Last edit by: Prospero
Air Tahiti Nui (TN) is a non-oneworld airline partner of AA. AAdvantage members may use AA miles for awards on TN; members earn miles on TN only if flying TN as an AA marketed / codeshare. AA and TN have expanded codesharing to include CDG, AKL. It is also possible to earn AA miles flying as a Qantas codeshare due to an exclusion from the normal oneworld rule of earning on a oneworld codeshare only if operated by another oneworld airline.
You can now search for TN award availability on aa.com. But you may have to call AA due to some aa.com anomalous behavior. You may also use tools such as ExpertFlyer to find availability, or use Qantas as described in The High Life here.
NOTE: Air Tahiti Nui is “skipping” the USA with the exception of 4-5 flights weekly as of mid-March 2020 and initially through 7 April due to the novel Coronavirus and flying PPT-CDG without stopping at LAX. Link to TN travel policy page.
For AAdvantage awards, remember there must be an unconstructed fare offered by TN - as the most significant carrier - from one's origin - it may not be so likely you'll find an unconstructed fare from FAR or JAX to PPT, more likely from DFW. Otherwise, you may need to get yourself to an OK origin airport with a separate award or paid ticket.
See mercruiser's TN Business award booking process here.
NOTE: AA Agents may have difficulty finding the award space themselves, but:
See the aa.com page on award redemption charts, including the South Pacific, here. From March 22, 2016 on, here.
See post #1 for information on the TN 787 and illustrations, including seat chartand post #2 for information on the A340-343s retiring in 2019.
TN does not belong to any alliance at this time, though they do offer some codeshares and accept awards booked by a number of airlines (including AA). TN offers a "QF3826" PPT-AKL, but as pointed out by JonNYC elsewhere, though ExpertFlyer displays it as a prime flight, it's a codeshare operated by TN and not available for an award. (N.B. ExpertFlyer will show TN award seats accurately.)
- Exit and Bulkhead seats can only be assigned at the airport.
- On the A340 a Business seat or pair may be reserved for the pilot not flying.
- TN, 2019 (Note TN easily gives away predilect seats to “friends and family”, so if you lose your exit row or other favored seat don’t be surprised.)
You can not upgrade TN flights with AA miles, but they offer paid counter upgrades (availability based, Feb 2016 $1,000 Y to J, first come first served, so arrive early at check-in, and they may decline to upgrade paid codeshare flights). See http://borabora.airtahitinui-usa.com...es-charges.asp.
We don’t know if an upgrade from Moana Coach can be purchased to Premium Economy (on the 787-9) as yet.
Link to summary information about PPT Airport.
Link to Papeete Faa’a / PPT very useful page at SleepingInAirports.net.
Air Tahiti Nui was established on 31 October 1996 and commenced flight operations on 20 November 1998. The government of French Polynesia is the major shareholder (84.4%) along with other local investors. (Wikipedia)
Fleet
Seat selection and On Line Check In:
But:
Note: Flights within French Polynesia, e.g. to Bora Bora / BOB, are operated by Air Tahiti / VT (not oneworld nor AA partner) can be acquired with TYP, Barclays etc. travelcard points, but not with AA miles.
Other airline services to PPT include LA via SCL-IPC and AF. HA also offers once a week flights (Saturdays at this time) to PPT via HNL. AA flyers to SYD and AKL; this offers other award opportunities via AA and TN. LA flys SCL-IPC-PPT as well.
Websites: www.airtahitinui.com and www.airtahitinui-usa.com
Link to Archive if 2014-2017 posts from this thread.
You can now search for TN award availability on aa.com. But you may have to call AA due to some aa.com anomalous behavior. You may also use tools such as ExpertFlyer to find availability, or use Qantas as described in The High Life here.
NOTE: Air Tahiti Nui is “skipping” the USA with the exception of 4-5 flights weekly as of mid-March 2020 and initially through 7 April due to the novel Coronavirus and flying PPT-CDG without stopping at LAX. Link to TN travel policy page.
