Truk and an aborted Trip - Thanks United

[KevinG58]

I was stranded on Truk (I know, was that so bad?) a couple of years a go when weather closed GUM. Roughly 20 other divers were stranded with me. United would not fly the outbound leg from HON and turn back, they were only going onward to GUM, whenever it was open again. It ended up an extra three days (and being weather related they would not cover any expenses),

At least once a day we would all receive an e-mail that our reservation was canceled, please contact United to reschedule instead of them automatically rolling it over, as typically happens here in the states. It was almost dog eat dog (yes that is a bit of an exaggeration) to get a seat. It was simply a different very confused and difficult to communicate in and out of, world.

I had purchased travel insurance through DAN for this jaunt and they rather painlessly covered my extra days at the Blue Lagoon, and a night on GUM waiting for my flight back to SFO. I think the extra cost I incurred was pretty much equal to the cost of the insurance

Tried to fly to Truk on 10/06/2015 but the flight did not land due to bad local weather and shortage of fule to do a second approach (why no spare fuel given a long ocean voyage).

On to Pohnpei and that's where we are stuck along with 70 odd other travellers. First thing United rep says is WE WILL NOT PAY FOR ACCOMODATION. What an approach to dealing with people dislocated in air travel. Locals all rush to the counter as they know the form, so us Caucasians expect united to look after us, but no.

Mainly locals rebook and we are screwed. We ask for a recue flight since 70 people and a small island and no accommodation past 2 days. Tuff, not our problem.

Await Thursday flight but little chance of getting on. maybe Saturday, maybe not, maybe Sunday but a smaller planer so maybe not. Can we get a bigger plane and do this right, NO.

Many have missed out on Truk due to only having a small window to get there and dive. This sucks big time. We accept missing the landing and moving on. But accountants come in and dictate what happens next. Never mind the passengers and moral obligations.

Perhaps a bigger plane sunday, oh no not really.

Pohnpei has a conference now no motel rooms, tuff. Sleep at airport.

So if you consider going to Truk, this is what might happen. Apparently this happened regularly, so take care.

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

Hey Kevin, what do you mean when you said "United would not fly the outbound leg from HON and turn back, they were only going onward to GUM,

 

[Kevrumbo]

Tried to fly to Truk on 10/06/2015 but the flight did not land due to bad local weather and shortage of fule to do a second approach (why no spare fuel given a long ocean voyage).

On to Pohnpei and that's where we are stuck along with 70 odd other travellers. First thing United rep says is WE WILL NOT PAY FOR ACCOMODATION. What an approach to dealing with people dislocated in air travel. Locals all rush to the counter as they know the form, so us Caucasians expect united to look after us, but no.

Mainly locals rebook and we are screwed. We ask for a recue flight since 70 people and a small island and no accommodation past 2 days. Tuff, not our problem.

Await Thursday flight but little chance of getting on. maybe Saturday, maybe not, maybe Sunday but a smaller planer so maybe not. Can we get a bigger plane and do this right, NO.

Many have missed out on Truk due to only having a small window to get there and dive. This sucks big time. We accept missing the landing and moving on. But accountants come in and dictate what happens next. Never mind the passengers and moral obligations.

Perhaps a bigger plane sunday, oh no not really.

Pohnpei has a conference now no motel rooms, tuff. Sleep at airport.

So if you consider going to Truk, this is what might happen. Apparently this happened regularly, so take care.

The only direct United Airline route to Truk (Chuuk) is through their Guam hub (GUM) on the smaller 737 jetliner:

GUM to TKK (Chuuk) -late pm Sunday:
Flight UA 176 -with continuation & final destination PNI (Pohnpei); and

GUM to TKK -am flights on Mon, Wed, and Fri:
UA 155 -with continuation to Pohnpei, Kosrae (Mon & Fri), Kwajalein, Majuro & final destination Honolulu (i.e. UA 155: The long west-to-east bound "Island Hopper" route).

--->If you cannot land at Chuuk and have to de-plane at PNI, go straight to the ticket counter (i.e. "bum-rush" the counter along with the locals), be assertive and insist on getting the next available flight back to Chuuk either on UA 154 for Tues, Thurs or Sat; or on UA 95:

PNI (Pohnpei) to TKK (Chuuk) -early am Monday:
UA 95 -with continuation & final destination GUM
(Note: UA 95 is the early Monday morning "turn-around" flight of the late Sunday UA 176 arrival to PNI above -you would be very lucky to find an available seat for a quick next day return to Weno/Chuuk Int'l Airport).

And so again -complaints & gripes against United aside- what we learned from this unfortunate experience & a few practical tips for the avid Truk Traveller/Diver: Purchase Travel Insurance; get a print-out or download latest flight timetable schedule for the UA flights referenced in bold above to help in re-booking flights; and most of all bring a light weight tropical "sleep-sack"/or portable travel hammock w/ mosquito netting if you have to stay at an "island outpost airport" between Guam and Honolulu (along with hand-sanitizer and a good size roll of toilet paper). . .

----
notes:

United Airlines (Marshall/Micronesia) Island Hopper -AM flights departing Mon, Wed, Fri:

HNL to GUM:
UA 154 -from the East-to-West Island Hopper Route originating from Honolulu.

GUM to HNL:
UA 155 -the West-to-East route from Guam.

Guam & Chuuk are 20 hours ahead of Honolulu. Be aware that the scheduled departing flights from Honolulu of UA 154 show leaving on Mon, Wed & Fri, but actually arrive Tue, Thurs & Sat respectively because of the Int'l Date line. So the Island Hopper UA 154 leaving Honolulu early 730AM on a Monday actually arrives in Chuuk on Tuesday @2-3pm.

http://www.united.com/CMS/Documents/pdfs/route-maps/UAL_WORLD_Map_2015_05_01.pdf