SAT Lawyer
Oct 21, 03, 4:53 pm
My wife and I just returned from our honeymoon in the most beautiful place on the planet, French Polynesia. But the beauty and seclusion comes with very steep prices, confirming what we all learned in Economics 101 about supply and demand. Our weeklong trip to Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea was all too short, but our photo album and lifelong memories are very long. What follows is a brief report of our wonderful trip.
Since this is a forum dedicated to flying, the first segment of my report will cover our various flights on American Airlines (AA), Air Tahiti Nui (TN), and Air Tahiti (VT). FlyerTalk presently has a dearth of information about TN's economy class ("Classe Moana") product, a problem I hope to remedy shortly. A second installment of my report will review the Tahiti Beachcomber Intercontinetal Resort, the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, the Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Resort, and the Sofitel Maeva Beach. In that installment, I will also briefly explore dining and entertainment options on Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea. But first, the flights . . .
My wife and I kicked off our honeymoon by flying AA from San Antonio (SAT) to Los Angeles (LAX) via Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) on Sunday, October 12, 2003. There's little point in discussing the details of the Super 80 flights as everything that generally needs to be said about AA's Super 80 service has already been well documented on this forum. But what bears mention is that AA was able to seemlessly check our bags all the way through to Papeete (PPT), Tahiti on its pseudo-partner TN even though we had purchased separate tickets from the two carriers for the domestic and international segments of our trip respectively, saving us the somewhat unwelcome prospect of waiting at the baggage carousel in Terminal 4 of LAX only to drag our bags over to the Bradley International Terminal to re-check them for our transpacific flight.
Our TN flights both way were operated by Airbus A340-300 "Mangareva". TN has a fleet of four 343 aircraft, all named after French Polynesian islands. "Bora Bora" and "Mangareva" were delivered in spring 2002, and "Rangiroa" and "Moorea" were delivered early this year. If there is a better livery (http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/services/fleet.asp) in the world, it's news to me!
TN #1 departed right on time at 1:00 pm on Sunday, October 12. And it arrived about a half hour early at 6:00 pm, after the seven hour flight (French Polynesia is three hours behind Pacific time when the US is observing daylight savings time). The economy class meal was uninspiring, but the entertainment options were good: six movies and a great selection of video games on the individual television monitors. Especially fun were the chess and trivia games, both which allowed you to play against other opponents on board the aircraft. I really enjoyed giving my new bride a couple of thorough drubbings in chess. But a good bulk of our flight was spent sleeping while the tireless TN crew seemed to perpetually rearrange the food carts just ahead of our bulkhead row, adding some unwelcome noise. Somewhat surprisingly, the flight had a very light load, perhaps only 35% full in the economy class cabin.
Now to the important stuff: what are the best economy seats (http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/images/A340-300big.jpg) on TN's 2-4-2 configured 343? This is a no-brainer: 31 A&B and 31 K&L, the exit row window and aisle pairs, are the creme de la creme, with enough legroom to keep even Manute Bol happy. And unlike other aircraft, the exit row windows (31 A & 31L) do not suffer from the unwelcome intrusion of a hefty slide cover. The second best seats are in the front row of the economy class cabin -- the middle section bulkhead seats of 10 D, E, F & G. With decent legroom, nobody ahead of you to recline into your knees, and quick ingress and egress, these seats are a good choice. Ordinarily I would hesitate to recommend seats in the middle section of a widebody aircraft, but TN's pitch in this middle section is several inches larger than the corresponding window-aisle bulkhead seats of 10 A&B and 10K&L, which are almost as tight as the rest of the cramped "regular" economy seats on the plane. The third choice is the bulkhead middle section of 30 D, E, F, & G, almost identical in pitch to cousin in row 10, but further aft in the aircraft. The fourth choice is the aforementioned window-aisle bulkhead pairs of 10 A&B and 10 K&L, which don't offer much better legroom than the rest of the conomy class section, but at least offer the promise of no seat recliners in your lap. All other seats in the economy class section are most unattractive with what appears to be a 31" pitch. And while TN's economy class recline seems to be fairly generous, this will only compound the misery of your cramped quarters unless you have an exit or bulkhead seat, so try real hard to get one of the better seats!
