Originally Posted by
WonderDude
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.
Originally Posted by
WonderDude
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.