Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Best time/method to buy PPT - BOB tickets?

We are going to Bora Bora in September. Any suggestions on how and when to get the best deal on the flight there from PPT?

I'm heading over to PPT next month and am looking at a quick trip over to BOB for a night or 2.

After looking around a bit I found this (http://www.airtahiti.aero/) site that seems to have airfares all around the FP islands.

I haven't booked anything yet as I'll look into it a bit more but it might be helpful.

Interested to hear how you go.

You'll fly Air Tahiti (VT, not the international carrier Air Tahiti Nui - TN).

And there's no secret handshake for discounts. Just so happened that when I was looking for my PPT-BOB flights Travelocity had a currency conversion glitch that became quite the mistake fare. But other than that expect to pay full boat.

Thanks for the info!

I guess I'm trying to find out if it makes more sense to either buy direct from Air Tahiti, or through a travel site. I understand the process direct is cumbersome -- faxing stuff and sketchy confirmation. The 3rd party sites have markups and fees. And then I wonder if the currency conversion makes any difference either way (a glitch in my favor would be sweet, but extremely lucky, of course).

I also read on some post quite a while back that walkup fare deals could be had. Dunno if I want to risk that, however.

Also, the TN award flight I booked got rescheduled. Instead of arriving at 6 am-ish, it now arrives at 4:30 am. Any suggestions on how what time would be ideal to schedule the inter-island flight (to go through immigration, customs and bag claim and stuff)?

I guess I'm trying to find out if it makes more sense to either buy direct from Air Tahiti, or through a travel site. I understand the process direct is cumbersome -- faxing stuff and sketchy confirmation. The 3rd party sites have markups and fees. And then I wonder if the currency conversion makes any difference either way (a glitch in my favor would be sweet, but extremely lucky, of course).Personally I'd pay to have someone else handle it for me and be done with it.

However, it's always been cheaper to make the purchase in PPT. Risk is of a given flight being sold-out but my guess is that's remote. When are you traveling?

My other tip is not to prepay any excess baggage charges. When I left PPT they offered a discount on excess baggage if I prepaid the charge for the BOB-PPT return. I did. Had I not, I likely wouldn't have been dinged for those at all in BOB.

Also, the TN award flight I booked got rescheduled. Instead of arriving at 6 am-ish, it now arrives at 4:30 am. Any suggestions on how what time would be ideal to schedule the inter-island flight (to go through immigration, customs and bag claim and stuff)?

Immigration likely only an issue if you're last off the plane, fortunately for me I was flying F and off quickly, through immigration quickly. And baggage didn't take long.

Still, I probably wouldn't book the 6-ish am flight that operates some days, I'd probably grab the flight that leaves between 7:15am - 7:45am.

However and ultimately worst case whether you prepay your tickets or buy on site, make a short connection or not, is you take a flight later in the day. Your starting off at the beginning of the day, not grabbing the last flight of the day, so it shouldn't be too challenging.

But again for me I'd still probably not take anything leaving before 7 in case of delay (even though Minimum Connection Time int'l -> domestic is 90 minutes) and I'd probably buy from an agent recognizing that I was paying more.

Thanks again for the advice! We arrive on Sept 10.

edit: We will be flying in the front of the plane, so we should not have an issue with an overly long arrival process. The only problem is that one award ticket is in first, and the other is in business -- that's a whole other issue, but I understand lot of folks encounter this. I fired up an expertflyer alert to let me know if they open up another first seat -- we sure don't wanna blow $900 each way to sit together, even if it is our honeymoon.

Thanks for the info!

I guess I'm trying to find out if it makes more sense to either buy direct from Air Tahiti, or through a travel site. I understand the process direct is cumbersome -- faxing stuff and sketchy confirmation. The 3rd party sites have markups and fees. And then I wonder if the currency conversion makes any difference either way (a glitch in my favor would be sweet, but extremely lucky, of course).

I also read on some post quite a while back that walkup fare deals could be had. Dunno if I want to risk that, however.

Also, the TN award flight I booked got rescheduled. Instead of arriving at 6 am-ish, it now arrives at 4:30 am. Any suggestions on how what time would be ideal to schedule the inter-island flight (to go through immigration, customs and bag claim and stuff)?