One other point regarding TN, something near and dear to all our hearts: though the four 343 are very new and the flight times and frequencies superior to the competition (chiefl AF and NZ), TN offers no frequent flier redemption potential on any US carrier, even though AA allows members to claims awards for travel to French Polynesia (TN does codeshare with QF on some flights, so redemption in QF's frequent flier program may be an option for some).
My wife an I spent our first night on the main island of Tahiti, catching the second flight of the day to Bora Bora (BOB), the next morning, Monday, October 13. That flight, a nonstop ATR-72 operated by Air Tahiti (http://www.airtahiti.pf/index_uk.jsp) (VT), not to be confused with the separate Air Tahiti Nui (the longhaul carrier), departed on time at 8:55 am, arriving an hour later at BOB. VT does not assign seats on any of its flights. You might want to resist the temptation to queue up at the front of the boarding line, however, because while the ATR turboprops are boarded from the aft, a flight attendant onboard will firmly encourage passengers to start filling the plane from the front, where your spectacular aerial view of the islands may be impeded by the propeller or the wing. On the PPT-BOB flight, passengers are advised to sit on the left side of the aircraft which generally has the preferred view of Bora Bora's incomparable lagoon as the arriving aircraft circles the island on its approach. Trust me, words cannot do the blue-green waters of the lagoon, surrounded by various motus, and fronting picturesque Mount Otemanu, justice. But perhaps this picture (http://www.tahiti-explorer.com/borabora.html) can!
After three wonderful days on Bora Bora, we departed on Thursday, October 16 for Moorea (MOZ), Tahiti's sister island across the Sea of Moons. The VT flight from BOB-MOZ was again operated by an ATR-72. This time, we made one stop en route, on the island of Huahine before continuing on to Moorea. The right side of the aircraft offered the best views on the one hour and ten minute flight.
Our final interisland flight, from MOZ back to PPT occured on the afternoon of Sunday, October 19, our last day in paradise. This flight was an aviation enthusiast's dream. Though coded as a VT flight, the service was actually operated by a 19 seat Air Moorea Dornier 228 Twin Otter, and flown by a single, solitary pilot, a former captain of a fuel tanker in the French Air Force. The seven minute flight reached a lofty cruising altitute of 700 feet giving us wonderful parting views of Moorea and Tahiti. The cool aspect of the flight is that the front row of seats, which we gladly occupied, are directly behind the cockpit, which is not cloaked by a door. Thus, you can not only get a rare pilot's-eye view of the scenery, but you also get a front-row seat witnessing the pilot's every move. A true joy to behold.
The much-too-soon end of our visit to paradise commenced with the return on TN #2, again operated by 343 "Mangareva". For once, the weather was inclement, with a steady rain wetting our clothes as we raced from the boarding gate across the uncovered tarmac to the airstairs fronting the plane. This dour weather also provided some mild turbulence as we climbed into the sky on our return from paradise.
As was true of all our other flights from the taxiway-deficient airports of Frech Polynesia, our aircraft had to taxi all the way down the active runway, only to make a sharp 180 degree turn to lineup for takeoff. Snagging exit row seats 31 A&B afforded us the most comfort possible in the economy class cabin. I cannot report on the meal service and in-flight entertainment options, however, because as soon as the wheels left the runway at PPT, I began my seven hour slumber assisted by an Ambien, eyeshades, earplugs, and my outstanding Sennheiser PXC-250 noise canceling headphones. Before I knew it, we were landing, a few minutes late at LAX on Monday, October 20.
Once again, our bags had been checked all the way through to our final destination thanks to TN's relationship with AA, our separate tickets notwithstanding, making our navigation of LAX all the more easy. Our LAX-DFW flight, AA #2446, was operated by a 777, the crown jewel of AA's fleet. Somehow, I had managed to snag business class seats 12 H&J online even though I haven't had status on AA in a few years and we were traveling on an ultra-cheap economy class ticket, made even less expensive thanks to one of the discount codes generoulsy shared on this very website. Whether this was a glitch in AA's online seat selection system or a gift from the airline gods, I do not know, but it was greatly appreciated nonetheless. Having been delayed a half hour at the gate for some unknown reason, we arrived late at DFW by the same margin, necessitating a quick sprint from the middle of the A terminal to the end of the C terminal. Huffing and puffing, my wife and I arrived just in time to board our Super 80 back to San Antonio. Though our trip was over, we have memories that will surely last a lifetime, memories of the unequalled paradise that is French Polynesia, a destination that should be at the top of the list of every sun-worshipping traveler with a few -- well, much more than a few, to be fair -- dollars to burn!
