Star Alliance planning routes to South Pacific
Feb 1, 2016, 8:00 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 12
Star Alliance planning routes to South Pacific
I know this might be a bit far fetched, but are there any plans to open Star Alliance routes from the US to the South Pacific (Tahiti specifically)? Oneworld already has some service via American's partnership with Air Tahiti Nui and SkyTeam has some with Air France. This seems like a viable route with United's aggressive 787 deployment out of LAX/SFO, even if the flight is only a few days a week. Any thoughts?
Feb 2, 2016, 12:57 am
#3
Moderator, Hilton Honors
Join Date: Nov 2003
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I know this might be a bit far fetched, but are there any plans to open Star Alliance routes from the US to the South Pacific (Tahiti specifically)? Oneworld already has some service via American's partnership with Air Tahiti Nui and SkyTeam has some with Air France. This seems like a viable route with United's aggressive 787 deployment out of LAX/SFO, even if the flight is only a few days a week. Any thoughts?
Air NZ's sole remaining island flight from mainland USA is LAX-RAR-AKL and exists solely due to a considerable subsidy from Cook Islands government.
For LAX-PPT you can fly TN or AF, or NZ LAX-AKL-PPT (although this is a large backtrack).
Feb 6, 2016, 6:27 am
#4
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I am a bit surprised that there is no service from an east Asian carrier (TG, SQ, OZ, CA, NH (though TN flies from NRT), or non-Star carriers like CX). There aren't even any flights from Australia. I guess Tahiti is more on the radar screens of Americans and Europeans.
Feb 7, 2016, 1:06 am
#5
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
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I know this might be a bit far fetched, but are there any plans to open Star Alliance routes from the US to the South Pacific (Tahiti specifically)? Oneworld already has some service via American's partnership with Air Tahiti Nui and SkyTeam has some with Air France. This seems like a viable route with United's aggressive 787 deployment out of LAX/SFO, even if the flight is only a few days a week. Any thoughts?
Overall, *A coverage in the South Pacific isn't so bad with UA from GUM and NZ from AKL, but may not be an efficient routing from the US. I don't believe either of the other alliances have nearly as many islands available.
Feb 7, 2016, 8:32 pm
#6
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Feb 8, 2016, 4:58 am
#7
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
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In any case *A never plans new routes, its mostly a patchwork of their key members thinking up a plan and then stiching it into the *A route network. If there is considerable traffic (like say HNL) to a particular destinations, the member will try to synch the timetable to capture some feeder traffic.
Feb 8, 2016, 4:34 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
Programs: AA EXP, NH Plat, Former UA 1K
Posts: 5,665
You're correct, I should have said Pacific Islands rather than South Pacific for UA. They cover Micronesia and that region well but nothing in the proper South Pacific anymore, for that it's all NZ for *A.