Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Air France vs. Air Tahiti Nui in economy

Wondering if anyone has flown both recently on the LAX-PPT-LAX route and can tell me about the differences: seat comfort, legroom (extra tall husband), food, entertainment, service, safety, on time departures, ability to get exit row or pay for upgrades, etc.

I can earn miles on a partner of Air France if I buy it on my own (NWA), but not on Air Tahiti Nui (AA) b/c of the class I'm being offered through a travel agent. The AF tickets are about $60 pp more than the ATN tickets.

Thanks!

Neither is going to be stellar in Y (not as good as AA, for example). AF doesn't want to serve PPT but is forced to, and it is the tail end of a route network (so don't expect much for reliability if things go wrong). TN doesn't have a lot of planes but an order of magnitude better than AF in that respect despite being a much smaller airline. TN has old planes but friendly service and tries hard to be better, so I would pick TN even without FF points (implies you are getting a consolidator fare and normally TN does earn on AA). If you wanted better you'd have to fly NZ which will cost more and might be an indirect routing (however far better than either AF or TN).

Yes the consolidator fare matches what the webfares were last week, before they went up, but it is only $60 less than the AF fare. So older plane doesn't = less comfortable seats (for my extra tall husband)?
Yeah, no way are we flying to NZ in coach :).

Yes the consolidator fare matches what the webfares were last week, before they went up, but it is only $60 less than the AF fare. So older plane doesn't = less comfortable seats (for my extra tall husband)?
Yeah, no way are we flying to NZ in coach :).

Number_6 is a bit spoiled I guess. When he says older planes he is talking about the older aircraft being 7 years old (comparison, NW has an average age of almost 19 years). So while they are not Emirates, the planes are still perfectly fine.

Another way of getting to PPT is to fly NZ LAX-RAR and then take Air Tahiti (not Air Tahiti Nui) from RAR to PPT.
A very nice way of getting there which has the added advantage of a (forced) stay at RAR. So if you have a bit of time and maybe a bit more money, this would be a very comfortable option.