More to follow . . .
Enjoy,
Chris
[This message has been edited by cAAl (edited 10-21-2003).]
Since this is a forum dedicated to flying, the first segment of my report will cover our various flights on American Airlines (AA), Air Tahiti Nui (TN), and Air Tahiti (VT). FlyerTalk presently has a dearth of information about TN's economy class ("Classe Moana") product, a problem I hope to remedy shortly. A second installment of my report will review the Tahiti Beachcomber Intercontinetal Resort, the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, the Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Resort, and the Sofitel Maeva Beach. In that installment, I will also briefly explore dining and entertainment options on Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea. But first, the flights . . .
My wife and I kicked off our honeymoon by flying AA from San Antonio (SAT) to Los Angeles (LAX) via Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) on Sunday, October 12, 2003. There's little point in discussing the details of the Super 80 flights as everything that generally needs to be said about AA's Super 80 service has already been well documented on this forum. But what bears mention is that AA was able to seemlessly check our bags all the way through to Papeete (PPT), Tahiti on its pseudo-partner TN even though we had purchased separate tickets from the two carriers for the domestic and international segments of our trip respectively, saving us the somewhat unwelcome prospect of waiting at the baggage carousel in Terminal 4 of LAX only to drag our bags over to the Bradley International Terminal to re-check them for our transpacific flight.
Our TN flights both way were operated by Airbus A340-300 "Mangareva". TN has a fleet of four 343 aircraft, all named after French Polynesian islands. "Bora Bora" and "Mangareva" were delivered in spring 2002, and "Rangiroa" and "Moorea" were delivered early this year. If there is a better livery (http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/services/fleet.asp) in the world, it's news to me!
TN #1 departed right on time at 1:00 pm on Sunday, October 12. And it arrived about a half hour early at 6:00 pm, after the seven hour flight (French Polynesia is three hours behind Pacific time when the US is observing daylight savings time). The economy class meal was uninspiring, but the entertainment options were good: six movies and a great selection of video games on the individual television monitors. Especially fun were the chess and trivia games, both which allowed you to play against other opponents on board the aircraft. I really enjoyed giving my new bride a couple of thorough drubbings in chess. But a good bulk of our flight was spent sleeping while the tireless TN crew seemed to perpetually rearrange the food carts just ahead of our bulkhead row, adding some unwelcome noise. Somewhat surprisingly, the flight had a very light load, perhaps only 35% full in the economy class cabin.
Now to the important stuff: what are the best economy seats (http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/images/A340-300big.jpg) on TN's 2-4-2 configured 343? This is a no-brainer: 31 A&B and 31 K&L, the exit row window and aisle pairs, are the creme de la creme, with enough legroom to keep even Manute Bol happy. And unlike other aircraft, the exit row windows (31 A & 31L) do not suffer from the unwelcome intrusion of a hefty slide cover. The second best seats are in the front row of the economy class cabin -- the middle section bulkhead seats of 10 D, E, F & G. With decent legroom, nobody ahead of you to recline into your knees, and quick ingress and egress, these seats are a good choice. Ordinarily I would hesitate to recommend seats in the middle section of a widebody aircraft, but TN's pitch in this middle section is several inches larger than the corresponding window-aisle bulkhead seats of 10 A&B and 10K&L, which are almost as tight as the rest of the cramped "regular" economy seats on the plane. The third choice is the bulkhead middle section of 30 D, E, F, & G, almost identical in pitch to cousin in row 10, but further aft in the aircraft. The fourth choice is the aforementioned window-aisle bulkhead pairs of 10 A&B and 10 K&L, which don't offer much better legroom than the rest of the conomy class section, but at least offer the promise of no seat recliners in your lap. All other seats in the economy class section are most unattractive with what appears to be a 31" pitch. And while TN's economy class recline seems to be fairly generous, this will only compound the misery of your cramped quarters unless you have an exit or bulkhead seat, so try real hard to get one of the better seats!
One other point regarding TN, something near and dear to all our hearts: though the four 343 are very new and the flight times and frequencies superior to the competition (chiefl AF and NZ), TN offers no frequent flier redemption potential on any US carrier, even though AA allows members to claims awards for travel to French Polynesia (TN does codeshare with QF on some flights, so redemption in QF's frequent flier program may be an option for some).
