Tahiti Flight Options

I booked the Wind Spirit cruise for Tahiti. The ship leaves Papeete Papeete at midnight on Friday, March 31, 2017 and is due back in port at 10 am on Friday April 7, 2017.

Understandable, I am finding there are not many options for the LAX to PPT fight times and days. AA, Delta and Qantas seem to be the only airlines that service this remote location. The flight times also appears to alternate every other day. Their PPT arrivals and departures are either early morning or late at night.

Would some of you please share how you arranged your flights?

Did you have to stay pre or post cruise?

If you arrived early (5 am) or left at night (11 pm), what did you do with your personal items before boarding or checking in? Especially, if you did not have a pre or post stay.

I appreciate any assistance in arranging the logistics of my travel plans.

No, AA, DL and Qantas do not fly to PPT. You are looking at codeshares, or at making a connection at AKL.

Your choices are limited to AF, Air Tahiti Nui, and once a week service by Hawaiian Airlines. That's it.

Just did this fabulous trip March 11th. We had a room the day before sailing and again upon final disembarkment waiting for a late p.m. flight to LAX. Made it so easy and restful. We booked through Windstar and had these arrangements included. My opinion, the only way to go. The cruise was Amazing. Enjoy.

I booked the Wind Spirit cruise for Tahiti. The ship leaves Papeete Papeete at midnight on Friday, March 31, 2017 and is due back in port at 10 am on Friday April 7, 2017.

Understandable, I am finding there are not many options for the LAX to PPT fight times and days. AA, Delta and Qantas seem to be the only airlines that service this remote location. The flight times also appears to alternate every other day. Their PPT arrivals and departures are either early morning or late at night.

Would some of you please share how you arranged your flights?

Did you have to stay pre or post cruise?

If you arrived early (5 am) or left at night (11 pm), what did you do with your personal items before boarding or checking in? Especially, if you did not have a pre or post stay.

 

I appreciate any assistance in arranging the logistics of my travel plans.

I booked this cruise and my itinerary shows the departure time on 3/31/17 as 6 pm.

Note you cannot book flights more than 330 days before you plan to travel. If you want to book your own flights you will have to wait until early May 2016.

I booked the Wind Spirit cruise for Tahiti. The ship leaves Papeete Papeete at midnight on Friday, March 31, 2017 and is due back in port at 10 am on Friday April 7, 2017.

Understandable, I am finding there are not many options for the LAX to PPT fight times and days. AA, Delta and Qantas seem to be the only airlines that service this remote location. The flight times also appears to alternate every other day. Their PPT arrivals and departures are either early morning or late at night.

Would some of you please share how you arranged your flights?

Did you have to stay pre or post cruise?

If you arrived early (5 am) or left at night (11 pm), what did you do with your personal items before boarding or checking in? Especially, if you did not have a pre or post stay.

 

I appreciate any assistance in arranging the logistics of my travel plans.

The above poster is right about the code shares. We cruised out of PPT last year and flew r/t Lax-PPT on Air Tahiti Nui. I have flown lots of long hauls on many different airlines over the years and can say with out a doubt Air Tahiti Nui is the WORST long haul flight/crew I have ever suffered through. I am always hesitant to say "never" but I will never fly ATN again. Try to make Hawaiian work for you even though it will involve expensive accommodations for a few days. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.:D

Coming up on 3rd trip to PPT..and you've got two choices as stated above. ATN late afternoon arriving evening in time to board..or AF leaving at midnight arriving at dawn making day room necessary...there are occasionally other flight times on ATN. Easiest to let WS book your air. The return is pretty bad since you disembark then have to get a dayroom and wait it out til that awful midnight flight back to LAX. After trying all this we've settled on Air France leaving LAX the night before cruise and getting our own dayroom at the Intercontinental in PPT. Then on the return getting off ship friday (as late as they'll let us) and staying 2 nights at the Intercontinental before flying home DURING THE DAY to LAX on Sunday. For us it's worth it to chill for a few days. By the way we're booked AUGUST 5th. See you there!

There is one other option on Air New Zealand, but with a connection at Aukland!! I'd suck it up and take the not early arrival and late departure on American. Book a room for the night before and let the hotel know that you're actually arriving early morning and to hold your room.

There is one other option on Air New Zealand, but with a connection at Aukland!! I'd suck it up and take the not early arrival and late departure on American. Book a room for the night before and let the hotel know that you're actually arriving early morning and to hold your room.

AA does not fly to PPT. Only nonstop options, LAX-PPT are on AF and ATN.

AA does not fly to PPT. Only nonstop options, LAX-PPT are on AF and ATN.

My bad. My search engine of choice used to show code share information on the first screen, and not it doesn't seem to be there any more. Yes, it is indeed an ATN codeshare.

The above poster is right about the code shares. We cruised out of PPT last year and flew r/t Lax-PPT on Air Tahiti Nui. I have flown lots of long hauls on many different airlines over the years and can say with out a doubt Air Tahiti Nui is the WORST long haul flight/crew I have ever suffered through. I am always hesitant to say "never" but I will never fly ATN again. Try to make Hawaiian work for you even though it will involve expensive accommodations for a few days. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.:D

This poster had the best advice of anyone (Hawaiian Air). The problem is that WS departure doesn't jibe with the Hawaiian Air departure. Hawaiian flies out of HNL at 4:30 PM SATURDAY arriving about 10:30 PM then turns around for a midnight return flight. If you are already booked on WS, then you either stay a week in either Hawaii or French Polynesia before and an overnight post cruise.

If you have not locked in your WS cruise, I would suggest you look into the Paul Gauguin. The price point seems to be higher, but the PG is all-inclusive (no tips, all drinks free, no specialty restaurant up charges and all port charges included in the sail price). The bargain that WS seems to offer is usually 50% to 100% more than the sail price once tips, beverages and gratuities are added.

We have been on this ship five times all the way to Australia and back through New Guinea, Micronesia and Fiji, but she is built for the Polynesia waters. The staff are superb. They will magically know your names and dining and drink preferences no later than two days in. The food is top notch. They have been in these waters for years, and the cultural experience has no parallel.

The ship departs on Saturday. They hold departure for those Hawaiian guests, and you have time on the return Saturday to take in the downtown Marche, rent a car to tour the island, or just rent a day room at the Tahiti IC.