Ken Kurtis
Contributor
(I'm a huge fan of Yap so maybe I'm prejudiced but . . .)
United is putting the screws to Yap starting January 8 next year. Normally, you fly to Guam, have a short layover, and then get on a 737 to Yap. That plane lands around 10PM, then continues on to Palau, turns around and returns to Yap a few hours later, and then heads back up to Guam. So it's always been very easy to go from Yap to Palau and from Palau to Yap. That means it was very easy to do time in Yap and then continue on to Palau or vice-versa. No more as of next year.
Basically, United is eliminating the Yap-Palau-Yap portion. Getting to Yap's no problem. The plane will now leave Guam around 10:30PM and arrive in Yap at 1AM. (But there's still only two flights per week.) Getting to Palau is no problem as there's an evening flight direct from Guam into Palau which runs five days a week. (You can also get into Palau through Manila.)
But if you want to go from Yap to Palau, or from Palau to Yap, you can still do it, but now you'll have to fly up to Guam, endure a long (12-17 hours) layover, and then fly down to the other island. This will hurt Yap more than Palau as a lot of times, people (incorrectly and short-sightedly) view Yap as an add-on to Palau and when you make it tougher to transit between the two, you're likely going to lose business on the Yap end of it.
Jeers and angry finger-wagging for United.
United is putting the screws to Yap starting January 8 next year. Normally, you fly to Guam, have a short layover, and then get on a 737 to Yap. That plane lands around 10PM, then continues on to Palau, turns around and returns to Yap a few hours later, and then heads back up to Guam. So it's always been very easy to go from Yap to Palau and from Palau to Yap. That means it was very easy to do time in Yap and then continue on to Palau or vice-versa. No more as of next year.
Basically, United is eliminating the Yap-Palau-Yap portion. Getting to Yap's no problem. The plane will now leave Guam around 10:30PM and arrive in Yap at 1AM. (But there's still only two flights per week.) Getting to Palau is no problem as there's an evening flight direct from Guam into Palau which runs five days a week. (You can also get into Palau through Manila.)
But if you want to go from Yap to Palau, or from Palau to Yap, you can still do it, but now you'll have to fly up to Guam, endure a long (12-17 hours) layover, and then fly down to the other island. This will hurt Yap more than Palau as a lot of times, people (incorrectly and short-sightedly) view Yap as an add-on to Palau and when you make it tougher to transit between the two, you're likely going to lose business on the Yap end of it.
Jeers and angry finger-wagging for United.