Trip Reports - Tahiti Trip - Air Tahiti Nui (P/J), Sheraton Moorea, Bora Bora Nui

Just returned from 10 days in paradise. Every bit as beautiful as I remember it from three years ago. Some highlights.

12/22 TN003 JFK-PPT First Class
Took the nonstop from New York. Definately easier and saves lots of time for those based in or near NY. Upgraded from Paid J to P (First Class) at check-in for $1,000 pp o/w. Lounge is the Swiss Lounge (First Class side) which at JFK is relatively small but quite nice. Full bar spread and a warm dinner (ceasar salad, and Chicken with rice and veg) was available in the lounge. Swiss lounge at that time is moderately busy with passengers from Air Tahiti Nui mingling with passengers on Swiss and El Al. First on TN is quite nice and that's exactly how I would characterize it, nothing outrageous but quite nice. One row of 6 seats (2x2x2). Cabin has adequate room although with only one row it does feel a bit small. Seats are comfortable and are full flat, but not suites or beds. Service is outstanding. Full dinner with caviar starter (mother of pearl spoons!), serving vintage NF champagne. Tables are individually set from the tray (specially made china and silver) and service is entirely from the cart where all the choices are presented and you can mix and match as you like. Some wines and soft drinks set up at the "bar" at the front of the cabin. PJs are offered and large and comfortable duvets and pillows are brought out for sleeping. Flight time is just shy of 13 hours and is pretty much the great circle route over Dallas and Mexico with a straight shot over the Pacific from there. Usual Air Tahiti Nui touches including Tiare flowers, flight attendants changing into more local attire once in flight, etc. Extra touches in First Class were the cups of Tiare flowers in the bathroom and extra toiletres. In effect two attendants for the six passengers in First.

Sheraton Moorea - Over Water Bungalow
Just a short note here. Service has gotten much better in the past three years and it shows that management is definately trying. Still give the usual caveat that service in Polynesia is certainly not up to standards in Asia but with the friendly attitudes it is fine. Seemed to me to be a higher number of "foreign" managers in evidence both at the front desk and at F&B. Took a look at the Pearl (very nice had an excellent dinner) and the IC, but remain convinced that the beauty of the lagoon at the Sheraton's location and the quality of their OW bungalows keeps this as my top choice on Moorea.

Bora Bora Nui - Over Water Bungalow
Also a quick note. Same thing. Service has improved tremendously with many "foreign" managers in evidence (without particularly trying we met the GM constantly, FO manager, PR manager and F&B manager - all either French or American). Spa was marvelous and the physical plant at the hotel remains simply stunning. They've overcome some of the issues regarding the size of the resort through the judicious use of golf carts and we never had any problems with waiting. Food remains somewhat of an "issue" and my two areas of criticism would be the rather limited lunch offerings (they seem to be going for the "lets do fewer things and do them well" theory) and the food at the main restaurant (which others have characterized as awful - it's not bad at all but we didn't return for a second try). BBN continues to be a wonderful property and a personal favorite of mine worldwide. Will definately try the St. Regis when it opens, but it's going to be tough to beat this one.

1/1 TN003 PPT-JFK J Class
No upgrades available so we were able to compare. Food is identical to First menu on all flights (minus the caviar) and service is the same in terms of individual table setting and service from the cart. Seats are four rows of six (2x2x2). Recline is decent, leg rests could come up a little further (obviously though there is a relationship between leg rest height and the ability to recline). This is clearly not leading edge business class but is more than fine and was quite comfortable for the slightly over 11 hour flight back. Service remains stellar and quite personal. Bottom line is that we agreed we would upgrade again if given the chance but weren't exactly sure whether it was "value" at $1,000.

Just a short note to highlight some details on airlines and hotels not often covered here. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Flylots have you any photos?
I have only ('only'! :cool: ) stayed at IC MOZ, PPT and BOB so would be interested in the other properties.

Thanks FlyLots, it was your original trip report to the Nui that encouraged me to go there... I still maintain that Iritai is awful, though! ;)

Thanks for the report! We will be on this same flight, but continuing on to SYD, in November on award tickets. I'm in P and my partner is in J. That didn't go over well, but it was all I could get at this point, but looking to move him up if another P seat becomes available. If not, we agreed to assume each other's identities and switch cabins on the PPT-SYD sector.

A couple of questions for you.

1. Was there an amenity kit, both in J and P?

2. Did the SYD pax have to disembark and do you recall if an announcement was made that they had to reclaim their luggage? An earlier post mentioned that pax had to reclaim luggage and go through customs, even if transiting. Our ground time in PPT is only one hour, so I can't imagine that it will be enough time.

