While planning a trip in 2013/2014 and researching, I decided to create this primer to help organize my thoughts/options/plans.

This is a compilation of info from FT threads and blog posts, please let me know if anything is 'old date'

Last Update: Aug 12, 2013

Flights

• Award redemption is hard
• Plan on booking 330 days in advance
• Look for awards to Papeete (PPT)
• Air Tahiti is not the same as Air Tahiti Nui. You must book on Air Tahiti and gasp pay cash to get to another island.
• Getting to Bora Bora (BOB) is limited and expensive ($400+ per person) you will need to take the interisland flight on Air Tahiti, which can be booked on www.airtahiti.com
• Getting to or Moorea (MOZ) is about $15 per person each way, and takes 30 minutes on the high speed catamaran, Aremiti 5. The schedule is posted at www.aremiti.net
  

Oneworld AA

USA - PPT*
Economy is 37.5k each way
Business is 62.5k each way

*Need to call AA to book on Air Tahiti Nui (TN), flights won't show up online, will route with AS/HA via HNL
Here is a great step-by-step guide on how to book TN with AA miles

Oneworld LAN

USA - Lima, Peru (LIM)
Economy is 30k using AA miles

LIM - Easter Island (IPC)**
Economy is 12.5k using BA miles

USA - Santiago, Chile (SCL)
Economy is 40k using AA miles

SCL - IPC**
Economy is 12.5k using BA miles

IPC - PPT - once a week only
Economy is 12.5k using BA miles

Flights are daily from either LIM or SCL to IPC. Award availability to PPT is extremely limited, if not impossible

**Or you can fly direct to PPT for 25k BA miles

Oneworld Qantas

LAX - PPT*
Reported non-stop by some, haven't been able to price or find

Someone claimed they got LAX - Auckland (AKL) - Sydney (SYD) - AKL - PPT - LAX for 105k miles

The LAX - AKL - SYD - AKL was on Qantas, the AKL - PPT - LAX was on Air Tahiti Nui

I've not been able to reproduce or price this itinerary.

Star Alliance Air New Zealand

LAX - AKL -PPT*
Economy is 35k each way, 28-45 hours each way

Maybe useful to add a SYD stopover for the same mileage

*Very limited availability on UA.bomb

Sky Team Air France

LAX - PPT
Economy is 75k DL miles each way

DL also partners with TN (outside of Skyteam) for flights

Hawaiian Airlines

Flights Honolulu (HNL) to PPT leave once a week on Saturdays
Flights PPT - HNL leave once a week on Sundays

HNL - PPT*
Economy is 27.5k each way
Business is 47.5k each way

*cheapest way to fly HA to PPT is using Korean Air (KE) miles (30k RT HNL-PPT)

Earning - Transferring - Using Airline Points

Please see the Credit Card forum for latest offers.

Other Miles

• 2.5 LAN miles per 1 SPG transfer
• Chase UR 1:1 for various airlines mentioned, see Post #2