South Pacific - Booking Award Seats - Flight Times

[Hawaiidan]

Hi!

 

We will be on the tahiti to Lima for April 2015.

 

Questiion on what oceania will do ? those arriving very early the day of the cruise...does oceania provide a day room?

 

Thanks,

Maria

 

The line has a contract With Tahiti Nui.....only Air Tahiti Nui, and Air France serve Tahiti from LAX...

 

Qantas, AA, Delta, and God knows who are all code shares on the same Air Tahiti Nui flights.

 

The reality is there is no choice from LAX making the $175 deviation pp only for a different day on the same airline

 

By NOT taking the Deviation you can hope for a charter where Oceania might..might offer a $700 upo grade option. If not.... I was quoted the $175pp deviation fee plus $2900pp each way by Oceana Since these are contract fares..the airline and the continental connection are prohibited from selling direct to you......You want a better seat...Only Oceania can sell it to you

That's what both AA and ATN told me last week.

 

And NO there is no Day room...its on your XPF..figure $180 to $300 for the day....

[ceba]

I'm sorry to be so dense, but I'm still a bit confused. Does the deviation allow me to (for example) choose and fly Air France on the day I want? I understand that besides the deviation fee there could be a difference in price and that would also need to be paid. Do you know if there is a huge difference in price between the two airlines? And, does Oceania primarily use ATN? I really appreciate any info/opinions anyone has to offer. We would be flying from LAX.

Edited April 13, 2014 by ceba

[Hawaiidan]

I'm sorry to be so dense, but I'm still a bit confused. Does the deviation allow me to (for example) choose and fly Air France on the day I want? I understand that besides the deviation fee there could be a difference in price and that would also need to be paid.

 

Do you know if there is a huge difference in price between the two airlines? And, does Oceania primarily use ATN? I really appreciate any info/opinions anyone has to offer. We would be flying from LAX.

 

 

Oceania has a contract with Air Tahiti Nui.... and thats what you get They do not with Air France. Air France is more expensive.

 

Your deviation fee will cover when you fly different from the basic schedule but not necessarily a different airline..

 

It may too allow you to fly days earlier or later.

 

It may allow you to fly on different airlines to LAX.

 

However, from LAX your basically going to be on Tahiti Nui or pay a huge price.

 

If you take the air credit, do not do the deviation, you are free to pick any carrier. any time for the price they want and use the $$ you got to amortize the cost. But your going to have a tough time finding a different carrier than Tahiti Nui

 

From experience... if your doing a 1 way to Tahiti on your own, and then 1 way Lima on your own...its going to be obscene price. that is thousands more than you got in credit. For me it was 100% cheaper to take the scheduled Oceana flights

 

Then there is the raw fact that seeing Tahiti on the land is vastly more expensive than seeing it on a cruise. You can easily spend 800 to 1000 a day in Tahiti for food, drink and hotel. Flying in early can be a hidden cost you never dreamed of

 

Tahiti is a closed market...maybe one of the most closed there is. Very very few flights go there AA, Qantas, Delta and others are thus all forced to use Tahiti Nui as a code share......

 

Sit back and realize its a monopoly the French enjoy to their advantage

 

Hope this helps you understand the travel to this exclusive and remote place

Its like no where else..........

[edo4mayor]

Thank you HawaiiDan!

 

What do we do with our luggage and were can we hang out If oceania gives us a flight that arrives very early on the day of the cruise.

 

When do they usually offer the upgrade to business class? We are not thinking of air deviation since the 17 days tahiti to Lima will max out vacation time.

 

Can you also share the tours that you have booked on the differents islands?

 

Maria

[Hawaiidan]

Thank you HawaiiDan!

 

What do we do with our luggage and were can we hang out If oceania gives us a flight that arrives very early on the day of the cruise.

 

When do they usually offer the upgrade to business class? We are not thinking of air deviation since the 17 days tahiti to Lima will max out vacation time.