For AAdvantage awards, remember there must be an unconstructed fare offered by TN - as the most significant carrier - from one's origin - it may not be so likely you'll find an unconstructed fare from FAR or JAX to PPT, more likely from DFW. Otherwise, you may need to get yourself to an OK origin airport with a separate award or paid ticket.
Award classes you are looking for on TN (updated Dec 2017 by dkc192) are:
See FleyeSkyHigh’s post #599
- TN awards on AA need to have an "AP" or Another Partner award code.
- NOTE: ]F is J award
- U is Y award
- Z has been J upgrade
- There is no longer First Class on TN
- Moana Premium Economy is not available as an award booking yet
See FleyeSkyHigh’s post #599
First, the basics. The should search for available inventory with the following criteria:
Promo Box- leave empty
Carrier Code Box- TN
Inventory Box- ADV
That's pretty much true for all award searches so if the rep didn't know how to find the carrier code of TN your best bet is going to be to HUCA. Assuming you get that far the next gotcha is the way the type of award code that is used. Often times the agent will simply search for a American or OneWorld award code. That will not work. They need to search using an "AP" award code which basically means "Another Partner Award Code."
...Air Tahiti Nui decided to change their business class award booking codes from I to F back in July of 2017. Much of AA's documentation has not been updated. I think they may have changed the letter codes of Economy awards also...they now come from bucket code U. It's helpful to remind the AA agents of the inventory code you are looking to book. I can tell you they are searching for I or U for business or X or T for economy they have not got the right "AP" award code for the search.
Lastly, I have found it helpful to ask them to go to their other screen and try a "direct access" search for the F or U award inventory directly with TN. This last step in my experience has set off the light bulb for most agents to get it done. I used to have a 10% success rate booking TN awards with AA but once I followed all the steps about I am at 80% plus (meaning I only have to HUCA 1 out of every 5 times).
Promo Box- leave empty
Carrier Code Box- TN
Inventory Box- ADV
That's pretty much true for all award searches so if the rep didn't know how to find the carrier code of TN your best bet is going to be to HUCA. Assuming you get that far the next gotcha is the way the type of award code that is used. Often times the agent will simply search for a American or OneWorld award code. That will not work. They need to search using an "AP" award code which basically means "Another Partner Award Code."
...Air Tahiti Nui decided to change their business class award booking codes from I to F back in July of 2017. Much of AA's documentation has not been updated. I think they may have changed the letter codes of Economy awards also...they now come from bucket code U. It's helpful to remind the AA agents of the inventory code you are looking to book. I can tell you they are searching for I or U for business or X or T for economy they have not got the right "AP" award code for the search.
Lastly, I have found it helpful to ask them to go to their other screen and try a "direct access" search for the F or U award inventory directly with TN. This last step in my experience has set off the light bulb for most agents to get it done. I used to have a 10% success rate booking TN awards with AA but once I followed all the steps about I am at 80% plus (meaning I only have to HUCA 1 out of every 5 times).
NOTE: AA Agents may have difficulty finding the award space themselves, but:
See the aa.com page on award redemption charts, including the South Pacific, here. From March 22, 2016 on, here.
See post #1 for information on the TN 787 and illustrations, including seat chartand post #2 for information on the A340-343s retiring in 2019.
TN does not belong to any alliance at this time, though they do offer some codeshares and accept awards booked by a number of airlines (including AA). TN offers a "QF3826" PPT-AKL, but as pointed out by JonNYC elsewhere, though ExpertFlyer displays it as a prime flight, it's a codeshare operated by TN and not available for an award. (N.B. ExpertFlyer will show TN award seats accurately.)
Since TN introduced 'seat à la carte' on 1 Sept 2019, you can do seat selection online under the condition your booking was ticketed. You need the TN reservation code (PNR):
- Go to manage booking, enter your details (PNR - last name), open reservation
- Go to manage booking, modify traveler details. ENTER CONTACT INFORMATION. THIS IS THE KEY TO BEING ABLE TO SEE SERVICES/SEAT SELECTION. Then select 'continue'.
