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AA Miles Award: TN / Air Tahiti Nui award redemptions (master thread)

Old Jan 2, 2013, 4:02 am
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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.

Award classes you are looking for on TN (updated Dec 2017 by dkc192) are:
  • 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 FleyeSkyHighs 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).
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.)

Originally Posted by franzose
Since TN introduced 'seat 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)
Only works on the regular website, not mobile.
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.
- 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 dont 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 dont 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 Faaa / 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 (ne 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.
Seat selection and On Line Check In:

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.
But:

Originally Posted by UKdiver
Discovered today you can do it using Qatar's website, even if you don't have QR flights in the booking. You need the Amadeus locator code. [If you booked an award with AA, request the agent to give you TN's locator.]
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.
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

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:
  • 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.
Link to Archive if 2014-2017 posts from this thread.
Print Wikipost

AA Miles Award: TN / Air Tahiti Nui award redemptions (master thread)

Old Oct 29, 2018, 3:27 pm
  #91  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Paris
Programs: AA LT Plat (4m+), AF Plat, A3 Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat/Ambassador
Posts: 2,645
Originally Posted by ExpertFlyer Voice
No, it's our response when we are correctly showing reservation system data. If you need help in using it then again please email us a specific example and we can help you. Replying to a post from 5 months ago without an example doesn't really help anyone.
Well, after being one of your first customers, paying religiously for years, recommending your service to now other current customers of yours... and having contacted you several times with issues I think I've earned the right to opine as to your service. In my experience you typically reply exactly in the same manner- i.e. "that's what the system says" or "we don't see that".

In this case I was specifically looking at the TN issue re availability not being consistent with what AA shows. And the thread was informative in explaining why this is the case.

Look, you have a great product which has made our lives a heck of a lot easier but it's not infallible. There are some problems with it not displaying fares properly in certain markets, particularly not showing business class fares (and yes, I contacted you about this-your answer was there are too many results). Filtering by fare sometimes generates an incorrect response. RTW fares from some originating cities fail to show entire alliances (yep, I contacted you about this as well).

Bottom line, listen and talk to your own customers with a little more deference, they pay your bills.
bostontraveler is offline  
Old Nov 15, 2018, 2:00 am
  #92  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: So Cal
Posts: 927
AA.com while bookable, is not showing availability in J that is open. I used EF tonight to find availability for next year, and once I instructed the agent who came up short the first time, with using booking code F for Business, she was able to see it. Do not rely on AA.com to show availability. On a side note, Conrad Bora Bora is wide open after April 1st if you are looking.
brodielayne is offline  
Old Nov 27, 2018, 8:50 am
  #93  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: DFW, TX USA
Posts: 53
I was able to work with AA agent to find two U (Coach) on LAX-PPT and two F (Business) on PPT-LAX next April for a total of 120K AA points plus $126 in taxes/fees. Expertflyer definitely helped find the seats, whereas aa.com didn't show anything.
Softwizard is offline  
Old Nov 27, 2018, 9:23 am
  #94  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: So Cal
Posts: 927
Originally Posted by Softwizard
I was able to work with AA agent to find two U (Coach) on LAX-PPT and two F (Business) on PPT-LAX next April for a total of 120K AA points plus $126 in taxes/fees. Expertflyer definitely helped find the seats, whereas aa.com didn't show anything.
I found out the same thing when I booked Business return a couple of weeks ago. However, last night I was looking for later next year and found several business class tickets available on AA.com. It's really hit and miss....
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Old Dec 14, 2018, 4:50 pm
  #95  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
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Has anyone actually booked via AA.com? I'm looking for next year end of Oct/Nov and see a lot of availabilty from LAX, but I can't get anything to stick. After a half dozen different tries, I keep getting "The flight you selected is no longer available. Please modify your request."
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Old Dec 14, 2018, 7:19 pm
  #96  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: So Cal
Posts: 927
Originally Posted by flyaxa
Has anyone actually booked via AA.com? I'm looking for next year end of Oct/Nov and see a lot of availabilty from LAX, but I can't get anything to stick. After a half dozen different tries, I keep getting "The flight you selected is no longer available. Please modify your request."
This is a recent issue that I have seen the past couple of weeks, and not only on LAX-PPT, as I had the same issue on KIN-LAX. When I called in I had no luck getting an agent to book it, however I did not HUCA, so YMMV.

I should add that when this happened I had no issue booking with Alaska and BA currency on the same flights.

