Air Tahiti Nui Assigned Seating

[RumRunner01]

Hi everyone, this forum has been so helpful to me so far. I have done a search for this topic but not found anything answering this specific question.

 

I have booked an award ticket to PPT through American Airlines on Air Tahiti Nui (November). I was told we could not have seats assigned ahead of time and would have to do so at check in. I have two other friends traveling with me and we'd like to try to sit together (not in the large middle section but maybe my friends in the 2-seat configuration the left or right of the plane and me in front or behind them). Anyway, what has been your experiences with assigned seating on ATN. Is it truly at check in, or can you call ahead at some point in time? I vaguely remember reading something that you could call 30-days before the flight to see if they could assign seating.

 

Thank you!

 

Amy

[ljtinney]

Amy, I called ATN back in April and got my seating assignments with no problem. You should call them ASAP.

[Oregonian]

Amy,

 

I also used AAdvantage miles for our trip. AA won't reserve the seats on (most) other carriers, so you have to call the other carrier directly for seat assignments. Also, it is typical for a carrier to hold out a percentage of their seats for airline check-in, and if you're in this situation the best you can do is keep calling. I was in a similar situation on Alaska Airlines and despite all my calls couldn't get seats until we got to the airport. I made sure I got to the airport early that morning to get the seats we wanted and this worked.

 

Ira

[land lover]

My belief is that there are no seats left to assign, they always leave 30% of the seats unassigned so you will have to wait for the airport...call ATN and confirm. Long ago it was 30 days out then it went to 90 now it is when you purchased your tickets..so you could get assigned a year in advance or longer.

 

FYI..when I did my flight deviation with princess in May for a cruise in late Aug. I could not get a window seat...we were lucky to get two seats together but then again if you are using FF miles you probably are not flying with all the cruise passengers...good luck

[Dan and Liz]

I called Tahiti Nui directly 60 days before flight and was able to get assigned seats both ways. Travel agent said it could not be done but I did it no problem. I did however talk to people on the cruise and they were not able to do it. I was suprised I was able to because I was using Princess Air.

[RumRunner01]

Thank you everyone! I'm going to get ahold of the other two I'm traveling with and see if we can somehow call and get assisgned seating near each other.

[maygoddess]

Hi! I just wanted to add I just called ATN yesterday to pre-arrange seats..we leave in less than 30 days..I should have done it earlier, but I didn't think you could even do it.

 

We are 4 of us..myself, my DH and my parents..I didn't care if we were all in the same row or even that close..just at least 2x2..we got one window/aisle set up and one middle/aisle set up only and we fly in 2 days before the cruise!

 

They also said that seat assignments were NOT guaranteed..so it could change once we check in. We will be at the aiport about 3 1/2 hrs early..so we will see what happens!

[HaloV]

If you are flying in 2 days before the cruise the plane will probably be pretty empty. We flew on a Thurs. (cruise wasn't til Sat.- Paul Gauguin) People were laying out in the middle rows, they were almost empty. Good luck!!

[sunsetme]

How many AA miles does it take lax to ppt?? did you call AA to arrange it--I don;t see a place to use miles on that route online. thanks.

[Oregonian]

It takes 75,000 Aadvantage miles to fly roundtrip coach from LAX (or anywhere in the USA, Canada, Mexico or Caribbean)) to Tahiti using Air Tahiti Nui (and using AA or another partner to fly to LAX if that isn't your starting point). It's 125,000 miles to fly business class. You have to call AA to arrange this, you can't do it over the internet.

 

Ira

[RumRunner01]

Yup, 75000 miles for coach. Ouch. I had just barely enough. You cannot book this one online, you must call AA to book it. And do it well in advance. I called almost 8 months before my trip and still couldn't get the dates I wanted. I'm flying in 2 days before the cruise and 1 day after it ports.

[dog]

I was also wondering about seat assignment on ATN...I posted on another thread before I read this one.

 

We are flying in 3 days before our cruise and leaving 1 day after our cruise so we paid for the deviation. Will ATN let you pre arrange seats in this case?

[land lover]

When you did flight deviation princess should have gotten your seats.

[ruffsmom]

I used Princess air deviation and was told to call ATN to get my seat assignments. I did so several months ago and was given seat assignments.

We leave next Sunday the 20th. I called ATN to reconfirm and was told that there was no record of seats being assigned to us. We were able to get seats assigned together on the way out but not on the way back. I was told to check in at PPT early in order to get seat assignments.

Any of you who have been given seat assignments by ATN might want to check back and make sure you still have them. ATN says that seat assignments are not guaranteed but I did not expect this.

Amy and Lauren, we will see you at out meet on the 22nd.

Debbie

[RumRunner01]

Debbie, we are made our own flight plans and supposedly got assigned seating with ATN. I hope they don't change it. We fly in 2 days early and one day late so I'm guessing that our flights won't be packed, but I'd still hate to have a problem with seating.

 

See you on the 22nd!

 

Amy

[dog]

Maybe I can help others with regards to this: the ATN site states that the bulkhead and exit row seats cannot be pre-assigned. The agent I spoke to today confirmed that with me.

I was able to pre-select my seats for Sept. 2006 flights ( deviation was paid to do a pre and post cruise stay).

To upgrade to Business class it is $1200-$1300 per person each way now and if you wait until the day of the flight it might be $700 per person per flight ( if any Business class seats are still available.)

 

The seat assignments are not guaranteed and you should check to see if changes are made. It was a very long wait on the phone before I actually got to speak to someone.

 

You cannot pre-select seats online, you need to call ATN.

[CSloan]

An option to waiting on hold to talk to someone is to send an email to ATN letting them know your seat preferences, and that you want seat assignments. I did this, and they called me with my seat assignments.

[MichTraveler]

I called yesterday for seat assignments for March/2006 and was on hold for less than 2 minutes. Very easy. Now I just have to hope they keep them.