- Go to Additional Services with the meals sign
- Go to the Seating and pick your seats (free for business, preference or extra comfort seats in Economy at a fee)
”To request seat assignments, please contact our Air Tahiti Nui reservation office at least 72 hours prior to departure. However, we recommend requesting your seat assignments as soon as you confirm and ticket your reservations, so that more seat options will be available. Please be advised, exit and bulkhead rows can only be assigned at the airport.
Air Tahiti Nui aims to honor advance-seating requests. However, we cannot guarantee any particular seat even if the booking is confirmed. Air Tahiti Nui reserves the right to reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft, for operational, safety or security reasons. Please accept our apologies if your preferred seat is not available at departure.”
Air Tahiti Nui aims to honor advance-seating requests. However, we cannot guarantee any particular seat even if the booking is confirmed. Air Tahiti Nui reserves the right to reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft, for operational, safety or security reasons. Please accept our apologies if your preferred seat is not available at departure.”
- On the A340 a Business seat or pair may be reserved for the pilot not flying.
- TN, 2019 (Note TN easily gives away predilect seats to “friends and family”, so if you lose your exit row or other favored seat don’t be surprised.)
You can not upgrade TN flights with AA miles, but they offer paid counter upgrades (availability based, Feb 2016 $1,000 Y to J, first come first served, so arrive early at check-in, and they may decline to upgrade paid codeshare flights). See http://borabora.airtahitinui-usa.com...es-charges.asp.
We don’t know if an upgrade from Moana Coach can be purchased to Premium Economy (on the 787-9) as yet.
Link to summary information about PPT Airport.
Link to Papeete Faa’a / PPT very useful page at SleepingInAirports.net.
Air Tahiti Nui was established on 31 October 1996 and commenced flight operations on 20 November 1998. The government of French Polynesia is the major shareholder (84.4%) along with other local investors. (Wikipedia)
Fleet
NOTE: TN began flying their Boeing 787-9 “Tahitian Dreamliner” (with GE engines, two purchased, two leased) LAX-PPT etc.18 November, 2018. See Air Tahiti Nui / TN to launch 787-9 Dreamliner 7 November 2018 for more information, including a link to the PDF seat chart. ALL five A340-343s will be replaced by four 787-9s by October 2019.
Boeing 787-9 “Tahitian Dreamliner “ (4 to be in fleet, all by October 2019) link to,TN 787-9 page.
These 787-9s have 30J - 32W - 232Y in a three class configuration . They also offer Panasonic Ku band internet connectivity via WiFi and eX3 IFE.
Boeing 787-9 “Tahitian Dreamliner” seating
C30 (Poerava Business) 2-2-2 Rockwell Collins (née B/E Aerospace) Parallel Diamond (similar to J in the AA A321T or J on QR 777-200LR)
W32 (Moana Premium) 2-3-2 Zodiac Aerospace Z535 Premium Economy class seats.
Y232 (Moana Economy) 3-3-3 in two cabins, with Zodiac Aerospace Z300 Economy class seats
for a total of 294 seats
See post #1 for a current 789 seat chart or SeatGuru here.
Seats in Poerava First are AB, DE, KL
Seats in Moana Premium are AB, DEF, KL
Seats in Moana Premium are ABC, DEF, JKL
“Woven together our fleet names have a hidden meaning: The warrior (TOA) going forward (MUA) in the great (NUI) canoe (VAA)!” The 787-9s will be / are:
F-OMUA “Fakarava”
F-ONUI “Tupaia “
F-OVAA “Bora Bora”
F-OTOA “Tetiaroa”
These 787-9s have 30J - 32W - 232Y in a three class configuration . They also offer Panasonic Ku band internet connectivity via WiFi and eX3 IFE.
Boeing 787-9 “Tahitian Dreamliner” seating
C30 (Poerava Business) 2-2-2 Rockwell Collins (née B/E Aerospace) Parallel Diamond (similar to J in the AA A321T or J on QR 777-200LR)
W32 (Moana Premium) 2-3-2 Zodiac Aerospace Z535 Premium Economy class seats.
