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

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

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Old Jan 17, 2019, 2:44 pm
  #121  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Originally Posted by beagleflyer1977
What do you mean 10k less because of AA credit card?
Yeah it's the AA platinum credit card 10% award miles rebate, up 10k miles per year.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 3:52 pm
  #122  
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Originally Posted by eknock007
Just booked 3 business awards LAX-PPT for April (230k total: 10k less because of AA Credit Card). Had to call AA to get booking number for TN so that I could get seats assigned. Called TN in LA and seats were assigned with no problem. Took less that 10 minutes to have it all done. Just went on the TN website to verify it and everything looks good.
Maita’i roa! Very good! (Well done!)

I’d keep an eye out the last few days to make sure your equipment has t changed A340 <-> 789 and you lose seat assignments, given they’re looking to retire all the A340s and have all 789s by maybe Q3.

In 2015, the flag carrier of French Polynesia finalized a purchase order for two 787-9 Dreamliners and the lease of two additional 787-9s through Air Lease Corporation. The new “Tahitian Dreamliner” will be available starting November 2018 on its first flights between Tahiti and Auckland, New Zealand.

The phasing out of Air Tahiti Nui’s current Airbus A340-300 fleet will commence in November 2018 and be completed by September 2019, coinciding with the airline’s 20th anniversary.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 6:22 pm
  #123  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
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Posts: 937
I followed the suggestion in the wiki to leverage Qatar website for seat assignments to no avail. Anyone have any recent luck? I used both TN and AA's record locators with no luck.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 6:43 pm
  #124  
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Originally Posted by brodielayne
I followed the suggestion in the wiki to leverage Qatar website for seat assignments to no avail. Anyone have any recent luck? I used both TN and AA's record locators with no luck.
Because TN and QR use Amadeus, you’d have to use the TN PNR for it to work. However, I’ve not had any experience trying this. (I’ve always called.)
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 7:06 pm
  #125  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Because TN and QR use Amadeus, you’d have to use the TN PNR for it to work. However, I’ve not had any experience trying this. (I’ve always called.)
Yep, realized that and tried it, to no avail. Calling is easy, though it is nice to have an online option if one exist.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 8:52 pm
  #126  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Maita’i roa! Very good! (Well done!)

I’d keep an eye out the last few days to make sure your equipment has t changed A340 <-> 789 and you lose seat assignments, given they’re looking to retire all the A340s and have all 789s by maybe Q3.
This affected us. I originally booked on A340 for both legs and they have now cancelled those flights and subbed in 789s. I appreciate the newer aircraft but it caused us to book a hotel in PPT because we there took late to go to BOB and then on the return there is no Wednesday PPT-LAX, so we are staying one more night (I know: boo hoo!) in BOB and then flying back on Thursday.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 9:39 pm
  #127  
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Originally Posted by brodielayne
Yep, realized that and tried it, to no avail. Calling is easy, though it is nice to have an online option if one exist.
I hear you - it’d be nice. But: An airline with five (going to four) aircraft doesn’t have the resources to spend on a state of the art web site (or much of anything else).
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 10:32 pm
  #128  
 
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I followed everyone’s advice and called TN office in LA but the agent said since the flight originates from Tokyo, only Tokyo office can assign seats. She provided me the email of Tokyo ticketing office and the Japan office promptly replied my email within an hour with the seat assignment of 5A/B/D. The agent in LA also mentioned a fee for selecting seats but the Tokyo office didn’t say anything.

Now, has anyone flown the new 789 yet? Are 5A/B/D good seats?
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 2:15 am
  #129  
 
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Originally Posted by XFer2
I followed everyone’s advice and called TN office in LA but the agent said since the flight originates from Tokyo, only Tokyo office can assign seats. She provided me the email of Tokyo ticketing office and the Japan office promptly replied my email within an hour with the seat assignment of 5A/B/D. The agent in LA also mentioned a fee for selecting seats but the Tokyo office didn’t say anything.

