Chartered plane planned?

I am wondering if anyone has dealt with Regent using a chartered plane to return passengers to the states after the cruise. Apparently there are no business flights available out of Tahiti in November. Please give me your experience. I’m trying to make my own arrangements at this time and struggling.

Thank you

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Seems odd. Air Tahiti Nui has regular scheduled service. And United is starting a flight late October to SF. Granted these aren’t every day of the week. But that gives you another excuse to spend an extra few days in the islands.

I'm not sure what site you're using to find flights, or where you're trying to go, but assuming you are disembarking the Mariner on November 15th trying to fly to LAX it does seem as though the TN (Air Tahiti Nui) flight is sold out in business class. You would have to stay overnight until the 16th to get a business class seat. If you let me know exactly where you're trying to fly to I'm happy to look up availability.

I can't say for sure as I've only done it once but it appears that Regent buys almost all the seats on TN, especially in Business Class on the nights when a cruise ends in Tahiti. I don't think they chartered the flight but it was full and most passengers were Regent. Some folks (TC2, please feel free to comment) leave the first night (when the cruise ends with an overnight) as availability is better with flights and you leave at your convenience and comfort rather than having an extra evening to sleep and get off first thing and wait all day for the flight.

I can't say for sure as I've only done it once but it appears that Regent buys almost all the seats on TN, especially in Business Class on the nights when a cruise ends in Tahiti. I don't think they chartered the flight but it was full and most passengers were Regent. Some folks (TC2, please feel free to comment) leave the first night (when the cruise ends with an overnight) as availability is better with flights and you leave at your convenience and comfort rather than having an extra evening to sleep and get off first thing and wait all day for the flight.

Yes - when the ship overnights in a port and flights are late as they typically are in Tahiti, we depart the night before. We did this last month in Hong Kong when the available flights were 12:30 a.m. Rather than getting off of the ship at 8:00 a.m. and waiting 16 1/2 hours for our flight, we had dinner and went to the airport the night before embarkation.

It has been our experience that the lines at the airport in PPT (Tahiti) are horrendous so I would arrive at the airport early.

Yes - when the ship overnights in a port and flights are late as they typically are in Tahiti, we depart the night before. We did this last month in Hong Kong when the available flights were 12:30 a.m. Rather than getting off of the ship at 8:00 a.m. and waiting 16 1/2 hours for our flight, we had dinner and went to the airport the night before embarkation.

 

 

 

It has been our experience that the lines at the airport in PPT (Tahiti) are horrendous so I would arrive at the airport early.

Thank you for this great advice. Will Regent let us leave early if there are no flights available and they are chartering a plane though?

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Thank you for this great advice. Will Regent let us leave early if there are no flights available and they are chartering a plane though?

 

 

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Absolutely!

We have friends on the same cruise as the OP. Regent got them business class seats on the Air France flight on November 16. I assume Regent will pay for the forced overnight.

MissDiAgNoste, below is what I shared on the Honolulu to Papeete roll call thread April 27th since we decided to drop our Papeete to Auckland voyage (we had been to most of these ports before) and needed to find BC air during the last week in April.

Yes, your TA/you can disembark on the 14th of November (we're leaving after dinner at 8:30-9pm since our return fight on ATN departs at 23:59). Alas, all business class seats on Air Tahiti Nui, United, Air Franch (has two seats for Nov 14 but departing before the Mariner arrives in PPT)French Bee (or even taking Hawaiin Air to Honolulu then US) are sold out from Nov15-Nov 18 (most likely Regent pax taking flights home and doing post cruises in Papeete). We paid for our BC seats (got the last two on ATN for Nov 14)since Regent only offered Economy from Papeete to Atlanta. We got a $4600 air credit and paid about $5800 for our seats.

Our timing to fly Air Tahiti Nui was fortunate as ATN are bringing new 787-9 Dreamliners into service in early November. Pls see:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2018/03/22/air-tahiti-nui-boeing-787-9-dreamliners-begin-flying-in-november/#1fc253496508

Our TA had been working with Regent for a number of clients and also mentioned Regent was working charter air for PPT to LAX. However, she said that was the plan for a couple of months, so considering the healthy air credit, we thought my best option was to buy BC seats vs wait on Regent Air and possibly get stuck with 14+ hours (PPT to LAX, LAX to ATL) in Economy.

Please, also join our roll call, and consider registering for our meet & mingle (link below) we now have 36 cruise critics signed up for our m&M.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2544080&page=6

Since Regent states in their literature that they include business class air, don’t they have to make it happen? This is our first Regent cruise and considering canceling if they can’t fulfill their obligations. I can’t believe they don’t have reserved BC airfare for their passengers. If I wanted economy airfare, I would have booked Oceanic.

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There is only so much lift between two cities, and it magically can't appear out of nowhere. And even if one would charter an aircraft, there are only so many business class seats on an aircraft, with the balance being coach. Very very few large aircraft are in an all-business configuration.

Then again, they could charter the Crystal 777. :D

Since Regent states in their literature that they include business class air, don’t they have to make it happen? This is our first Regent cruise and considering canceling if they can’t fulfill their obligations. I can’t believe they don’t have reserved BC airfare for their passengers. If I wanted economy airfare, I would have booked Oceanic.

 

 

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Generally flights from Tahiti have a connection in Los Angeles. If this is the case, you would receive Business Class air from Tahiti to Los Angeles and then coach in the U.S. Regent does have "international" business class air but that does not include within the U.S.

What is Regent telling you about this? Have you spoken with their air department (or has your TA spoken to their air department)? This should be a fairly easy situation to figure out and I have not heard of passengers on Regent not receiving international business class air anywhere in the world.

Let us know what Regent says.