Y232 (Moana Economy) 3-3-3 in two cabins, with Zodiac Aerospace Z300 Economy class seats
for a total of 294 seats
See post #1 for a current 789 seat chart or SeatGuru here.
Seats in Poerava First are AB, DE, KL
Seats in Moana Premium are AB, DEF, KL
Seats in Moana Premium are ABC, DEF, JKL
“Woven together our fleet names have a hidden meaning: The warrior (TOA) going forward (MUA) in the great (NUI) canoe (VAA)!” The 787-9s will be / are:
F-OMUA “Fakarava”
F-ONUI “Tupaia “
F-OVAA “Bora Bora”
F-OTOA “Tetiaroa”
Airbus A340-343 (four of five remain in service 1/1/2019; the remainder will be phased out by October 2019)
Four A340s have undergone a CIP (Cabin Improvement Program), one (F-OJTN "Bora Bora") has, and will, not be refurbished. Though "Bora Bora" is more likely to be used on South Pacific - Asia flights, it still visits LAX periodically. Perhaps it will be the first A340 to be retired?
TN have eliminated Poerava First and only offer Poerava Business and Moana Economy classes on the A340, and have added Moana Premium (Premium Economy) on the 789. (See below.) A thread on selecting seats with AA awards and codeshares can be read here. The A340 Poerava Business seats are shell angled lie flat seats; Moana Economy seats presumably have 33” seat pitch, but feels tighter; bulkhead and exit row seating can only be assigned at airport check-in.
As seat charts are the same for all five A340s, it's difficult to know which configuration you will be on.
Link to seat chart.
Four A340s have undergone a CIP (Cabin Improvement Program), one (F-OJTN "Bora Bora") has, and will, not be refurbished. Though "Bora Bora" is more likely to be used on South Pacific - Asia flights, it still visits LAX periodically. Perhaps it will be the first A340 to be retired?
TN have eliminated Poerava First and only offer Poerava Business and Moana Economy classes on the A340, and have added Moana Premium (Premium Economy) on the 789. (See below.) A thread on selecting seats with AA awards and codeshares can be read here. The A340 Poerava Business seats are shell angled lie flat seats; Moana Economy seats presumably have 33” seat pitch, but feels tighter; bulkhead and exit row seating can only be assigned at airport check-in.
As seat charts are the same for all five A340s, it's difficult to know which configuration you will be on.
Link to seat chart.
At this time, online check-in and online seat selection are not available.
To request seat assignments, please contact our Air Tahiti Nui Reservations Office at least 72 hours prior to departure at (877) 824-4846. However, we recommend requesting your seat assignments as soon as you confirm and ticket your reservations, so that more seat options will be available. Please be advised, exit and bulkhead rows can only be assigned at the airport.
Air Tahiti Nui aims to honor advance-seating requests. However, we cannot guarantee any particular seat even if the booking is confirmed. Air Tahiti Nui reserves the right to reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft, for operational, safety or security reasons. Please accept our apologies if your preferred seat is not available at departure.
To request seat assignments, please contact our Air Tahiti Nui Reservations Office at least 72 hours prior to departure at (877) 824-4846. However, we recommend requesting your seat assignments as soon as you confirm and ticket your reservations, so that more seat options will be available. Please be advised, exit and bulkhead rows can only be assigned at the airport.
Air Tahiti Nui aims to honor advance-seating requests. However, we cannot guarantee any particular seat even if the booking is confirmed. Air Tahiti Nui reserves the right to reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft, for operational, safety or security reasons. Please accept our apologies if your preferred seat is not available at departure.
Lounges
Only TN Poerava Business flyers get lounge access (AA codeshare flyers have been denied) TN are not oneworld, so oneworld status does not apply.
At AKL, NRT, and SYD TN use Qantas Business lounge.