 

Can you also share the tours that you have booked on the differents islands?

 

Maria

 

Say you arrive at 4 or 5 am... You get your bags and some times there is a place to drop them either at the pier but this would be around 7-8 I would think... Or take then to your hotel.. That was my plan

When can you up grade to business..........Boy that's a mystery Let me describe what happened this year

I booked out 15 month and put in a request that is they offered business class at a 700-800 pp rate ( like they do in Europe) I was told that because the cruise was selling well.. they would NOT be offering it.

 

However, if I paid a deviation fee of $175 they could get me business for only $2900 extra PP !

 

I continued to remind them and inquire every month

 

Then in Dec 2013 there were a lot of people who shifted from the April 14 to the April 15 cruise leaving a lot of cabins now open.

 

It stayed this way till 70 days before the cruise when they made a" flash-email" to agents that said if you want to change your flight to a day earlier they would wave the deviation fee and had a limited number of business class seats for $699.

 

These seats went in about 30 min..pow they went like hot cakes... I and my agent expressed dismay since for over a year we had asked to be notified if they offered the low special price.. for over 13 months

 

Then 2 weeks later... suddenly they called my agent saying they now had a "very small Number" of business class 1 way from LAX for $699 ! They inferred to my agent that I had been overlooked with my long standing request and I should have been considered.

( turns out there were only 6 seats open I was told) I grabbed them the second they came out.

There are only 32 seats. And Air Tahiti Nui only releases a max of 2 seats per flight for Frequent flyer miles (135,000pp)

 

So..its either pay about $3000 extra or play the waiting game that might not appear and if it does and your in the wrong time zone or your agent is on the phone or on a coffee break you could miss the split second timing needed.

 

If your going on your own, using the air credit, flying into Tahiti and out of Lima or NY it will be 2 , one way tickets!!! As an example for Business I was quoted a 1 way fare LAX to PPT in Business for about $3700.00pp and Lima to Lax Business..at about $1500pp Same with NY to LAX $1600pp So about $5200 p less $750 air credit= $4450pp doing it on your own.

 

 

And that what happened this year.. get out your crystal ball is the best I can offer for next year

 

Now tours.... You have to understand I have been to the region 4 times prior. In Bora...wave runner around island $280 per ( they only have 4 so its book well out) Then in Fakarava I booked with Dive Spirit, a 4 hour custom snorkel. $190pp Easter Island I have a 2 day private tour for 4 $600persons. That's it the rest of the time I will just putz around and may or may not get off the ship.... ALL tours in this region need to be booked 10 to 12 months out because there is not much resource........... Have a good cruise I am on the 33 day April 19 / this year.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Hawaiidan

[edo4mayor]

Thank you so much for all that information.

 

nice to know that we have to book excursions for 2015 now. i am working on our excursions for midnight sun on nautica in august. now i know i have to work on tahiti trip too. this will be our 1st to FP. any suggestions for what to do on the islands for 1st timers?

 

have a wonderful trip.

 

maria

[Paulchili]

now i know i have to work on tahiti trip too. this will be our 1st to FP. any suggestions for what to do on the islands for 1st timers?

 

maria

 

Did you visit this thread?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2025478

This is someone who has just returned from FP and can be of great help in answering your questions about tours.

[Hawaiidan]

Thank you so much for all that information.

 

nice to know that we have to book excursions for 2015 now. i am working on our excursions for midnight sun on nautica in august. now i know i have to work on tahiti trip too. this will be our 1st to FP. any suggestions for what to do on the islands for 1st timers?

 

have a wonderful trip.

 

maria

 

 

Read up on the region and see what strikes YOU not me or some reviewer

Second get out of Papetee as fast as possible it is a big port city with little charm...get to an outer island .

You want to see the islands..all of them, from the lagoons and the land is pretty blaha..... seeing the land from the lagoons is far better.

