see has their window shades down. People are sleeping.

Seats 1A and 1B have two spare pilots, who are already sleeping. Their seats reline so far they are touching the armrests of row 2, where the seats are full of the pilots bags. That explains why those 4 seats were never available on the seatmap. I hope they’ve been modified for the that recline because if 1F does the same he’ll be literally on my knees.

Meal service begins and I choose the french toast. I’m so hungry! And still so excited.

“This is the captain speaking. We have a light on in the cockpit and it’s one we cant ignore. We’ll be returning to Guam.”

I’m no longer hungry…

[Go197]

It’s 7am and I’m at gate 18 in GUM airport with my 5 boarding passes for the hopper in hand. Seat 2F all the way, and nervously excited like a child.

Boarding begins, my boarding pass is scanned, beep. “Have a nice flight!”

The grin on my face! We’re off, it’s happening, on schedule, and the weather is glorious.

“Wait! Wait! come back!”

Oh no.

They’re calling everyone back.

“Passengers of UA155 we regret to inform you that the pilot is not happy with the aircraft and we will not be boarding. Please take a seat.”

There isn’t even a murmur from the assembled passengers. Everyone seems unperturbed, listening to the happy Hawaiian music over the tannoy. Obviously well used to this, and as usually seems true in lands with white sand, coconuts and mangoes, the people have a very Hakuna Matata approach to life.

Water and bags of crisps are brought out.

At last, an announcement says they’re found another 737 laying around unused. Once they load up the catering, we’ll be off.

Happy joy joy.

[Go197]

That is a great result, and a nice long flight to enjoy it on.

When you’ve had enough of the Champagne, give the Cardamom Karak Chai a go.

And don’t be shy asking for more of the utterly delicious dates and chocolates!

[Go197]

I haven’t yet had to make a claim, so this is not worth much, but I chose Cover4Rentals because when comparing prices, cover levels, terms & conditions, and details of how to claim, they looked the best.

I paid £62 for annual worldwide cover including CDW (£48 without) and a maximum rental period of 31 days.

[Go197]

Wiseoldman wrote:

Got an email from RJ to extend the GS status that was expiring

You’re invited to an exclusive opportunity to restore your Gold SPARROW status with the Royal Club.

For just a one-time payment of $350, you can unlock all the premium perks of Gold SPARROW through 01 January 2027.

When did your status expire?

Mine expired today. So far no offer to extend, and I hope to get that chance.

[Go197]

I stayed at Le Mersenne and I would heartily recommend absolutely anywhere else.

[Go197]

Can’t believe I forgot to mention that my trip starts with the bit I’m most excited about: the United Airlines Micronesia Island Hopper!

[Go197]

My first trip this year is 203 days long, including
– entering the Hua Hin Championship road cycling race
– cycling around Thailand, Cambodia and Laos
– motorcycling the Mustang valley in Nepal and the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan
– looking out for polar bears in Svalbard
– taking a few saunas in the Aland islands

plus short breaks in Hong Kong, Dubai, Baku, Istanbul, Oslo and Helsinki

8 (out of 21) destinations for the first time, moving me up to 134 on my target list of 246 countries, overseas territories, foreign dependencies etc.

This will be my airport sequence from Jan to Aug with 47 flights on 17 airlines and a mere 11 different aircraft types:

LHR-DOH-NRT-GUM-TKK-PNI-KSA-KWA-MAJ-KWA-KSA-PNI-TKK-GUM-ROR-GUM-SPN-NRT-HKG-BKK-CNX-HKT-USM-BKK-DMK-KTM-PKR-KTM-BKK-USM-BKK-SAI-LPQ-BKK-USM-HKT-KUL-HKT-USM-BKK-ISB-GIL-ISB-DXB-GYD-IST-BEG-OSL-LYR-OSL-HEL-LHR

Plus 10 hire cars, 5 ferries, 3 trains, 13 shuttle buses, 20 taxis, 18 limos, 1 boat, 6 bicycles, 1 quadbike, 4 motorcycles, and 19 Club Intercontinental lounges

[Go197]

Highlight: Walking through the jaw-dropping Wadi Al Disah in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, which feels like going back in time.