At CDG, TN use the Cathay Pacific Business lounge.
At LAX, TN uses the 'International Lounge' in the Tom Bradley International Terminal for business passengers, shared with Air Fiji, El Al and Philippine Airlines; at other times, they will use the Korean Airlines lounge.
At PPT, TN offer their own Salon Manuhiri International lounge (also Diners, Airport Angel and Priority Pass may be used, though TN ticket counter employees may incorrectly tell you they don't accept those cards - in this writer's personal experience, they do.) airside, second floor via stairs or lift, open 150 minutes prior to departures.
Only TN Poerava Business flyers get lounge access (AA codeshare flyers have been denied) TN are not oneworld, so oneworld status does not apply.
At AKL, NRT, and SYD TN use Qantas Business lounge.
At CDG, TN use the Cathay Pacific Business lounge.
At LAX, TN uses the 'International Lounge' in the Tom Bradley International Terminal for business passengers, shared with Air Fiji, El Al and Philippine Airlines; at other times, they will use the Korean Airlines lounge.
At PPT, TN offer their own Salon Manuhiri International lounge (also Diners, Airport Angel and Priority Pass may be used, though TN ticket counter employees may incorrectly tell you they don't accept those cards - in this writer's personal experience, they do.) airside, second floor via stairs or lift, open 150 minutes prior to departures.
Other airline services to PPT include LA via SCL-IPC and AF. HA also offers once a week flights (Saturdays at this time) to PPT via HNL. AA flyers to SYD and AKL; this offers other award opportunities via AA and TN. LA flys SCL-IPC-PPT as well.
Websites: www.airtahitinui.com and www.airtahitinui-usa.com
nsuring Responsiveness to Our Customers’ Complaints
If a passenger has an unsatisfactory experience on one of our flights or while interacting with one of our employees, they may file a formal complaint to our Customer Relations Department. Every customer complaint will be read and acknowledged in writing within 30 days of our receipt of the complaint. If this initial communication does not fully address the concerns raised, we will send a substantive written response to the customer within 60 days.
Customer Relations can be reached immediately by clicking on the following link:
www.airtahitinui-usa.com/complaints
Or by calling 1(855) 835-9286
Or by writing through the U.S. Mail, and should be sent to:
Air Tahiti Nui - Customer Service
1970 E. Grand Ave, suite 100
El Segundo, CA 90245
Any written communication should contain the following information:
If a passenger has an unsatisfactory experience on one of our flights or while interacting with one of our employees, they may file a formal complaint to our Customer Relations Department. Every customer complaint will be read and acknowledged in writing within 30 days of our receipt of the complaint. If this initial communication does not fully address the concerns raised, we will send a substantive written response to the customer within 60 days.
Customer Relations can be reached immediately by clicking on the following link:
www.airtahitinui-usa.com/complaints
Or by calling 1(855) 835-9286
Or by writing through the U.S. Mail, and should be sent to:
Air Tahiti Nui - Customer Service
1970 E. Grand Ave, suite 100
El Segundo, CA 90245
Any written communication should contain the following information:
- The name of the passenger concerned;
- The ticket number;
- The date and flight # concerning the complaint;[
- If not a complaint onboard the aircraft, the date and location of the event; and
- The nature of the event
A few French Polynesian words make your travel friendlier
Ia ora na - hello (EE-ah o-RAH-na
E - yes (eh)
Aita- no (EYE-tah)
Mauruuru - thank you (may-ooh-ROO-oo-roo)
Cheers - manuia (mon-oo-EE-ah)
Haere maru - take it easy (hah-EH-reh MAH-roo)
Nana- goodbye (NA-na)
Pronunciation:
Bora Bora - POra POra (yes, "B" is pronounced as "P")
Faa'a - faah ah
Papeete - pa-pay-EH-tay
N.B. French is the official language; speaking French is very useful in PF.
