Circumventing United's monopoly: Finding alternate routes between Guam and US mainland

By Jeffrey Teruel

(Flights in Asia) -- For residents of Guam, "going off-island" is another expense associated with living in one of the most isolated U.S. territories. While there are several airlines serving the island, United holds a near-monopoly on air routes to and from Guam, as well as the only connection to a U.S. state, Hawaii.

Despite complaints, online petitions and even local government officials addressing the high cost of travel from the island with United, little has changed. Rather than continuing to complain about United's fares, it is long overdue to take a different approach to address the high cost of air travel from Guam to the U.S. mainland and Hawaii.

With its daily Guam-Honolulu flights and the island-hopper route, United is the lone airline offering direct flights from the island to any point in the U.S. United also offers connecting options to the U.S. via Tokyo Narita Airport.

Through a joint venture partnership with Japan-based All Nippon Airways, some of the connecting flights to the U.S. from Tokyo are operated by ANA. This is not a practice exclusive to United and ANA.

It might surprise many that while not operating their own flights using

their own aircraft to Guam, United's U.S.-based competitors, such as Delta and American, offer flight bookings to the island. Through an aviation industry practice known as codeshare flights, airlines sell tickets for flights operated by another carrier. These flight options could be found and booked on their websites.

The codeshare flight options to Guam by Delta and American are possible through their own joint venture partnerships with their Asia-based partners.

In South Korea, Delta heavily relies on its joint venture partner Korean Air for connections via Seoul Incheon to other points in Asia. Competing with United/ANA in Japan, American has its own joint venture partnership with ANA's leading rival carrier, Japan Airlines.

Using the existing JAL and Korean Air flights to/from Guam, American and

Delta still sell tickets to Guam, even without being present on the island.

The joint venture partnerships between the three major U.S. carriers and their Japan and South Korea-based partners allow for them to coordinate their flight schedules, marketing and cost/revenue-sharing on flights operated by each other to serve certain destinations where they do not usually operate themselves.

These partnerships have been approved by local government regulators and in markets covered under their agreements.

In the case of the U.S.-based carriers and Guam, these partnerships are approved and regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Even with this discovery, there is still a catch in the present. Similar to United's current flight options, quick searches on their websites may show much higher fares in the $2,000 to $3,000 range for tickets from the U.S. mainland to Guam. Tickets from Guam to the U.S. mainland are more difficult to find. 

This is something that needs to be addressed to airlines such as Delta and American. Guam residents and officials should request them to open up bookings for travel from the island on these joint venture and codeshare

covered operations. A reduction of the fares on the codeshare-operated flights would help make them viable options to better compete with United's current offerings.

With existing joint venture partnerships and tickets already sold for travel to Guam from the U.S. using a combination of U.S.- and Asia-based carriers, it is an indirect route to ask United's U.S.-based competitors that do not serve Guam directly to provide more travel options and reduce the cost of airfares from the island.

This would help not just local residents of Guam to travel to the U.S. mainland, but also former residents who wish to visit their family and friends, each way.

Jeffrey Teruel is a programmer, writer and founder of Flights in Asia (www.flightsinasia.com),  a blog and YouTube channel that covers the aviation industry and travel scene in the Asia-Pacific.

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