Last edited by brodielayne; Dec 14, 2018 at 7:21 pm Reason: Added a DP
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Old Jan 2, 2019, 9:59 am
  #97  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: DFW, TX USA
Posts: 53
Is there a way to get from U (coach on miles) to Premium Economy? Air Tahiti Nui reservations in LA says AA must do it since they ticketed my flight. However, I don't know what to ask an AA agent to do/look for. I know that TN is not One World,, but I am thinking that the EXP desk might be able to force it.
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Old Jan 2, 2019, 10:03 am
  #98  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Paris
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Posts: 2,645
Originally Posted by Softwizard
Is there a way to get from U (coach on miles) to Premium Economy? Air Tahiti Nui reservations in LA says AA must do it since they ticketed my flight. However, I don't know what to ask an AA agent to do/look for. I know that TN is not One World,, but I am thinking that the EXP desk might be able to force it.
No because AA doesn't offer Premium Economy awards.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 8:08 am
  #99  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 786
Sorry if this has been covered, but is it true that TN may offer Qantas different space? I see 2 business class on expert flyer and qantas for the dates I want, but AA agent (after a few HUCA) still cannot see this space.

Is this a known issue, keep HUCA, or is it true that TN is giving Qantas more space. I thought that if expert flyer showed F, it should be available to all partners?? Thanks!
tylerc is offline  
Old Jan 6, 2019, 8:38 am
  #100  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 786
Originally Posted by brodielayne
This is a recent issue that I have seen the past couple of weeks, and not only on LAX-PPT, as I had the same issue on KIN-LAX. When I called in I had no luck getting an agent to book it, however I did not HUCA, so YMMV.

I should add that when this happened I had no issue booking with Alaska and BA currency on the same flights.
You booked TN with BA or AS???

I've been seeing phantom space on TN via the AA search tool, but it's not actually available and does not show on EF or Qantas searches.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 8:44 am
  #101  
 
Join Date: May 2003
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Actually its been an issue not just with TN but also QR and not just for the past few weeks but months. So mostly its an issue of AA.coms bugs.
there was a post in this thread on how to show AA phone agents to find availability which worked for me. That said the availability did correspond to EF.
I do believe TN has restricted availability...used to be far easier to find seats...
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 11:08 am
  #102  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: So Cal
Posts: 927
Originally Posted by tylerc
You booked TN with BA or AS???

I've been seeing phantom space on TN via the AA search tool, but it's not actually available and does not show on EF or Qantas searches.
No. I was giving an example outside of TN where AA.com is not showing the correct availability. My example just to add clarity was AA flights that were not available on AA.com, but were available to book on BA and AS sites.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 11:20 am
  #103  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
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Posts: 377
Originally Posted by tylerc
Sorry if this has been covered, but is it true that TN may offer Qantas different space? I see 2 business class on expert flyer and qantas for the dates I want, but AA agent (after a few HUCA) still cannot see this space.

Is this a known issue, keep HUCA, or is it true that TN is giving Qantas more space. I thought that if expert flyer showed F, it should be available to all partners?? Thanks!
i would HUCA as I always have been able to confirm if it showed available on EF although I have had to HUCA to get a more competent agent.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 2:44 pm
  #104  
Moderator: American AAdvantage
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More than one AAgent has decided that whoever was saying they need to search for F inventory dismiss the messenger as being uninformed. TN doesnt have F! Or F is First Class! But theres a lot more to it than that - read the Wikipost.

I do suspect TN has banked award inventory back because of the new aircraft. The first 787-9 of four has joined the fleet, and by October 2019 the four remaining Airbus A340-313s will be gone. During the transition period, Id expect some complications to include award seat reductions, schedule changes and perhaps some schedules dropped as the fleet reduces from 5 to 4, and Poerava Business seating is reduced from 32 to 30.

Other content regarding the new TN 787-9 has been moved to post #1 .

Last edited by JDiver; Jan 16, 2019 at 11:15 pm
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 6:40 pm
  #105  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: DFW, TX USA
Posts: 53
One thing that has happened since I posted about my successful AA mile use for a U (Coach) outbound from LAX and F (Business) return - TN has cancelled both flights! Originally, it was a A340 in April flying as TN111/LAX-PPT. They have subbed in the 787 and I was rebooked on TN7. They have also cancelled TN102/PPT-LAX, but so far have not subbed in another flight/aircraft on that date. I talked with TN agents in LAX and they said the company is currently reworking flight schedules and to hold tight.

The only reason I bring this up is because AA doesn't know the flight 102 is cancelled. The TN agent told me that their liason will notify partner airlines when they have a solid schedule - until then "phantom inventory" exists.
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