Ia ora na - hello (EE-ah o-RAH-na
E - yes (eh)
Aita- no (EYE-tah)
Mauruuru - thank you (may-ooh-ROO-oo-roo)
Cheers - manuia (mon-oo-EE-ah)
Haere maru - take it easy (hah-EH-reh MAH-roo)
Nana- goodbye (NA-na)
Pronunciation:
Bora Bora - POra POra (yes, "B" is pronounced as "P")
Faa'a - faah ah
Papeete - pa-pay-EH-tay
N.B. French is the official language; speaking French is very useful in PF.
AA Miles Award: TN / Air Tahiti Nui award redemptions (master thread)
#136
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: OZ D+
Posts: 9
EF shows 9 availability for business (which I don't believe to be true), and AA website also shows availability.
When I try to book on AA.com, it gives me an error. Somebody reported this above as well.Should I assume this to be a phantom space?
When I try to book on AA.com, it gives me an error. Somebody reported this above as well.
- The flight you selected is no longer available. Please modify your request.
#137
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Paris
Programs: AA LT Plat (4m+), AF Plat, A3 Gold, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat/Ambassador
Posts: 2,648
Is this at the 330-day mark or the first bookable week? Because I’ve noticed there’s a small gap in time before AA will let you actually book the seat.
That said you might want to call and ask because AA is a mess with TN (sometimes corresponds to EF, sometimes not...) there is a “tutorial” here as well explaining how to ask for TN awards because many agents don’t know and look for T and U claaa ans via a different system...
That said you might want to call and ask because AA is a mess with TN (sometimes corresponds to EF, sometimes not...) there is a “tutorial” here as well explaining how to ask for TN awards because many agents don’t know and look for T and U claaa ans via a different system...
#138
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Paris
Programs: AA LT Plat (4m+), AF Plat, A3 Gold, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat/Ambassador
Posts: 2,648
Also are you seeing 9 seats on NRT-PPT of AKL-PPT? Because that’s where you would usually see that if it’s a 787...
#139
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY, NY
Posts: 695
FYI, ExpertFlyer is showing 2 Business Class seats on quite a number of days in August
For LAX to PPT - TN 7 : August 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 30
For PPT to LAX - TN 8 : August 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30
I haven't checked beyond that, but given how rare it is to find awards on those flights, figured people might want to grab it
For LAX to PPT - TN 7 : August 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 30
For PPT to LAX - TN 8 : August 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30
I haven't checked beyond that, but given how rare it is to find awards on those flights, figured people might want to grab it
Last edited by ukinny2000; Feb 15, 2019 at 8:28 am
#140
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 28
787 Availability!
After six months of patiently waiting for Expert Flyer alerts to come across, I was able to grab round trip business for 2 in June (80K AA miles RT per segment) on the new 787s. There still seems to be great availability in the June timeframe (including up to F5). If you've been patiently waiting, I suggest you check EF and give AA a call. Certain dates are matching on AA.com as well. Good luck all!
As for booking, was simple call to AA, told them of flight #s , ticketed within 4 hours. Used ticket number to find TN record locator and confirmed seats by calling TN (<10 minutes).
Now to find that saver flight to LAX to tag onto the rez...
As for booking, was simple call to AA, told them of flight #s , ticketed within 4 hours. Used ticket number to find TN record locator and confirmed seats by calling TN (<10 minutes).
Now to find that saver flight to LAX to tag onto the rez...
#141
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: Marriott, SPG, AAdvantage, United, Southwest
Posts: 3
I too found J (F) award availability today. Per the super helpful wiki, I now understand I need to either get to LAX via a separate ticket OR find a "unconstructed" fare close to me to add award segments. Question - How can I definitely identify an unconstructed fare? When I put in most city pairs a fare comes up, but not sure how to tell.
For AAdvantage awards, remember there must be an unconstructed fare offered by TN - as the most significant carrier - from one's origin - it may not be so likely you'll find an unconstructed fare from FAR or JAX to PPT, more likely from DFW. Otherwise, you may need to get yourself to an OK origin airport with a separate award or paid ticket.