Now, has anyone flown the new 789 yet? Are 5A/B/D good seats?
Interesting. Several times I have had the TN office in LA get me seat assignments for flights originating in New Zealand. Perhaps its some newish policy.
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 9:16 am
  #130  
 
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Maita’i roa! Very good! (Well done!)

I’d keep an eye out the last few days to make sure your equipment has t changed A340 <-> 789 and you lose seat assignments, given they’re looking to retire all the A340s and have all 789s by maybe Q3.
I don't think I have worry about that. The equipment is a 789. It wouldn't have matter that much if the equipement was an A340 or a 789. I was just looking to depart on a Thursday later in the day, and this opened up (probably would have booked economy if that had been available). Was more concern about not having my daughter miss class that day (last day before spring break). Originally had an award booking with United in Y that was leaving early morning with a connection in SFO. But with an 8+ hour flight, I didn't mind swapping out a United economy seat for a TN business seat and the flight time would be shorter. Hopefully TN's new J will not dissappoint.
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 10:14 am
  #131  
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Originally Posted by eknock007
I don't think I have worry about that. The equipment is a 789. It wouldn't have matter that much if the equipement was an A340 or a 789. I was just looking to depart on a Thursday later in the day, and this opened up (probably would have booked economy if that had been available). Was more concern about not having my daughter miss class that day (last day before spring break). Originally had an award booking with United in Y that was leaving early morning with a connection in SFO. But with an 8+ hour flight, I didn't mind swapping out a United economy seat for a TN business seat and the flight time would be shorter. Hopefully TN's new J will not dissappoint.
The product is illustrated in the first posts and elsewhere. But the real issue here is that TN has been changing schedules, mostly extending A340s on routes that were set for Dreamliners, according to Routes Online (link). My advice to watch your booking stands.
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 8:31 pm
  #132  
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Originally Posted by XFer2
I have 3 business award tickets booked on TN NRT-PPT for my March trip using AA miles but so far no seat assignment. Nor have I found a way to select seats on TN website. Does anyone know how to pre-select seats on TN flights? I'd hate to leave it to chance and be assigned seats at a foreign airport, especially we're traveling as a family.
plan which seats you want and call TN direct. Worked for our last 3 trips to bora bora in first/bus
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Old Jan 26, 2019, 3:05 am
  #133  
 
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Originally Posted by JDiver
The product is illustrated in the first posts and elsewhere. But the real issue here is that TN has been changing schedules, mostly extending A340s on routes that were set for Dreamliners, according to Routes Online (link). My advice to watch your booking stands.
Ah ok I understand now. I did click on that link and read the part on the A340 extension. It only mentions April 16th as the last date that they plan on extending A340's on the Paris to LAX route, which I assume continues on to Papeete. We travel on the 18th, so hopefully the changes don't extend to the 18th. If they do swap it ,then it is what it is. As long as I can fly on the same schedule, it will be ok.
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Old Jan 26, 2019, 8:35 am
  #134  
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Originally Posted by Carl Christensen


plan which seats you want and call TN direct. Worked for our last 3 trips to bora bora in first/bus
Just to clarify for inexperienced members reading this thread, you mean flying to PPT / Papeete in Poerava Business, as TN does not fly to BOB / Bora Bora and AAvantage Miles can’t get you between PPT and BOB and TN did away with Poerava First years ago. (Details on how to use Air Tahiti, the local airline unrelated to Air Tahiti Nui, are available in the Wikipost.)
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Old Jan 27, 2019, 3:17 am
  #135  
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Just to clarify for inexperienced members reading this thread, you mean flying to PPT / Papeete in Poerava Business, as TN does not fly to BOB / Bora Bora and AAvantage Miles can’t get you between PPT and BOB and TN did away with Poerava First years ago. (Details on how to use Air Tahiti, the local airline unrelated to Air Tahiti Nui, are available in the Wikipost.)
yes, you are quite correct!
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