Air From Atlanta to Papeete, Tahiti. Ridiculous!!!

[phillymaps]

Last May I did the cruise from Tahiti to San Francisco. Those who chose Oceania booking their flights flew into LAX and arrived by 12.30 PM. We then took an Oceania charter flight which left LAX around 2 PM, and arrived in Tahiti early evening. You will not see that charter flight in any published schedule. Air Tahiti Nuvi supplied the plane. There were a few first class seats, but everyone else was in coach. Seats are assigned by Oceania and upgrades are not possible. I suspect those booking the owners suite got the first class seats.

 

Upon arriving in Tahiti, most of us had paid for the Oceania transfer. Our luggage was taken from us at the airport, and then deposited at our cabin doors shortly after we arrived on the ship. We went by bus to the ship. Those without prepaid transfer were able to get cabs at the airport. There were a limited number of available cabs at the airport. They had to take their luggage with them in the cab to the ship. They then gave their luggage to the porters at dockside who transferred them to the cabins.

[FlightMedic555]

We have flown 2 times on this route, but out of NY, and return next June for a Paul Gauguin cruise. I am lurking here as I do my first O cruise out of Miami this January.

 

Unfortunately the coach seats on Air Tahiti Nui are horrible. Business class are recliners that in comparison are spectacular but pale in comparison to business on main stream carriers such as British Airways. ATN is scheduled to replace their business class product by June so who knows how much better it may be. I am tall at 6 4 and the coach flight home was horrible. I will NEVER do that again.

 

ATN does allow the option to upgrade to business for about $800 each way if seats are available. These are only available at the airport and you should be on line 4 hours prior to flight if you want to try for these. I have no idea what they offer on a charter.

 

I am using AA miles for business class from JFK to Tahiti as you can use AA miles on ATN. Only a few reward seats are available on each flight. Try to stay a few days prior to after on Moorea at the Hilton as the snorkeling is world class.

[Hawaiidan]

We have flown 2 times on this route, but out of NY, and return next June for a Paul Gauguin cruise. I am lurking here as I do my first O cruise out of Miami this January.

 

Unfortunately the coach seats on Air Tahiti Nui are horrible. Business class are recliners that in comparison are spectacular but pale in comparison to business on main stream carriers such as British Airways. ATN is scheduled to replace their business class product by June so who knows how much better it may be. I am tall at 6 4 and the coach flight home was horrible. I will NEVER do that again.

 

ATN does allow the option to upgrade to business for about $800 each way if seats are available. These are only available at the airport and you should be on line 4 hours prior to flight if you want to try for these. I have no idea what they offer on a charter.

 

I am using AA miles for business class from JFK to Tahiti as you can use AA miles on ATN. Only a few reward seats are available on each flight. Try to stay a few days prior to after on Moorea at the Hilton as the snorkeling is world class.

 

ATN?" if that is Atals I do not know will run an aircraft which has 18 inch wide seats at 31 inch pitch with a 2.5 inch recline. The normal width is 17.2 inch and 32 inch pitch.

 

The first class/ Business class seata ar the std 19.5 inch wide at 38 inch pitch. The seats only recline a whopping 4 inches. To pay $900 for what is a glorified coach seat is not a good deal. Worse still all first/Business seats have under them a electronic control boy that limits foot extention/

United has , or had th same config in their 767-300s for domestic service.

They are margina better than coach. These seats are not to the standard nor is is the service on Tahiti Nui or Atlas , anywhere close to that of what one would expect for for international service.....it is in all respects among the most marginal in the air/

My advice in coach... get blasted drunk and pray.

[spook1]

Now hear this. We are booked on Marina 18 April Papeete to Lima. We will use the Oceania air with one deviation Lima back to Honolulu.

Outbound we take a UA redeye arriving LAX with 6:45 hour layover. Then it is Atlas Air to PPT arriving 8.35 pm.

Inbound from Peru best price I could find was $987 o/w. The value of this Oceania air is $600 plus the $150 air deviation=$750. We need the deviation as we are going to Machu Picchu post cruise.

What strikes me as strange is way Oceania doesn't include the airport transfer to pier in PPT Would make it so much simpler to get passengers to ship with luggage and have them in a happy frame of mind when all arriving by charter. How many planes..three...four..more? Oceania should pre-check passengers during LAX layover and issue boarding passes and key cards. Better than 1,000 or more arriving pier after long flights and have to stand in lengthy lines of too long a duration. Have any done something similar with Oceania?

Princess did this when we did a Mexico week. Bought the transfer and were taken to a nice LAX airport hotel to a lounge reserved for us...served coffee, juice, Danish..checked in and bused to pier for immediate boarding. Those are the moments not easily forgotten. :)

[Paulchili]

ATN?" if that is Atals I do not know will run an aircraft which has 18 inch wide seats at 31 inch pitch with a 2.5 inch recline. The normal width is 17.2 inch and 32 inch pitch.