For AAdvantage awards, remember there must be an unconstructed fare offered by TN - as the most significant carrier - from one's origin - it may not be so likely you'll find an unconstructed fare from FAR or JAX to PPT, more likely from DFW. Otherwise, you may need to get yourself to an OK origin airport with a separate award or paid ticket.
#142
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,466
I too found J (F) award availability today. Per the super helpful wiki, I now understand I need to either get to LAX via a separate ticket OR find a "unconstructed" fare close to me to add award segments. Question - How can I definitely identify an unconstructed fare? When I put in most city pairs a fare comes up, but not sure how to tell.
For AAdvantage awards, remember there must be an unconstructed fare offered by TN - as the most significant carrier - from one's origin - it may not be so likely you'll find an unconstructed fare from FAR or JAX to PPT, more likely from DFW. Otherwise, you may need to get yourself to an OK origin airport with a separate award or paid ticket.
For AAdvantage awards, remember there must be an unconstructed fare offered by TN - as the most significant carrier - from one's origin - it may not be so likely you'll find an unconstructed fare from FAR or JAX to PPT, more likely from DFW. Otherwise, you may need to get yourself to an OK origin airport with a separate award or paid ticket.
Search award space at aa.com from your origin to LAX and back, and put that on hold. Presumably this space matches up with any TN award availability you've found at EF. Then call AA and ask them to add the TN flights onto your existing award on hold. This should then reprice to 80k each way in business, if it doesn't then it could be that TN doesn't publish a fare. You can always keep it on hold then come back here for suggestions.
I did this just yesterday for my trip in August. Put RDU-PHX-LAX and LAX-DFW-RDU on hold at aa.com for 25k each way in business. Then called AA, fed them the TN flights I found on EF, and voila, I had RDU-PHX-LAX-PPT followed by PPT-LAX-DFW-RDU for 80k each way.
#143
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 27
Called AA to try booking a non-stop flight from PPT to NRT in November. EF shows availability on 11-3-19 but AA is saying they aren't able to confirm the booking. Asked nicely to see if there are any future dates available and he was able to find something in December that he was able to confirm (EF also shows availability). Not sure if 11-3-19 is just an anomaly or what but it is definitely not available...
Edit: I tried to book the flight on AA's website for December and that DID allow me to book t.
Edit: I tried to book the flight on AA's website for December and that DID allow me to book t.
Last edited by Xephyr; Feb 19, 2019 at 7:15 pm
#145
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 6
I am planning a trip for March 2020, so I have been following availability for the last two months and there was a ton of business savers every single day at the end of the schedule. But ~a week ago or so I have seen none. Can I presume an IT glitch and calling AA should show the availsbility 331 days out as I saw before on the web?
#147
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 27
In other news, AA finally updated the seat availability for business class to match expertflyer 🙄.
#148
I am planning a trip for March 2020, so I have been following availability for the last two months and there was a ton of business savers every single day at the end of the schedule. But ~a week ago or so I have seen none. Can I presume an IT glitch and calling AA should show the availsbility 331 days out as I saw before on the web?
There was One seat available on Hawaiian airlines first class lie flat seats bookable with American airline miles. I booked this from Tahiti to Honolulu. I transferred membership reward points directly to Hawaiian Airlines to book the second seat that American Airlines could not see. Then, I booked 2 mile saver level first class seats from Honolulu to Phoenix to Minneapolis. Thankfully, the Honolulu to Phoenix route has lie flat seats. In the end, it ended up costing me way more points(90k MR and ~180k AA miles versus 160k AA miles), and some extra days of travel, but I was not going to fly in an economy on air Tahiti Nui. The upside of this is that we have two more nights in Bora-Bora. I booked two nights at the Sofitel private island overwater bungalow to cap off our stay (5 nights Hilton Moorea, 6 nights Conrad bora bora, and now 2 nights Sofitel private island)
#149
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: SFO
Posts: 642
I'm looking for economy or biz - I don't see anything available on EF for Oct 19' - LAX-PPT or reverse
#150
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 27