Lowlight: Staying at the Radisson Blu in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia, which feels like going back in time….

[Go197]

Saltrams wrote:

where can I actually see the change to be certain it has been done

On the website in Manage Booking

Scroll down to Passenger Details

Click on your Passenger Name / E-ticket number

A pop-up appears with your FF number (which will probably still be your QR number because they hold both numbers in the system), but it will also have your tier, which should be GOLD for oneworld Sapphire / RJ Gold Sparrow

[Go197]

rk1 wrote:

I spoke to a Qatar agent last night on the app and he said I still need to pay for seat selection even after the status match. Has anyone else had this experience?

rk1 wrote:

@JDB – that’s exactly the wording the Qatar agent gave me.

Well which one was it?

“he said I still need to pay for seat selection”

or “Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating” is “in accordance with the individual policy of the oneworld airline operating the flight.”

[Go197]

And again, this is what QR says it will do. Actually.

“Seats selection is available at no additional cost for Platinum and Gold Privilege Club members and their accompanying passengers in the same booking reference. This is also applicable for the members of equivalent oneworld loyalty programmes.”

[Go197]

rk1 wrote:

I spoke to a Qatar agent last night on the app and he said I still need to pay for seat selection even after the status match. Has anyone else had this experience?

The agent was wrong.

RJ Gold is oneworld sapphire and gives you free seat selection.

Contact QR to add your RJ number to your booking and then you can immediately book seats for free. I did it yesterday.

You don’t need to ask an agent about this. https://www.qatarairways.com/en/optional-services-and-fees.html

“Seats selection is available at no additional cost for Platinum and Gold Privilege Club members and their accompanying passengers in the same booking reference. This is also applicable for the members of equivalent oneworld loyalty programmes.”

Why were you even talking to a QR agent about an RJ status match?

[Go197]

S879 wrote:

Considering Melia Da Nang for a family of 4. How does the location and overall experience compare to Marriott and Hilton there? The latter two are working out much more expensive. Was Melia’s Level lounge any good? Marriott’s and Hilton’s 2-3 bedroom suites look far superior to Melia’s Level 2 bedroom suite, but just weighing if it’s worth paying twice the money. Melia hotels in Vietnam are looking quite reasonable overall.

Can’t answer for Melia Da Nanag, but I stayed at Melia Hue, Ha Tinh, and Thanh Hoa.

Hue and Thanh Hoa are both wonderful, and very good value, with a great Level lounge and superb service.

They will be my first choice on the next visit.

They are all run by the Vinpearl group, and if they represent the standard of Melia in Vietnam then you can’t go wrong.

Melia Ha Tinh is also very good but not quite the same standard. You’ll probably never go there. Nobody does.

When I went to the shopping mall under the hotel everybody in the place stared at me as though I was a green space alien.

They followed me around, watching every move.

Eventually, one boy of about 8 came over and said in perfect english, “hello. what’s your name?”

The assembled crowd gasped.

Quite surreal, especially when Hue has loads of foreign tourists, Thanh Hoa has loads of foreign tourists, but halfway between them is this place where a foreigner gets the same reaction as would Tom Cruise in your local Lidl

[Go197]

£1200 for 8hrs + 7hrs in QSuite sounds like a bargain to me.

More like £3200 the other direction, and it’s typically £2700 just from SIN to DOH!

[Go197]

Michael C wrote:

@Go197 completely agree with the FCC and the Victoria (shame!)

Must admit I’m a bit shocked by the prices of everything! Without wishing to generalise, bit tough
on, say, many Thai and Vietnamese tourists.

International brand hotels, yep, but that’s the same everywhere.

Still some wonderful food at very cheap prices, local transportation is dirt cheap, and a 7 day pass for Angkor at $72 is a steal.