POE selection

[DinaBill 5]

Aloha kakou,

 

We received our NOA2 and are awaiting our MNL number. So we're thinking ahead/daydreaming. For POE our choices are Guam and Honolulu.

 

Guam pros - 

She arrives in the middle of the night with a 2+ hour layover. My thinking is the immigration process would be less hectic.

Bags would be checked to Honolulu so she could focus on getting thru immigration and nothing more.

Easier to estimate when to book inter-island flight from Honolulu coz in theory she would buzz thru Honolulu customs.

Guam cons -

Long-assed day

 

Honolulu pros -

Direct flight from Manila.

Honolulu cons -

Customs/immigration would be busier and less predictable time-wise

Between immigration, getting bags and getting to interisland terminal, almost impossible to estimate when to book flight out of Honolulu.

 

To me Guam wins. Am I neglecting anything??

 

[canadian_wife 1,823]

Have you discussed these pros and cons with your fiancé since she is the one that will be traveling?  What does she think?  Also, have you seen the POE reviews?

 

https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/poereviews.php

 

Good luck

[wildbug100420 130]

5 hours ago, DinaBill said:

Aloha kakou,

 

We received our NOA2 and are awaiting our MNL number. So we're thinking ahead/daydreaming. For POE our choices are Guam and Honolulu.

 

Guam pros - 

She arrives in the middle of the night with a 2+ hour layover. My thinking is the immigration process would be less hectic.

Bags would be checked to Honolulu so she could focus on getting thru immigration and nothing more.

Easier to estimate when to book inter-island flight from Honolulu coz in theory she would buzz thru Honolulu customs.

Guam cons -

Long-assed day

 

Honolulu pros -

Direct flight from Manila.

Honolulu cons -

Customs/immigration would be busier and less predictable time-wise

Between immigration, getting bags and getting to interisland terminal, almost impossible to estimate when to book flight out of Honolulu.

 

To me Guam wins. Am I neglecting anything??

 

Bags would still have to be claimed in Guam and cleared by customs before rechecking. This is true regardless of where you enter and connected domestically. 

[DELTAFOXTROT 64]

Entering the USA on K1 is very simple and doesn't take long or longer than entering with a GreenCard or US Passport.  I entered with my pinay, quick and easy.

 

Direct Flight would win anytime for me, I pick Honolulu

[top_secret 2,456]

I wouldn't make the choice based on anything other than what was the most convenient and/or economically desirable flights.  Any port of entry would be fine.

[DinaBill 5]

She agreed with me on Guam. But now what I am reading about having to get bags changes everything. My gut says getting bags, going thru immigration, rechecking bags and getting to gate in 2.5 hrs is way too risky. There is only one Guam/Honolulu flight a day. You miss it, you're screwed.

 

So would this be the sequence of events using Honolulu as the POE? -

1. Hop on PAL and fly fly fly.

2. Grab bags in Honolulu.

3. Go thru C&I.

4. Go to inter-island terminal.

5. Either fly out or try to get earlier/later flight as necessary.

 

bc

 

 

[top_secret 2,456]

From the perspective of a Filipina landing for her first time in America, I would guess that the number one, all important, overriding everything, consideration would be, to have you waiting at the door just past customs. My wife was a very experienced traveler and I'm quite certain she could have pulled off any kind of domestic connection without help, but I still met her at the port of entry, just because.  I drove from San Diego to Los Angeles which is no big sacrifice.  If I were in Hawaii and needed to take an intra-island flight to meet her on the ground in Honolulu, I would have readily done that.

[DinaBill 5]

Nice thought but not practical. I would have no way to get into international terminal without a ticket. The best I could do is meet her at the gate she would be leaving from. And by then, she's past 99.99999999999% of the difficulties. She got 'em. Also I think me getting a ticket only to turn around and come home would raise suspicions. 

[Lemonslice 4,917]

3 hours ago, DinaBill said:

Nice thought but not practical. I would have no way to get into international terminal without a ticket. The best I could do is meet her at the gate she would be leaving from. And by then, she's past 99.99999999999% of the difficulties. She got 'em. Also I think me getting a ticket only to turn around and come home would raise suspicions. 

 

I have had to take flights to and from destinations on the same day more than a few times, it was never a problem.  

 

In your situation, if the costs are comparable, I would have your partner fly to Honolulu.  Should there be any delay (mechanical, weather, crew timing out, or whatever else), she would already be closer to her final destination AND there is more airport resources (alternate flights, entertainment/stores on site, etc.)

 

Book both legs together with the airline, if she unfortunately has to be put on a later flight, it is much, much, easier to deal with the airline, than with a third-party vendor.  

[DinaBill 5]

We decided on Honolulu. After thinking about it, Guam was a huge gamble. She would arrive in HNL at 10:20am. Flights to Maui are every 30 minutes till 9pm. And Hawaiian is very accommodating about moving you to an earlier/later flight than what was booked. 

[DELTAFOXTROT 64]

11 hours ago, DinaBill said:

We decided on Honolulu. After thinking about it, Guam was a huge gamble. She would arrive in HNL at 10:20am. Flights to Maui are every 30 minutes till 9pm. And Hawaiian is very accommodating about moving you to an earlier/later flight than what was booked. 

Is the airport mostly outside? I used to fly to Hawaii a few times, but it's been 20 years since I was there.  I always enjoyed vacationing there, its a cool and beautiful state.

 

[MarJhi 963]

Honolulu would be our pick. I had my wife fly through HON with a connecting flight to PHX in May of last year. We picked that so she would have the least amount of connections possible and no connecting flight in other countries. She said it was a super easy time in customs, only took a minute or 2 and she was on to waiting for her flight to Phoenix. She had never flown before and was a little concerned about navigating a much larger airport like LAX before coming to Phoenix. Section from he said everyone in HON was very nice and helpful. The only thing they asked her was if she had any chicharrónes in her bag 😁

 

On a side note. On her connection from HON to PHX she sat in a wrong seat, a first class seat. A young woman in a military uniform said "excuse me, I think you are in my seat". My wife started to get up but the young woman smiled and asked her what seat she was supposed to be in. She showed her the boarding pass and the seat was back in coach. The military woman told her to stay in first class seat and she took her seat in coach. Could not have been a better experience on her first trip and first time in the US. 

[DinaBill 5]

8 hours ago, DELTAFOXTROT said:

Is the airport mostly outside? I used to fly to Hawaii a few times, but it's been 20 years since I was there.  I always enjoyed vacationing there, its a cool and beautiful state.

 

20 years is a long time. You wouldn't recognize the airport. Sadly you wouldn't recognize Hawai`i period.

[DELTAFOXTROT 64]

14 hours ago, DinaBill said:

20 years is a long time. You wouldn't recognize the airport. Sadly you wouldn't recognize Hawai`i period.

I made about 8 vacations there.

 

Loved the place, I think I have been to like 5 Islands, I used to go to place called Sandy Beach and just love body surfing in the big waves there, I think that was close to Oahu.  

 

I gonna go back in October and check it out, I only have good memories.

 

 

[Talako 785]

16 hours ago, DinaBill said:

20 years is a long time. You wouldn't recognize the airport. Sadly you wouldn't recognize Hawai`i period.

I was stationed in Pearl Harbor for 4 years over 30 years ago.  I vowed to never return.  

 

I've kept that vow.