 

The first class/ Business class seata ar the std 19.5 inch wide at 38 inch pitch. The seats only recline a whopping 4 inches. To pay $900 for what is a glorified coach seat is not a good deal. Worse still all first/Business seats have under them a electronic control boy that limits foot extention/

United has , or had th same config in their 767-300s for domestic service.

They are margina better than coach. These seats are not to the standard nor is is the service on Tahiti Nui or Atlas , anywhere close to that of what one would expect for for international service.....it is in all respects among the most marginal in the air/

My advice in coach... get blasted drunk and pray.

 

Hawaiidan,

While I have not yet flown with TN, I am scheduled to do so in Jan in business using AA miles.

According to this picture on their website:

http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/inflight/business.asp

the seat looks like it reclines a lot more than 4 inches. In fact, it looks like an "inclined lie flat" seat. Granted, it may not be as nice as a BA or CX business class seat but it looks comfortable enough for 8 hours.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I've only done ATN Biz once. The seats were typical older ones, same as Lufthansa circa 2006, quite nice but not in any way "flat". Lots of legroom and fair recline. But I've found ATN coach not bad in the past. Service has always been nice, food good outbound from LAX, worse coming home.

[Hawaiidan]

I read you 5x5 on the route to Tahiti. Looks like I will be going to LAX, to get there and flying 6000 miles rather than 2100... Oh well it beats the drive.

 

I am 6 ft and do a lot of flying, the 17.2 inch width with 31 pitch were first developed for the Spainsh Inquision to break down PEOPLE

.

They were dismissed by the ****s at too cruel and inhumane by the SS :eek:. I have seen grown men break down in to weeping hulks after 6 hours in them.. going row to row begging for someone to put them out of their misery

 

( it isnt pretty to watch)...All I can say is for $800 pp, here I come

 

(The Hawaii Dan rule of air travel 0-2 hours coach, 3to6 hours economy plus, 7to10 hours business, and 11+ first class as minimums):o

 

I am assuming ATN is Atlas, and the first/business seats in the 767-300 only recline 4 inches on those aircraft. Tahiti Nui in the A330 has tilted seats that recline 167 degrees and guaranteed to give you a wedgie as you slide slowly down.

[Tansy Mews]

 

I am assuming ATN is Atlas, and the first/business seats in the 767-300 only recline 4 inches on those aircraft. Tahiti Nui in the A330 has tilted seats that recline 167 degrees and guaranteed to give you a wedgie as you slide slowly down.

 

ATN is the code for Air Tahiti Nui. ATR is Atlas.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_codes-All

[spook1]

I read you 5x5 on the route to Tahiti. Looks like I will be going to LAX, to get there and flying 6000 miles rather than 2100... Oh well it beats the drive.

 

I am 6 ft and do a lot of flying, the 17.2 inch width with 31 pitch were first developed for the Spainsh Inquision to break down PEOPLE

.

They were dismissed by the ****s at too cruel and inhumane by the SS :eek:. I have seen grown men break down in to weeping hulks after 6 hours in them.. going row to row begging for someone to put them out of their misery

 

( it isnt pretty to watch)...All I can say is for $800 pp, here I come

 

(The Hawaii Dan rule of air travel 0-2 hours coach, 3to6 hours economy plus, 7to10 hours business, and 11+ first class as minimums):o

 

I am assuming ATN is Atlas, and the first/business seats in the 767-300 only recline 4 inches on those aircraft. Tahiti Nui in the A330 has tilted seats that recline 167 degrees and guaranteed to give you a wedgie as you slide slowly down.

 

You might also decline the O air HNL/PPT (a $600 value each for us) and book HAL on your terms. Better still find a HAL friend and get a buddy pass and fly S/A. :)

[Hawaiidan]

To mare with my departure at first 2300. with an arrival at 2220 I had a chance.

However on the the 2014 schedule the ship departs at 2000 ( used to be 2300 !.

 

Looks like I will be stuck using UAL to LAx and then the charter out of LAX to PPT.

Such are the travails of air travel...... So the 5 hour Hawaiian flight is out of the question....

[Hawaiidan]

You might also decline the O air HNL/PPT (a $600 value each for us) and book HAL on your terms. Better still find a HAL friend and get a buddy pass and fly S/A. :)

 

If I declined Oceania I would get $600... However the Hawaii to Tahiti flight is about $700. But since it is only on Saturdays, and arives 2.5 hours after the ship departs I would have to fly in 7 days prior and spend 6 nights in Tahiti at a cost of $500 a day food and So thats an extra $3500 or $1750 pp to kill time in Tahiti.. Thats $1800 pp more than Oceania credit. Flying on my own to LAX and catching a Tahiti Nui flight is going to cost me $2300pp even worse.

