FrontOfTheCurtain

Here are 3 data point from Aug 5th. In the morning at 4:30am Tahiti Time it was 80 minutes. 2pm that afternoon it was 3-1/2 hours. 6pm that evening it was 2 hours.

Another thing to be aware of is sometimes the service will give you estimated time and other times it won’t so if you are only doing 1 person you may not know how long you are going to wait. My session showed 3-1/2 hours however my husband’s session 2 minutes later did not show a time. Both our sessions started 3-1/2 hours later.

What time did you do yours and how long ago was that?

FrontOfTheCurtain

The reason we did it this way was peace of mind and less stress. So 2 or 3 days out you know your results and can relax as you know you can get on a plane home instead of having to quarantine in a foreign country. Heading back to PPT and then testing sounds stressful not knowing until very close to your flight home.

SamirD

We did it because of convenience and one less thing to worry about/having to do. Originally we were going to test at the airport and even made an appointment, but never got the link to pay to be in the 'priority' line and didn't want timing issues, so just did the self-tests since our friends had spares and said it was super-easy, which it was.

SamirD

Very interesting. So very much depends on peak time and off-peak is definitely much better. My wife and I tested back to back around I think ~1:30p Bora Bora time on July 22nd I think. Feels like a lifetime ago now that I'm buried under catchup work from the trip...

incognito888

Has anyone had success checking in with Air Tahiti Nui using RT-PCR test results from Walgreens or another drug store? The Air Tahiti Nui website says:I don't seem a similar requirement listed on the Tahiti Tourism website and would appreciate any insight recent travelers can provide. Thank you!

SamirD

In all honesty, none of that matters--what matters is what the airline you're flying says. If they will let you on the plane with it, that's pretty much good enough. They did verify our reports upon arrival in Tahiti and we did have a swab test, but never heard anything after that.

incognito888

Thanks, SamirD. That's what I figured, and why I'm interested in hearing about recent experiences with the Air Tahiti Nui

SamirD

The emed self-test printout was quickly accepted by them when leaving FAA, but for United they insisted on an RT-PCR test that said RT-PCR on it.

FrontOfTheCurtain

I was told by the lounge desk that they cannot let us in with Priority Pass because they ANTICIPATE they will be full that evening since there are 4 flights leaving although the lounge and airport was empty as we were one of the first passengers through security. I called PP and they told me the lounge can set whatever restrictions they want and I would need to convince the lounge desk to let me in. What’s the point of membership if someone can arbitrarily say no about some future event that may or may not happen? BTW: We are on the second fight leaving that evening so we would be long gone by the time passengers from the third and fourth flight show up.

FrontOfTheCurtain

You may need to remind the check-in counter that 08/06/2021 on the emed test result printout is August 6th and not June 8th like we had to remind her.

SamirD

What MFers!! So I guess we were denied 'just because' or whatnot as well then.

When I called PP about this when I got home they said that lounges cannot do this and to call them and hand the phone over to the lounge agent so they can clear up the situation on the spot. You're absolutely right that PP is useless if it's arbitrary if you can get in or not. And having to call each time is a pita as well.

SamirD

LOL! I actually went a few days before to see if our Kaiser test which are a PCR test would allow us to fly and after 4 different ticketing agents looking at it and finally a supervisor coming over, it was definitively a 'no' because the test didn't specifically say 'RT-PCR' on it (it said NAAT, which is a type of PCR and fully in compliance with the FP requirements). The funny thing is that if I was actually checking in, a bit of sweet talking and confidence that the test is valid would have swayed half of the ticketing agents to just accept it, so it's a bit of a game. Hell, you can probably even make one up and present it and if it looks real enough you're on the flight--no one is really checking this stuff and it's so easy to fake it that it's scary.

OhDoctor

Can you clarify what you mean by this? The emed test was accepted when you were departing from PPT to SFO? But United required you to have an RT-PCR before traveling to PPT from SFO? Because that's in line with my understanding of things -- you can't use the rapid at-home emed tests to enter the country.

FrontOfTheCurtain

IMHO I found the whole testing verification process too “loosely goosey”. Having followed all the rules, I initially was going to write a post on my observations and concerns on how one could circumvent what has been put into place however I decided to not devolve this thread & give folks ideas on how to do this. Suffice it to say I think the process could be improved.

SamirD

Correct. PPT-SFO=emed, SFO-PPT=RT-PCR.