IMHO the best way to buy the ticket (other than having friends on Tahiti) is to have the hotel buy the ticket for you. They will do all the paperwork for you and if the hotel is good you will get a decent price. I would not risk a standby fare on a honeymoon as those flights are usually full.
In terms of timing, it all depends. If you arrive at 4.30 then any flight after 6 should be fine. Immigration is quick and luggage is also reasonably fast.

However, one of the key attractions of this flight is the view. And the beautiful colours of the water and the reef are only visible once the sun is up. So after 9.00 or even 10.00. The question also is when your hotel on BOB will be ready. In case you can't check-in until the afternoon anyway I would get a room at the Hilton, get some rest and take an early afternoon flight.

Make sure you are among the first on the plane and take the seats in the first 3-4 rows on the left to have the best views of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora.

Thanks again for the advice! We arrive on Sept 10.

edit: We will be flying in the front of the plane, so we should not have an issue with an overly long arrival process. The only problem is that one award ticket is in first, and the other is in business -- that's a whole other issue, but I understand lot of folks encounter this. I fired up an expertflyer alert to let me know if they open up another first seat -- we sure don't wanna blow $900 each way to sit together, even if it is our honeymoon.

Blow $900 each way? Very funny. You are in French Polynesia, the place which invented the $50 Hamburger. You will not even notice the $900 on your credit card statement after you return.

fwiw, my niece went to French Polynesia in April. She bought a walk up fare to Moorea. The counter agents wouldn't even discuss selling her a ticket for an hour or so after she arrived at the counter. They were too busy processing those who had already bought tickets, and checking them in for their flights. She is young and not an experienced traveler, and it was very unclear what they were meant to do. Finally, someone came from the back and sold them their ticket.

Based on her experience, I've decided to buy my BOB ticket in advance for travel later this year.

IMHO the best way to buy the ticket (other than having friends on Tahiti) is to have the hotel buy the ticket for you. They will do all the paperwork for you and if the hotel is good you will get a decent price. I would not risk a standby fare on a honeymoon as those flights are usually full.
In terms of timing, it all depends. If you arrive at 4.30 then any flight after 6 should be fine. Immigration is quick and luggage is also reasonably fast.

However, one of the key attractions of this flight is the view. And the beautiful colours of the water and the reef are only visible once the sun is up. So after 9.00 or even 10.00. The question also is when your hotel on BOB will be ready. In case you can't check-in until the afternoon anyway I would get a room at the Hilton, get some rest and take an early afternoon flight.

Make sure you are among the first on the plane and take the seats in the first 3-4 rows on the left to have the best views of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora.



Blow $900 each way? Very funny. You are in French Polynesia, the place which invented the $50 Hamburger. You will not even notice the $900 on your credit card statement after you return.

We'll be staying at the two ICs in Bora Bora. As an RA, we have 8am check-in privileges, so that should work out OK. Good advice on the flights and plane seats!

We sure would not be able to take such a fantastic trip if it weren't for airline miles and hotel points (or FlyerTalk, for that matter). "Free" non-coach seats and 9 nights in ICs is an awesome perk of working for a "conservative" company and having to be away from home almost 50% of the time. So trust me, I will notice $1800 on my credit card bill. Yes, it could get us 36 hamburgers...but IMHO versus the very front of the plane for both of us on overnight flights, that dough will be better spent on food, drinks and/or activities.

I've been to Tahiti twice, and the first time I asked my hotel (Sheraton PPT at the time) to purchase our Air Tahiti tickets for us. They did so no problem, charged it to my room, so I earned Starpoints at least.

The second time I was more comfortable with the Papeete airport, and simply went down to the Air Tahiti ticket office a few hours before flight time and purchased our tickets with a credit card. They were slightly cheaper, and I enjoyed the experience of just showing up and choosing which flight(s) I wanted at my leisure.

Also keep in mind that Air Tahiti offers an 'Air Tahiti Airpass' that is cheaper than buying numerous roundtrips/one ways, and includes several of the islands:

http://www.airtahiti.aero/articles.php?id=69