Seattle to Bora Bora and Kyoto in June
Sep 24, 2018, 4:58 pm
#1
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Seattle to Bora Bora and Kyoto in June
Thinking about making this trip next year, business class. Any recommendations for airlines and routing? I'm thinking the most cost effective idea is to nexus in Hawaii?
Bonus - I heard its possible to go directly from PPT to IPC?
Bonus - I heard its possible to go directly from PPT to IPC?
Sep 24, 2018, 7:02 pm
#2
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Thanks..
Obscure2k
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Sep 25, 2018, 10:32 am
#5
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The mods can decide the right place.
Yes, there's a weekly service (maybe twice a week depending on the season) between PPT and IPC on Latam (formerly Lan.) It's a continuation of flights to/from SCL.
What's your budget? In business class you're probably looking at a lot of money, and I would probably investigate some "Circle Pacific" or RTW products. These will mainly limit you to using airlines in the same alliance, so for example while Star Alliance (UA, AC, NZ et al) will get you to Tahiti, no Star carrier serves Easter Island, so you'd have to do that leg on your own, or else skip it. On the other hand, no Oneworld metal flies into Tahiti, so while you could get to PPT via IPC (or vice-versa) you'd have no way to travel between Tahiti and Asia.
On the RTW front, you may know (or not) that RTW prices vary hugely depending on where you start the trip. The cheapest business class RTW product (CRWSPCL) sold by Star Alliance carriers, has a base price (before taxes) of US$8699 you start in Seattle, but $7676 if you start in Vancouver. The cheapest Oneworld RTW that would let you visit both Tahiti and IPC is the Global Explorer product, fare code DGLOB34. Its base price starting in the US is $10,299, but in Canada $8440, so well worth a bus ride.
The Star product is limited to 26,000 flown miles, so an eligible route (from Vancouver) would be something like YVR-FRA-NRT-AKL-PPT-LAX-SEA-YVR which would still give you a couple thousand miles to play with, so you could add a stop in Australia, or maybe a second visit to California from Seattle before the ticket ends back in Vancouver.
The Global Explorer, unlike its big brother the Oneworld Explorer RTW product, is mileage-limited to 34,000 miles, but it does allow the use of codeshare services on some non-Oneworld members as well as the use of Alaska Airlines and some other independent carriers. A DGLOB34 route from Vancouver might look like this: YVR-JFK-HEL-NRT-HKG-SYD-AKL-PPT-IPC-SCL-LAX-SEA-YVR .
One other note, if you had enough miles (or could buy them for under 2c each, which is sometimes possible during FF mile sales on AA) you could fly to Japan and start the RTW trip there. While Star doesn't sell the CRWSPCL fare in Japan, the CRWSTAR1 product, which is similar to the special fare but allows 29,000 flown miles instead, has a base price of US$6268, while the DGLOB34 comes in at $6934, so $1500 less than in Canada. Of course you'd have to get back to N. America when you're done, but you'd have earned a lot of FF miles in the process, so could probably pay for the return in miles. (Or you could tough it out and fly on a paid ticket in coach to Tokyo; at present a one-way coach fare, SEA-xLAX-NRT on Alaska and Singapore is just under $500, not a bad deal, but of course it's coach.)
Hope this isn't too confusing.
Yes, there's a weekly service (maybe twice a week depending on the season) between PPT and IPC on Latam (formerly Lan.) It's a continuation of flights to/from SCL.
What's your budget? In business class you're probably looking at a lot of money, and I would probably investigate some "Circle Pacific" or RTW products. These will mainly limit you to using airlines in the same alliance, so for example while Star Alliance (UA, AC, NZ et al) will get you to Tahiti, no Star carrier serves Easter Island, so you'd have to do that leg on your own, or else skip it. On the other hand, no Oneworld metal flies into Tahiti, so while you could get to PPT via IPC (or vice-versa) you'd have no way to travel between Tahiti and Asia.
On the RTW front, you may know (or not) that RTW prices vary hugely depending on where you start the trip. The cheapest business class RTW product (CRWSPCL) sold by Star Alliance carriers, has a base price (before taxes) of US$8699 you start in Seattle, but $7676 if you start in Vancouver. The cheapest Oneworld RTW that would let you visit both Tahiti and IPC is the Global Explorer product, fare code DGLOB34. Its base price starting in the US is $10,299, but in Canada $8440, so well worth a bus ride.
The Star product is limited to 26,000 flown miles, so an eligible route (from Vancouver) would be something like YVR-FRA-NRT-AKL-PPT-LAX-SEA-YVR which would still give you a couple thousand miles to play with, so you could add a stop in Australia, or maybe a second visit to California from Seattle before the ticket ends back in Vancouver.
The Global Explorer, unlike its big brother the Oneworld Explorer RTW product, is mileage-limited to 34,000 miles, but it does allow the use of codeshare services on some non-Oneworld members as well as the use of Alaska Airlines and some other independent carriers. A DGLOB34 route from Vancouver might look like this: YVR-JFK-HEL-NRT-HKG-SYD-AKL-PPT-IPC-SCL-LAX-SEA-YVR .
One other note, if you had enough miles (or could buy them for under 2c each, which is sometimes possible during FF mile sales on AA) you could fly to Japan and start the RTW trip there. While Star doesn't sell the CRWSPCL fare in Japan, the CRWSTAR1 product, which is similar to the special fare but allows 29,000 flown miles instead, has a base price of US$6268, while the DGLOB34 comes in at $6934, so $1500 less than in Canada. Of course you'd have to get back to N. America when you're done, but you'd have earned a lot of FF miles in the process, so could probably pay for the return in miles. (Or you could tough it out and fly on a paid ticket in coach to Tokyo; at present a one-way coach fare, SEA-xLAX-NRT on Alaska and Singapore is just under $500, not a bad deal, but of course it's coach.)
Hope this isn't too confusing.