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$800 upgrades to Business on ATN?


Familygoboston

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I have read here in several reviews and posts that one can get a business class upgrade (if seats are available) on Air Tahiti Nui for $800 (at the time the post was written). My TA just quoted me over $2000 each way pp to confirm business class upgrade now. That offends my frugal yankee sensibilities :eek: (I could take my whole family on a cruise for that same money!) I did 16 hours in coach to Africa and 18 to Australia, I'll suffer to save 8 grand;)

Does anyone who has had experience with the $800 upgrade have any ideas/advice about how that works. Any assistance would be appreciated

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I have read here in several reviews and posts that one can get a business class upgrade (if seats are available) on Air Tahiti Nui for $800 (at the time the post was written). My TA just quoted me over $2000 each way pp to confirm business class upgrade now. That offends my frugal yankee sensibilities :eek: (I could take my whole family on a cruise for that same money!) I did 16 hours in coach to Africa and 18 to Australia, I'll suffer to save 8 grand;)

Does anyone who has had experience with the $800 upgrade have any ideas/advice about how that works. Any assistance would be appreciated

 

I have seen $999 upgrades, but I would NEVER pay that for business class. That is about $120 per hour! Pretty good money in this economy!:eek:

 

Maybe I am even more 'frugal' than you?

 

Seriously, the cheap seats and service on ATN are good enough for me.

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The upgrade used to cost $400 when I first took it at the airport in LAX then it slowly went up. The last time I think we paid 700$.

As Motu Islander says its not essential but nice. The biz seats were not flatbed and are the really old fashioned ones when we last used them. Also the airport upgrades tend to get the first seat which has less leg room if you are tall.

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Thanks to both of you for your prompt replies! My DH is 6 foot 6, so coach is a special misery for him! I did hear about those row 2 seats, and they definately wouldn't work for us:eek: But we are probably just too darn frugal to spend what they ask for to upgrade! We have a bunch of trips planned 2012 and I think that the upgrade $$ will be better spent elsewhere!

Did you find the coach seats to be smaller than standard airlines? (the Delta seats to Jo'burg were actually quite nice!) Once in another life we did a charter to Bonaire and they had jammed all the seats 6 inches closer than they are already...it was pretty funny then because it was only a 5 hour flight and we were still made of rubber in those days. My DH and 6 foot 2 tall brother had their legs out sideways in order to fit. We took a photo (I'd post but it was pre digital)...pretty funny! But DH swore off charters ever again, so he's a little nervous about ATN...if it's a real airline, or more of a charter type.

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Yes, it is true you can buy that upgrade AT THE AIRPORT at the ticket counter, if seats are left in bus. class. My daughter and I have done that twice both ways, the last time was a year ago. Of course, its up to you how much discomfort you can put up with for 8 1/2 hrs. We are larger and taller people, and to us it made a big difference. No, the seats don't go completely flat, but the food is much better and of course the extra room is great. Hubby stayed in Couch, and we visited him occasionally. It is a LONG plane ride.

 

If you are interested, you must get to the airport right when the ticket counter opens. Usually that is 2 hrs. before, but it might be earlier than that depending on what other flights are doing out. For example, we left from LAX and the counter opened 3 hours before because a flight to Paris was leaving an hour before our flight. However, you can then go to the First/Bus. class Lounge, which ATN shares with another airline. It is very nice there, with magazines, food and drinks.

 

Coming back, you must also get to the airport in Papeete early.

 

I have never been turned down because they were sold out - there were always a few seats left but again, we made sure we were first in line.

 

If you try it, good luck!:D

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Thanks Sue! It does seem that most who want to upgrade in this way are able too, I've read very few people posting, "Aww..we didn't get it".

I have to decide if its worth it or not. I found the Africa trip was not so bad, I was with my own daughters, but the Australia trip I was with 2 strangers and it was miserable, till the middle seat broke and the fellow there got moved, so the fellow from Perth and I "shared custody" of the broken seat and I could get some shut eye!

 

I think we may spend a day in LA too, since we come from the East coast. There is nothing worse than the long flight from Bos and then reboarding and going twice that far again:rolleyes:

 

I was on the fence about this cruise because I think it's pretty far for a week and we can't wiggle away for much longer than that with a HS senior and another big 2012 family trip to celebrate my parents 50th. I was thinking of Europe which is only 5-7 hours from Boston. But DH fell in love with the idea of FP, and all of the PG CC'ers here make it sound like it will be well worth it!:D

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You will need to go at least 3 hours before to be first in line.

Of my 5 trips I have always tried to upgrade but have not been successful 50% of the time. It is usually harder to upgrade on the night flight ie the return.

