Flying from Australasia to North America, island-hopping in the Pacific

Has anyone done this lately?? I have done it some years ago, first with Air New Zealand from LA to Sydney via Tahiti, Cook Is. and NZ. And later bach from Sydney to Santiago via NZ, Tahiti and Easter Is.

But these trips were over 8 years ago...

I would like to hear more recent experiences, because I am in the process of planning my trip from either Singapore or Sydney to LA. Anybody knows what are the best airlines in this route for island-hopping? What are good stops, apart from the ones I mentioned above? Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Micronesia, Hawaii... what else is available??

Also, if anybody knows about these type of flights leaving from Hong Kong or Manila, please share your knowledge!

I am interested very interested in your ideas!!!

Thanks very much!!!

Edited by: quebraley

The possibilities of island hopping in the SP have dropped quite a bit in the past 2 years. I would suggest you have a look at the route maps of the airlines that service the area and you might be able to figure out a plan from there. A good site to check is www.airtimetable.com - they have route maps for oceania. I know you can island hop from Manila to Hawaii through the islands in Micronesia but you can only do so with Air Micronesia and it will be costly! We flew into Fiji in 2006 and were able to do a triangle route to Vanuatu - New Caledonia- Fiji, if you are starting from Sydney you could fly to New Caledonia first, then Vanuatu and on to Fiji. From there you can get to Honolulu. Hope this helps!

Air Pacific hava a new "pass" (Bula pass?) that gives you stops from Nadi for, I think $120, but that wont get you back to the US

Air New Zealand flies from Auckland to LA via either Papeete or Rarotonga and returns via Samoa then Tonga to Auckland. That gives you 3 pacific island destinations for the price of a RT ticket Auckland to LA.

www.airtimetable.com is a great idea, but has not been updated recently. 2 examples: Pacific Blue now fly twice a week to Honiara, and Our Airline, formerly Air Nauru, not longer flies onward from Nauru to other parts of Micronesia.
Does anyone know if any other airline now flies to Nauru?