CNN host Richard Quest recently flew United’s “Island Hopper” route, a rite of passage for every AvGeek. Let’s review what the Island Hopper is and why it is one of United’s most consequential flights.
Rite Of Passage: Richard Quest Experiences The United Airlines Island Hopper
Three times per week, a United 737-800 takes off from Honolulu just as the sun begins to rise, making five stops enroute to Guam:
- Majuro
- Kwajalein
- Kosrae
- Pohnpei
- Chuuk
The journey is retraced in the opposite direction from Guam, flying mostly in darkness.
These flights are a lifeline to the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia, delivering food, supplies, and mail. They are also a lot of fun to fly.
Ground stops are one hour or less and United carries a second pair of pilots and a mechanic with spare parts to fix any minor maintenance issues that may arise. If a flight does have a more serious mechanical issue, a back-up must be flown in from Guam…leaving passengers often to go home with United staff. Tourist infrastructure is very limited on these islands.
Back in February, Quest, the affable host of CNN’s Quest Means Business program, flew from Guam (GUM) to Honolulu (HNL) on UA155, making several stops en route.
That trip report has now aired on CNN and it’s worth four minutes of your time:
It has been a decade since I’ve flown the United Island Hopper (in the opposite direction from Honolulu to Guam on UA154) and I have very fond memories of the journey. In fact, I hope to do it again before I get too old and take my kids alongs…
You can see some pictures from my own journey here.
> Read More: Fond Memories Of United Airlines’ Island Hopper
Have you flown the United Island Hopper? Did you enjoy it? Honestly, I loved it…even if 14 hours is a long time to be on a 737-800! Quest’s trip has reignited my desire to fly the Island Hopper again.
Jesus! At least the last junkie CNN used for a traveling show wasn’t a homosexual pervert, although he did hang himself over a relationship.
“ In 2008, Quest was arrested in New York City’s Central Park “with some drugs in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot.”
This guy makes TPG seem almost normal*
*For another gay drug addict.
Why, Dave? Richard is a very nice man. When we learn from our mistakes, we grow as humans.
Do we know he did? Did the other 2 guys I mentioned ever learn? Unfortunately one is gone and the other is rumored to still be living the same lifestyle.
And what was his mistake? The drugs or the perverted sexual actions? Many was argue his only mistake was getting caught and those are his life choices.
Your statement is correct only when one determines what is a mistake and does make better choices based on it. No clue if that’s at play here.
I’m talking about the drug, at least legally.
It’s a common theory that people who obsess continuously on other’s lifestyles, judging them as deviant or perverted -whether illegal or not, are often the ones who are doing it themselves and looking to divert attention or redeem their own perversions within their mind. I wonder, Dave, if you are hiding behind these obsessions yourself? Your statements here are more than just an occasional banter. You are doing this regularly. Obsessively even.
That’s it. I also called out Biden for 4 years because I’m a closeted liberal and bashed him to hide my own embarrassment at being a freeloading bum living on the government dole while being jealous of successful individuals that worked hard while going senile.
I also write about Ilhan Omar because I secretly married my sister and wear a towel on my head while smelling like a camel I also F’d.
My guess is you are a Trump Republican at heart since you obsess on him as well. Probably want to service him as well based on your posts.
Who you referring to?
Rope or no rope?
Quest has the coolest job. Really great guy, and considering he’s such a UA fanboy (I mean this in a friendly way) I can’t believe it took him so long to fly the island hopper. I flew it in 2012 and I remember it as one of the happiest days in my life.
Everything from the early morning at HNL, to the boxed lunch I bought inside MAJ, to the bare bones nature of the FSM airports, to the weird feeling of walking around Guam that evening. I’d love to do it again.
Any way around the new 125k point cost, even in economy, for these MileagePlus flights most days? A few 45k days lying around but very inconvenient
Is that how much it costs for economy?! Yikes. If I do it again, it has to be in business class.
Of course, the issue is he almost certainly didn’t pay for the flights. CNN doesn’t normally allow its journalists to take freebies but Richard Quest seems to have an exception because he is well-known for taking free flights in exchange for a segment on his CNN show. It’s very unethical if you ask me.
I think that’s a fair concern, but Quest strikes me as someone like Sam Chui: more an entertainer than an objective journalist when it comes to his flight reviews (versus his Quest on Money program).
First time I heard him, I thought he was a Monty Python joke. Then, I realized they took him seriously. He is still a guy who talks and says things that no sane person believes. A complete worthless journalist, like 95 % of them.
I was overly harsh in this post, and I apologize.
Quest’s dubious past aside, he is a terrible reporter.
Very odd choice to host a travel or any TV show.
He is queer is more ways than one.