 

This trip we are flying with friends so I will not try to upgrade leaving the seats free for MotuIslander should he wish to do so.

 

I have never been fortunate getting exit row on ATN. (Motu Islander must be more charming than I am) But last year on Air Pacific from the fiji leg my husband was able to get an upgrade but DH & myself got exit row which was excellent.

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Wow, three hours, thanks for the info, we will have to decide if it's worth spending that much time in the airport. :eek: Other than tallness, we fit in the seats well enough, so we can wait and see how are backs are feeling closer to the flight;)

I think we will definately take an extra day in LA to break up the trip. I've always wanted to take a ride up to Santa Barbara. And then an extra day in FP to get on the new time zone.

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An overnight in L.A. is definitely better, if you have the time--we've done that several times. But if time is short, overnight in Tahiti is much more satisfying, because, after the ordeal of the flight, you awake in Paradise.

 

Business is nice, never done the cheap upgrade, I would try it. We bought Bus upgrade from Regent when they were still in charge--it was much cheaper, as I recall, than what PG is asking now.

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We overnighted in LA on our way to PPT this past July. We arrived at the LAX airport about 2.5 hours in advance and happily paid the fee for the upgrade. We also made sure we were first off the bus at the PPT airport for the trip home and upgraded also. It was $700 in one direction and $800 in the other. When you think of it, this was pretty expensive.

 

I am glad we did this as I a 6'4" and coach is quite unpleasant. If you do upgrade, unless the planes themselves have also been upgraded, stay away from row 2. Row 1 is first class and business is rows 2-5. There is a hard wall divider between row 1 and row 2 making for reduced leg room in row 2. Rows 3-5 are fine. These are recliner chairs not lie flat sleeper chairs.

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Sorry for my ignorance , but when you say "overnighter" do you mean a red eye type flight where your board late evening and arrive in the AM?

 

Are all the ATN flights like this? We will be taking the air package through PG so it's probably another whole set of questions, but they must assign your flights? Do you get any say as to the schedule? Or maybe they are all pretty much the same (I know with some destinations there is one flight in and one flight out;))

 

I think we are going to try to use our miles from Bos to LAX ( LAX is one of the more competitve routes in BOS, so it may be cheaper just to pay) I think I'd like to arrive and stay in LA overnight and then fly (whenever PG schedules it) the next day. We may do a day in Tahiti too to adjust our clocks and unwind after all the travel. We won't have much time afterwards for a post stay unfortunately:( We can do 2 weeks for our or 40th or 50th ( maybe even get the kids to pay;))

 

I've been reading all your reviews to get a sense of what works best. It does seem that having some extra time makes things less stressful! Again, I can't tell you all how helpful it is to have your expertise!!

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When we did our trip the flight from LAX to PPT was at about 1:30 pm. If I had to make that flight on the same day from NY I would have had to take a flight leaving no later then 7:00 am out of JFK which would have meant I would be up at about 4:00 am to make the 1 hour drive to JFK. I thought this would be exhausting to do all this in one day. Also, I was a little tight for time at work so I worked until mid afternoon on the day of my flight out of JFK and took the last flight to LAX. That got in at about midnight and we spent the night at the Crown Plaza LAX, booked for $45 via a Priceline bid. They offered a quick free shuttle to/from the airport.

 

The next morning we arrived at the airport about 2.5 hours in advance and were one of the first in line. We paid for the business class upgrade and enjoyed the lounge access while waiting for our flight. We still had to overnight in PPT before our morning ferry to Moorea as the flight got into PPT at about 6:30 and by the time we cleared customs and our shared ride to the hotel was ready it was already 7:45 pm, too late for the ferry.

 

If you plan on spending one night pre cruise in PPT so that you can adjust to the time and traveling AND your flight out of LAX is not until abou 4:00 pm then IMHO I would bite the bullet and fly all the way from BOS-PPT on the same day. You will probably make it to your hotel in PPT at about midnight but you don't board until about 3:00 pm. That should be plenty of time to rest and be prepared for the cruise. If you overnight in LAX you are still not getting to the ship until close to midnight and with the 6-7 hour time change you will be exhausted.

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Thanks Flight Medic...I've also enjoyed your reviews, lots of helpful detailed info. I love the details, that's why I always do reviews, because I love reading them.

Fortunately my DH and I are youngish and pretty fit, so we don't mind pulling the ocassional all nighter, but I'd rather do it on the way home;). Some of it will just depend on where they put us, if we get in one of the 2 seat sides we can probably be fine with that!

Thanks for all you helpful info!

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