Southeast Asia: October 2025: Day 7: ROR-NRT inaugural

Southeast Asia

Day 7: ROR-NRT inaugural

Lobby of COVE Resort.

The pool.

Breakfast buffet.

Passable.

More than passable but not exciting.

Lots of character.

Captain McElligott hooked it up-- fresh from the farm.

Not much of a view.

Better view this way.

Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge.

Roman Tmetuchl International Airport, aka Palau International Airport.

No speeches, just fun backdrops and props for the return inaugural, UA 142, ROR-NRT.

So much swag. Cookies!

The rare photo of Will, one of of United's craziest inaugural flight chasers.

More gifts are coming.

All kinds of cup noodle.

Modest but modern airport.

United VIPs and flight crew.

United ROR-NRT inaugural flight gifts.

N33264, ready to go for the return inaugural.

Boarding.

The usually-blocked crew rest seats on United's Guam 737-800 subfleet.

Extended recline and also they have leg rests.

USAF C-130J at ROR.

Taking off.

Fish for lunch.

4hr 5min flight time (actual), 2,075 miles (Flightaware), 1,989 miles (great circle).

N33264 arriving in Narita, just one gate over from N13954, today's ride home.

Quick snack at the United Club. Duck was good, rest passable at best.

Purser Kristin from LAX leaving lovely cards for everyone in Polaris.

Menu on UA 33, NRT-LAX.

Map of NRT is cool.

Not too many aircraft waiting to take off.

Japanese meal on UA 33.

Dinner is not pretty, but it's better than most of United's catering.

Japanese pre-arrival meal.

Not pretty, but tasty enough.

Windows on N13954 need to be replaced.

9hr 3min flight time (actual), 5,467 miles (IFE), 5,617 miles (Flightaware), 5,445 miles (great circle).

Breakfast at the COVE Resort Palau was as rustic as expected, although it's hard to complain about breakfast on a tropical covered patio with swimming pool, palm trees, and thanks to Captain McElligott, fresh coconuts (!) from one of his friend's farms.

With Captain McElligott and First Officer Resillez piloting both last night's NRT-ROR inaugural and today's ROR-NRT return inaugural, along with Ken Kiriyama, director of sales (Japan, Micronesia, Philippines, Taiwan) at United Airlines, the mood was festive. No real formalities today, basically backdrops and stuff just for the passengers to take pictures and celebrate. The terminal is not large, maybe four gates, and the air-side convenience store has quite the selection of cup noodle.

With such a short flight, the often-blocked crew rest seats in first class were open, and I managed to snag seat 1A on today's flight of United 142. The leg rest and extended recline are restricted to crew use, but they were fun to try for a hot second. Lunch was typically undistinguished fish for United, but for a flight just a hair over 4 hours of actual flight time, it did the job. Was a smooth ride into Tokyo Narita, and was very convenient to end up just one gate over from my final flight of the day, back to the US.

UA 33 back home was the final flight of the day, purser Kristin and her crew were excellent, and the food was, well, adequate, but a definite step down from ANA a few days earlier. Still, a solid end to a crazy week of inaugural flights.