Generally flights from Tahiti have a connection in Los Angeles. If this is the case, you would receive Business Class air from Tahiti to Los Angeles and then coach in the U.S. Regent does have "international" business class air but that does not include within the U.S.

 

What is Regent telling you about this? Have you spoken with their air department (or has your TA spoken to their air department)? This should be a fairly easy situation to figure out and I have not heard of passengers on Regent not receiving international business class air anywhere in the world.

 

Let us know what Regent says.

There are less than 100 business class seats per day between PPT and LAX/SFO, even on the days with the most frequency. When Air Tahiti Nui flies two aircraft, that's 60 total seats to LAX. French Bee doesn't operate every day to SFO and has 35 business class seats. When AF operates to LAX, TN has only one flight, so the AF 777 will merely replace the 340, perhaps with a handful more seats.

How many guests does the Mariner carry? Can anyone do the math?

 

How many guests does the Mariner carry? Can anyone do the math?

700 but cruise not that fully booked; in addition a large number are staying on until Auckland or Sydney. I was surprised that the air credit is only $2,000; therefore Regent is figuring they can handle all that want air on 14th or 15th or will throw in free extension.

This is an interesting situation to watch.

Marc

Just wanted to throw in some real-world numbers on what the maximum lift is from PPT. 60 to 80 business seats per day is a far cry from what you would get from London or Hong Kong or similar.

700 but cruise not that fully booked; in addition a large number are staying on until Auckland or Sydney. I was surprised that the air credit is only $2,000; therefore Regent is figuring they can handle all that want air on 14th or 15th or will throw in free extension.

 

This is an interesting situation to watch.

 

Marc

Agree with you. Regent has had fights coming back from Tahiti before and no one has ever been put on a coach fight to the U.S. (at least no one has reported it). This likely is one case where the TS (Thread Starter) should have considered deviating 270 days prior to the cruise ...... just to make sure that they could get the fight and seats of their choice.

Regent has it handled but it will be interesting to follow the situation as you mentioned. It could be the chartered flight that makes the difference.

Generally flights from Tahiti have a connection in Los Angeles. If this is the case, you would receive Business Class air from Tahiti to Los Angeles and then coach in the U.S. Regent does have "international" business class air but that does not include within the U.S.

 

 

 

What is Regent telling you about this? Have you spoken with their air department (or has your TA spoken to their air department)? This should be a fairly easy situation to figure out and I have not heard of passengers on Regent not receiving international business class air anywhere in the world.

 

 

 

Let us know what Regent says.

My TA keeps telling me they are looking into the chartered plane and to see how Regent handles this. We can handle the economy flight from LA and upgrade that. We just don’t want to be in a situation where we can’t cancel. Thank you for encouraging words. We are so excited to be doing this vacation with my parents on probably their last big vacation. It would break my heart to cancel.

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Hope that this is sorted out soon and that you and your parents will have the vacation of your dreams!

If the OP wants to make their own arrangements, and their time is flexible, they could stay in Papeete for a couple of extra nights, or on Moorea if they want to really lux it up, and take a succeeding Air France flight to LAX, which I presume wouldn't be sold out. The Air France business class is very nice, and they have a Premium Economy class as well.

Wendy, I believe that all of the flights are full in November (according to another poster). Regent always manages to get their passengers home in the class that they were promised. It sounds as if a charter flight is being arranged. Unfortunately, flights may not be announced for another couple of months. It would seem that the TA would be able to get a definitive answer from Regent.

Wendy, I believe that all of the flights are full in November (according to another poster).

Checking via ExpertFlyer, I am seeing availability in business class on the following days (Nov 14th and for the next five days):

Nov 16th: 02:00 NZ43 PPT-AKL - At least four business seats (with connects from AKL to the USA)

Nov 18th: 17:25 NZ41 PPT-AKL - At least four business seats (with short connect to LAX on NZ)

Nov 18th: 23:45 UA114 PPT-SFO - At least nine business seats

Nov 19th: 23:59 TN102 PPT-LAX - At least five business seats

Nov 19th: 08:00 QF3816 PPT-AKL - At least nine business seats (Operated by TN, which is showing zero inventory. Obviously a hard block codeshare)

So it's not "all the flights are full".

The TS indicated that flights were full - not me. My point is that Regent will handle the situation - they have in the past and will for the TS!!!!

We have had charter flights to remote areas with Silversea. Have not seen Regent do this but doesn’t mean they wouldn’t. However, as flyertalker pointed out , there are still quite a few business class seats available to Tahiti. And some people will be having a pre or post cruise stay there.

Regent website doesn't show Honolulu to Papeete trip having included business class fare from Papeete. Obviously Honolulu is domestic so just coach; but in comparison, the Miami to Sydney trip does have included business class fare. The Papeete to Auckland trip also includes business class fare but that is easier to spread out over a number of days.

Marc

Regent website doesn't show Honolulu to Papeete trip having included business class fare from Papeete. Obviously Honolulu is domestic so just coach; but in comparison, the Miami to Sydney trip does have included business class fare. The Papeete to Auckland trip also includes business class fare but that is easier to spread out over a number of days.

 

Marc

Your post was eye opening so I went to the Regent website and noticed an asterisk by airfare for that sailing. At the bottom of the page it gave a link to see full terms and conditions. The "Legal: Terms and Conditions" section of the website, it said that business class air is for "Intercontinental Flights". So, I wanted to find out exactly what that meant in terms of Regent flights. It is about going from one continent to another.

This led me to check out what continent Tahiti is on. The majority of the answers were that Tahiti is part of Oceania. So it would appear that flying to Hawaii is not business class but one would assume that flying home from Tahiti should be since it is another continent.

Is there something that I'm missing?