 

No, I am going to stick with the Oceaina schedule/charter its thousands cheaper.

 

Buddy pass...No contacts.. and besides its space available and in might take weeks to get a seat... then there is the baggage issue.

 

Let us know how the Atlas seats are and if they offer upgrades. Speaking of which...check your UAL flight to LA. they are now doing them on little 737's.... look for economy plus...and buy it if you can

[treasure4two]

All good advice. Just a query - you don't actually know your flights yet, do you? If you plan to take ronrick1943's advice and stay a night at LAX, you might have to do air deviation. With Oceania air and no air deviation, you get a month or so notice about your flights.

You asked for suggestions - using the ITA Matrix I mentioned earlier, I tried for April 2013 (your cruise is 2014). I found this:

 

Atlanta (ATL) to Phoenix (PHX) - Wed, Apr 3

US Airways 71 Dep: 7:40AM Arr: 9:13AM 4h 33m Airbus A320

Layover in PHX 1h 2m

 

Phoenix (PHX) to Los Angeles (LAX) - Wed, Apr 3

US Airways 27 Dep: 10:15AM Arr: 11:47AM 1h 32m Airbus A321

Layover in LAX 4h 13m

 

Los Angeles (LAX) to Papeete (PPT) - Wed, Apr 3

American 7175 Dep: 4:00PM Arr: 9:30PM 8h 30m Airbus A340

OPERATED BY AIR TAHITI

 

When I tried only ATL to LAX and then LAX to PPT, I found flights with long layovers as you did. When you do a search with the matrix, you can tweak your results with the right hand column (advisory) to take out risky and tight connections. I don't think you can take out terminal changes because you would be flying out of the US - you would need to go to the international terminal.

So another option. There are more possibilities but you would have to assess the pain you are willing to take!

 

My TA said that 330 days out you can put in for an air deviation and they will let you know what your flights would be. That way, you can see what they have planned for you and decide if you want to use their air or book your own and get a reduction on your cruise for not using Oceania flights. Per my TA, otherwise, you do not hear until a month out.

[rallydave]

My TA said that 330 days out you can put in for an air deviation and they will let you know what your flights would be. That way, you can see what they have planned for you and decide if you want to use their air or book your own and get a reduction on your cruise for not using Oceania flights. Per my TA, otherwise, you do not hear until a month out.

 

Really don't think your TA is correct. Deviations normally open at the 270 day mark before travel depending on whether contracts are in place at that time and they don't know at that point for sure what your flight will be without the deviation and doubt they will tell you anything about your regular flights. Using O air without deviation you get your flight assignments at the 75 day mark.

[Benita]

Really don't think your TA is correct. Deviations normally open at the 270 day mark before travel depending on whether contracts are in place at that time and they don't know at that point for sure what your flight will be without the deviation and doubt they will tell you anything about your regular flights. Using O air without deviation you get your flight assignments at the 75 day mark.

 

I agree with you Dave. It has been 270 days out for the airline deviation. I think the agent who quoted 330 days was confused with when seats open for booking with frequent flyer points. We were able to snag business class seats in both directions (American Airlines partners with ATN) by calling American 330 days before our flight out and then calling again two weeks later for the seats for the flights back.

[spook1]

If I declined Oceania I would get $600... However the Hawaii to Tahiti flight is about $700. But since it is only on Saturdays, and arives 2.5 hours after the ship departs I would have to fly in 7 days prior and spend 6 nights in Tahiti at a cost of $500 a day food and So thats an extra $3500 or $1750 pp to kill time in Tahiti.. Thats $1800 pp more than Oceania credit. Flying on my own to LAX and catching a Tahiti Nui flight is going to cost me $2300pp even worse.

 

No, I am going to stick with the Oceaina schedule/charter its thousands cheaper.

 

Buddy pass...No contacts.. and besides its space available and in might take weeks to get a seat... then there is the baggage issue.

 

Let us know how the Atlas seats are and if they offer upgrades. Speaking of which...check your UAL flight to LA. they are now doing them on little 737's.... look for economy plus...and buy it if you can

 

In your case S/B wouldn't work but I fly that way as a rule and baggage is no problem. But you need be flexable by a day and airline. This trip it will be carryon or bust. The UL seating HNL/LAX is 3-3.as it is on AA LIM to DFW.

[Hawaiidan]

If you mean standby by SB.. correct. with 1 flight once a week its tough to be flexable as to airline as ther is only 1 with 1 flight.... thats not good odds amigo... its wait another week and play the game.

 

I had friends traveling non-rev last month and it took them 4 days to get to Hawaii from Seattle....one way They have taken 20to 30% of the seats off the route.. 737 now in place of 767