Majuro to Kwajalein

Continental Micronesia CS957 | MAJ/KWA
Economy Class
N14250 | Boeing 737-800
ATD/1049 | ATA/1137

Transit passengers were allowed to disembark and most passengers took the chance to walk around MAJ. Walking out of the aircraft was like walking into a wall of hot air, as it was very humid. The sun was so bright that my eyes hurt. On the horizon were dozens of little islands. MAJ was right on the coast, and on the tarmac was an Air Kiribati ATR42 or ATR72 (not sure which one) and a small turboprop that was probably private-owned.

I walked into the terminal. Baggage claim was a small metal counter about six feet long. I went to the bathroom – it was really smelly! From there, I went to the departure hall – it had four check-in counters and several souvenir stands selling stuff made of straw and beads. There was one bar/restaurant. There were lots of people all over the departure hall, and many others lined up along the perimeter fence. I later noticed that this was the same at all the airports we landed at. In the departure hall, I saw that flight attendant Evelyn had also disembarked and she was chatting with some people. Presumably she was from MAJ.

I made my way back to security – they were rushing us because they wanted to get all transit passengers through before processing the Aloha Air passengers (apparently only one flight at a time could clear security). I walked through two metal detectors without setting them off, but I was still wanded by the security agent, as were all other passengers. I was even asked to take off my shoes. From there, I walked onto the tarmac to see that an Aloha Air 732 had just landed and that their passengers were disembarking. I walked back to my aircraft, and the International Service Manager Ron greeted me and we struck up a brief conversation. He told me he was surprised that about 60 paxs were going to PNI, and I told him that there was a conference there starting Monday.

I went back to my seat and struck up a conversation with my seatmate, a Samoan travelling to Pohnpei for the conference. I noticed that there were about 20 new passengers, about half of whom were Asian. The flight still was only about 80% full. Mercifully, the seat next to me remained unoccupied.

There was no taxiway at MAJ. The aircraft backtracked on the runway, turned around, and took off for KWA. Flying time was 42 minutes. We were served a fruit juice – it tasted like diluted passionfruit juice – and before long we descended to land on a very wet runway at KWA. On the ground at KWA were three military aircraft. I couldn’t identify the type but they looked old, and I couldn’t help but think that this was the Marshall Islands’ entire air defense system.Read more