My wife an I spent our first night on the main island of Tahiti, catching the second flight of the day to Bora Bora (BOB), the next morning, Monday, October 13. That flight, a nonstop ATR-72 operated by Air Tahiti (http://www.airtahiti.pf/index_uk.jsp) (VT), not to be confused with the separate Air Tahiti Nui (the longhaul carrier), departed on time at 8:55 am, arriving an hour later at BOB. VT does not assign seats on any of its flights. You might want to resist the temptation to queue up at the front of the boarding line, however, because while the ATR turboprops are boarded from the aft, a flight attendant onboard will firmly encourage passengers to start filling the plane from the front, where your spectacular aerial view of the islands may be impeded by the propeller or the wing. On the PPT-BOB flight, passengers are advised to sit on the left side of the aircraft which generally has the preferred view of Bora Bora's incomparable lagoon as the arriving aircraft circles the island on its approach. Trust me, words cannot do the blue-green waters of the lagoon, surrounded by various motus, and fronting picturesque Mount Otemanu, justice. But perhaps this picture (http://www.tahiti-explorer.com/borabora.html) can!
After three wonderful days on Bora Bora, we departed on Thursday, October 16 for Moorea (MOZ), Tahiti's sister island across the Sea of Moons. The VT flight from BOB-MOZ was again operated by an ATR-72. This time, we made one stop en route, on the island of Huahine before continuing on to Moorea. The right side of the aircraft offered the best views on the one hour and ten minute flight.
Our final interisland flight, from MOZ back to PPT occured on the afternoon of Sunday, October 19, our last day in paradise. This flight was an aviation enthusiast's dream. Though coded as a VT flight, the service was actually operated by a 19 seat Air Moorea Dornier 228 Twin Otter, and flown by a single, solitary pilot, a former captain of a fuel tanker in the French Air Force. The seven minute flight reached a lofty cruising altitute of 700 feet giving us wonderful parting views of Moorea and Tahiti. The cool aspect of the flight is that the front row of seats, which we gladly occupied, are directly behind the cockpit, which is not cloaked by a door. Thus, you can not only get a rare pilot's-eye view of the scenery, but you also get a front-row seat witnessing the pilot's every move. A true joy to behold.
The much-too-soon end of our visit to paradise commenced with the return on TN #2, again operated by 343 "Mangareva". For once, the weather was inclement, with a steady rain wetting our clothes as we raced from the boarding gate across the uncovered tarmac to the airstairs fronting the plane. This dour weather also provided some mild turbulence as we climbed into the sky on our return from paradise.
As was true of all our other flights from the taxiway-deficient airports of Frech Polynesia, our aircraft had to taxi all the way down the active runway, only to make a sharp 180 degree turn to lineup for takeoff. Snagging exit row seats 31 A&B afforded us the most comfort possible in the economy class cabin. I cannot report on the meal service and in-flight entertainment options, however, because as soon as the wheels left the runway at PPT, I began my seven hour slumber assisted by an Ambien, eyeshades, earplugs, and my outstanding Sennheiser PXC-250 noise canceling headphones. Before I knew it, we were landing, a few minutes late at LAX on Monday, October 20.
Once again, our bags had been checked all the way through to our final destination thanks to TN's relationship with AA, our separate tickets notwithstanding, making our navigation of LAX all the more easy. Our LAX-DFW flight, AA #2446, was operated by a 777, the crown jewel of AA's fleet. Somehow, I had managed to snag business class seats 12 H&J online even though I haven't had status on AA in a few years and we were traveling on an ultra-cheap economy class ticket, made even less expensive thanks to one of the discount codes generoulsy shared on this very website. Whether this was a glitch in AA's online seat selection system or a gift from the airline gods, I do not know, but it was greatly appreciated nonetheless. Having been delayed a half hour at the gate for some unknown reason, we arrived late at DFW by the same margin, necessitating a quick sprint from the middle of the A terminal to the end of the C terminal. Huffing and puffing, my wife and I arrived just in time to board our Super 80 back to San Antonio. Though our trip was over, we have memories that will surely last a lifetime, memories of the unequalled paradise that is French Polynesia, a destination that should be at the top of the list of every sun-worshipping traveler with a few -- well, much more than a few, to be fair -- dollars to burn!
More to follow . . .
Enjoy,
Chris
[This message has been edited by cAAl (edited 10-21-2003).]