Help getting to Tahiti
 

Does anyone know a way to get to Tahiti using points? Who has alliances with Air Tahiti out of LAX? Where is a good place to stay with preteens there?

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I have stayed at the Beach Comber Resort on both Tahiti and Moorea. I'd say either place would be appropriate for pre-teens.

Please let me know if you find a way to use points to get there.

I forgot to mention that I flew Air New Zeland. My wife and I found the service to be outstanding.

Does Air New Zealand fly nonstop from LAX? Or just Air Tahiti?

Air France flies non-stop out of LAX. I believe you can ticket through CO using OP miles.

Air New Zealand does have a direct flight from LAX to Tahiti.

http://www.airnewzealand.com

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Who does airnewzealand codeshare with? Does anyone know how many points needed for tickets?

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We flew on QF to OZ/NZ a few years ago. We did not use awards (the great price for all of those miles was just too much to pass up).

Anyway, both QF and Air New Zealand fly Tahiti to LAX, I believe. You could do a stopover in between for $150 at the time. We chose NZ. Tahiti or Fiji were both options. The rest of our group did a stopover in HNL. Obviously, your best bet would be Air France and if you have the DL miles I believe you are looking at around 120,000 miles.

Is that 120,000 for coach? It seems it may be cheaper to pay for a package instead? I saw packages from LA for $999. on the Air Tahiti website the other day. Are upgrades as expensive for points?

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The following airlines fly from LAX to PPT (Papeete):

Air New Zealand
Air France
Air Tahiti Nui
AOM

I think that's it. Corsair flies from Oakland (it's a flight that originates in Paris)

Hawaiian flies from Honolulu.

As far as partners, Air Tahiti Nui has no code-share or mileage partners right now, as far as I know. But it does have the best livery of any airline in the world.

Air New Zealand is a Star Alliance partner so you could use United, Lufthansa, Thai, Singapore, etc. miles. I believe on United it is 60,000 in coach, 90,000 in business and 120,000 in first. I flew ANZ from LAX to PPT a couple of years ago in coach and was not altogether impressed. But it is better than AOM (which is about to go out of business) or Corsair (which has tiny seats from what I've heard).

You can use American Airlines AAdvantage miles, to fly on Air Tahiti Nui. Between North America and Tahiti the awards cost 70K miles for economy class (Award code TN70A) and 100K miles for business clas (TN100A).

Any other suggestions on where to stay with kids? How expensive is it too sightsee and eat?

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