3. Was it indeed same plane service to SYD?

4. How was the load in all cabins? Booking so far in advance, I am hoping they don't pull the service due to poor loads.

Thanks for any info.

F Amenity kits are incredibly bountiful. One thing I don't like is the 'hard shell' that tons of items are stuffed into. I prefer a nice leather bag. On the other hand, here I am complaining about the amenity kits being overstuffed...

CTMike

First of all my partner and I have done the same P/J split on other airlines in the past and have also split the ride so to speak with each of us taking P for one segment. As long as you check in correctly and simply swap boarding passes in the jetway between the gate and the plane noone has ever caught on yet. As to your questions.

1. Yes, amenity kits in both P and J. Can't say that I actually inventoried the two and compared them but they both had basically the same toiletries, etc. The P one is a little "fancier" as a somewhat hardsided faux suede oval kit, while the J one is in a vinyl "document case".

2. SYD passengers definately had to disembark in PPT. I recall the announcement saying that they were simply to follow the transit signs and I am almost certain they didn't have to reclaim luggage although I wasn't really paying attention as to whether they had to pass through immigration. The one good thing is as P and J passengers you will have access to the lounge in PPT, which is vital as it is the only air conditioned space in the entire (at times rather warm) airport.

3. It was indeed same plane service. On the outbound the flight continued to SYD. On the inbound I'm not certain as we saw the plane on the tarmac already by the time we arrived at the lounge (about 90 minutes prior to departure), but the sign for the baggage carousel in JFK said TN003 SYD/PPT.

4. Loads were "interesting". We flew outbound on 12/22 and returned on 1/1, which were supposedly the heaviest travel days given the timing of the holidays this year. The outbound was full in P (because we were 3 and upgraded into it from J), had one empty seat in J (which means at least 2 people upgraded from Y) and Y was about 50%. The return was pretty much the same with P full (we couldn't upgrade again although we tried), J was full and although I didn't check it in flight I noticed at checkin that Y was booked at 139 so about 75%. We specifically noted on checkin in JFK that there were clearly a number of people who were flying to SYD as oppossed to PPT. I'm interested myself as to how this service will do as the dynamics of the flight are fascinating (it represents the only PPT-SYD service available so I would think they want to keep it up for the OZ market and it's marketed to JFK-SYD passengers as an attractive alternative and represents possible increased tourist dollars for the country as they encourage transit passengers to stop in Tahiti for a couple of days either coming or going). The most cynical answer is they're committed to it, because what are they going to do with the plane they bought specifically for the route if they cancelled it?

One more note on the P/J split. TN has some of the most "reasonable" pay-to-upgrade policies I've ever seen. It's a set price depending on the route (J to P JFK-PPT is $1,000 pp o/w on the outbound and 105,000CFR pp o/w on the return). What's interesting is that it isn't dependant on the fare of the original ticket (ours were discounted bulk fare J) and not only do they offer J to P but also Y to J and even Y to P upgrades. I don't have all the pricing but PPT to JFK Y to P is 175,000CFR (I peeked at the check-in agent's sheet). It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they allowed paid upgrades on award tickets as well.

Thanks, FlyLots for the info. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I wish we were going now, rather than 10 months from now. At least I'll have trips to London, Prague, Berlin, and a couple of FLL or TPA weekend trips before then! Oh, and those annoying business trips too!

Thank you very much for this report on an airline rarely written about here - i'm still dreaming of going to Tahiti once...

One more note on the P/J split. TN has some of the most "reasonable" pay-to-upgrade policies I've ever seen. It's a set price depending on the route (J to P JFK-PPT is $1,000 pp o/w on the outbound and 105,000CFR pp o/w on the return). What's interesting is that it isn't dependant on the fare of the original ticket (ours were discounted bulk fare J) and not only do they offer J to P but also Y to J and even Y to P upgrades. I don't have all the pricing but PPT to JFK Y to P is 175,000CFR (I peeked at the check-in agent's sheet). It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they allowed paid upgrades on award tickets as well.

Thanks Flylots. I am leaving this thursday to BOS-JFK-PPT-BOB-RFD(heli ride back to PPT)PPT-LAX-BOS for 1.5weeks.... and was just wondering about their upgrade procedures. Although I was fully aware of the Y-P and Y-J upgrades, I was not sure whether my heavily discounted V ($990 or so/ticket) was eligible for upgrade. Glad to hear Im eligible... Ive been looking on Expertflyer.com for the "seat map" and so far it shows:
P - 4 seats free
J - 10 seats free
I hope i can get an upgrade from V to J. I heard from JFK is $800 for J and $1600 for P...again from Y.
But i just got (2) $250 vouchers for future TN travel bcs they rescheduled my flight... orginally was supposed to come via JFK and now im via LAX...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=526990&highlight=air+tahiti+upgrade