 

Get into the water or on the water not so much the land which is loaded with bitting critters

 

Remember that Tahiti has few beaches and the ones that are present are owned by hotels and is cost $$$$$ for a day pass...like $100. True sandy places are small isles in the lagoon.

 

Eat and drink as little as possible on shore...food marginal and service poor but prices... well $8-10 for a beer, $ 20-25 for a wrap or small sandwich.

Ingest vistas,

 

Doing less is more...

[grmmybtty]

I had looked at booking business class flights from PPT-LAX using AA or United miles on our Valparaiso-Papeete cruise last December. Using United, it meant PPT-AUK-LAX with an overnight in AUK. Using AA meant staying in FP until the weekend. Neither option looked good since we had been traveling for 6 weeks already, so we took the Oceania flight on ATN. They had 3 flights, one in the morning at 10 and another 2 at night. We were put on the early flight, probably since we had no connections to make, arriving at LAX at 8pm or so. ATN has 2-4-2 seating, so we were comfortable enough in the 2 person section. There were a few empty seats in the 4 person sections. Business class upgrades were offered for $999 about a month before the cruise. The airport check-in counters do not open up very early. We left the ship shortly after 630am, got to the airport in about 10 minutes and had to wait at least 1/2 hour before the counters opened. Once we passed through, we waited quite a long while in the crowded open air lounge area before boarding. The flight was not horrible, service and food were standard economy class. Seat back TVs were worthless since they were stuck on one channel and used a 2 prong audio jack. We passed the time reading and watching videos on my Kindle Fire. Bonus was that we saved our business miles for a trip to Lisbon later this year.

[Hawaiidan]

If you want a 3rd option...try this.... Get to LAX via plane, train or Automobile using miles or $$$

 

Now from LAX or SAN catch a Hawaiian airlines flight to HNL (Hawaiian does sell 1 way coach for no penalty like others) and its only a 5.3 hr ride.. You can too use your miles for HNL on UAL, AA, Delta, Alaska,... huge inventory to get free coach with ease and reasonable fares due to competition....

 

You can time it to then lay over or Get the Hawaiian HNL to PPT a 5.5 hour ride. for about $575 one way or $1560 one way business. since you break this flight up into 2 5 hour segments it is very doable in coach. VS the 9 hour non stop from LAX on Tahiti NUi

By taking the one way Oceania air credit of about $375 and miles, you can get to Tahiti business class for $1200 or $200 coach and miles to HNL

 

THe catch: Hawaiian only fly's on Saturday about 3pm arriving 9:30 in PPT

If your departure is on a Sunday thru Wed this gives you a few days pre.

 

See how that fits your schedule

[RCNslr]

If you want a 3rd option...try this.... Get to LAX via plane, train or Automobile using miles or $$$

 

Now from LAX or SAN catch a Hawaiian airlines flight to HNL (Hawaiian does sell 1 way coach for no penalty like others) and its only a 5.3 hr ride.. You can too use your miles for HNL on UAL, AA, Delta, Alaska,... huge inventory to get free coach with ease and reasonable fares due to competition....

 

You can time it to then lay over or Get the Hawaiian HNL to PPT a 5.5 hour ride. for about $575 one way or $1560 one way business. since you break this flight up into 2 5 hour segments it is very doable in coach. VS the 9 hour non stop from LAX on Tahiti NUi

By taking the one way Oceania air credit of about $375 and miles, you can get to Tahiti business class for $1200 or $200 coach and miles to HNL

 

THe catch: Hawaiian only fly's on Saturday about 3pm arriving 9:30 in PPT

If your departure is on a Sunday thru Wed this gives you a few days pre.

 

See how that fits your schedule

Come on big guy - you need to continue on to Dover and I will buy you vodkas enroute and tell sea stories. Hope your budget is not bust yet. Enjoy Bora Bora and the lagoons, you are absolutely right on in your advice. Hope to see you onboard.