psierra88

Forgive the format of this post, but I dont' have the energy (or time) to post some favored FT'er details like menus. Did a three week honeymoon jaunt to Tahiti and Australia and flew J on the international Tahiti Nui flights and Y on the inter-island Air Tahiti.


Mon., May 14
LAX-PPT
TN 21
Seats: 4D/4E
A340-300 F-OSUN "Moorea"
Scheduled Dep: 1610
Actual: 1645 (late arriving A/C from CDG)


Checked in at the Tom Bradley Intl. Terminal at 1315 hrs and proceded directly to the J counter. The agent quickly processed our e-tickets and handed us boarding passes and a pass to the temporary F-class lounge on the mezz. level at TBIT. Facing the 8 hour flight ahead of us, we just browsed the airport shops for a bit and then headed directly to the gate to do some planespotting.

Best sighting was at the gate next to ours: LH A340-600 getting ready for the daily LAX-MUC run. Our a/c, one of TN's year 2003 deliverd A340's in their five-strong fleet, pulled up to the gate about 20 mins before our scheduled pushback time. The a/c, the "Moorea" was late arriving from its daily CDG-LAX run.

We didn't begin boarding until around 1620 and took advantage of the early F/J-class boarding. Found our seats, which are the old-style business class seats, with about 80% recline, but are fairly narrow. They are fairly uncomfortable for sleeping, especially since the foot-rests do not extend far enough toward the floor and it's hard to turn onto your sides without body parts being jammed up against the armrests.

TN does not yet boast any AVOD, and has personal screens that play an 18-channel video loop with titles in French, English, Japanese and some subtitles. Their entertainment programming runs in three month cycles, so even though we traveled in both May and June, the programming didnt change, which was a shame. Though the screens are "touchscreen" my screen was pretty shonky and its utility was intermittent. The Airshow function worked well enough but even trying to control programming through the remote was a painful experience. Luckily, I was more interested in my book and the Airshow than any movie or tv.

We were offered the water/champagne/juice after we sat down. I drank the crappy OJ from a box and then settled in. We were also each given a fragrant tropical flower bud. As is the airline's custom the female F/A's were all dressed in their formal turquoise dresses and the male F/A's in tropical print shirts and dark blue slacks. The flight crew was French.

J-was fully loaded for the flight and TN only offers one row of F (2-2-2). Four of the F-seats were filled. Y-class seemed to be about 2/3rds full for the Monday afternoon hop in what is still considered Tahiti's low season.

We pushed back at about 1645 and were towed forward for engine start. Taxied for T/O on the Southern (RWY 25) complex, which is not all that unusual for flights heading south across the Pacific. Most Asia (and some Hawaii) flights use the northern complex since they generally turn to the northwest as they head across the ocean.

Departed from the newly widened Rwy 25L and soon the F/A's were up handing out ammenity kits at Bose-style headsets. The women changed into their brightly colored floral sarong-type dresses and the cocktail service began almost immediately. Had a nice glass of Brut champagne.

For the lunch service, I chose the roasted duck, which was quite good. Also went with selection of French cheeses and mango sorbet for dessert. All told, lunch service took almost two hours. After lunch just read and napped while it got dark outside.

Flight was fairly smooth with a bit of light chop here and there and descended into PPT after about 8 hours airborne. Landed to the SW on Rwy 22 and then taxied back to the runway's one mid-field taxiway, then we disembarked via the airstairs. Cleared customs with no hassle (note: despite the fact that there numerous warnings posted on various State Department and other web sites about Americans not being allowed entry if your passport expires within six months or less of your visit, I can assure you this is not an issue. Obviously, if your documents expire within a week or two, then sure, but as long as you have an onward ticket and look pretty innocent, the bored French customs official will just stamp you on your way in).

After picking up the luggage in the open-air arrival terminal, we got ripped off on the short cab-ride to the nearby Sheraton Tahiti for our one night layover (too far too walk, unfortunately). But since it was almost midnight at this point we were just happy to have a ride to our awaiting hotel bed.

Next day was off to Bora Bora (BOB) on inter-island Air Tahiti...

chuck1

Eager to hear the rest.

psierra88

Tues., May 15
PPT-BOB
Air Tahiti 450
Seats: 7D/7E
ATR 42-500
Scheduled Dep: 0920
Actual Dep: 0940

Returned to PPT early the next morning and checked in at the domestic terminal for the one hour hop up to Bora Bora. We each were checking one large bag for our three week trip and mine weighed about 23 kilos while the wife's weighed 29(!!!) only to get heavier as we accumulated more tchotchke crap along the way. I was sure we'd get hit with excess baggage fees, but luck was on our side this day--though I did give passing thought to what our heavy bags would do the ATR's gross weight!

Got boarding passes for the one-class service and Air Tahiti uses open seating on their flights so we immediately headed through the "security" to the airside where we grabbed seats near the door. The one-stop to BOB was leaving only 20 mins before ours so the gate area was pretty crowded at this point.

We headed out on the tarmac at 0900 and walked up the rear airstairs on the ATR. Settled in and waited as they loaded the bags. At 0920 they came on the PA and said we were waiting for two more passengers but would depart within 10 mins. 20 mins later, we started the engines and taxied to the active runway and began our takeoff roll on RWY 04 from midfield!

Smooth ride to BOB that took about 45 mins. The F/A served one round of plastic-cup pineapple juice and pretty soon we were descending over puffy tropical clouds into BOB. The paved coral runway was originally built by the US Navy in WWII and used as an airbase during the war (though Tahiti did not get attacked or occupied by the Japanese during the war). It's located on its own islet (called a motu), which is one of many that surround the main island of Bora Bora.

We deplaned into the tiny Polynesian terminal and waited about 15 mins for the luggage to be pulled around by tractor and then unloaded directly onto the floor. Departed the airport via boat, as it is inaccesible by road!

Would spend the next 8 days on Bora Bora before returning to Motu Mute for our return flight to PPT.


Wed., May 23
BOB-PPT
Air Tahiti 480
Seats: 11A/11B
ATR 72-500
Scheduled Dep: 1845
Actual Dep: 1845

When it came time to leave paradise one week later we checked in back at the airport on Motu Mute for the beginning of what would be a very long night--one that we couldn't avoid if we were going to continue our journey from French Polynesia to Australia.

After a few minutes wait in line at the crowded Air Tahiti check-in desk (lots of sunburned tourists trying to get back to PPT to head home) we again got our boarding passes and somehow avoid excess baggage fees--though the other couple from our hotel was not so lucky and I heard them complaining to the agent that they hadn't been charged on the way in.

BOB has no security screening, probably owing to the fact that 99.9% of all visitors have to come from PPT via air and they've been screened there. As Tahiti sits just below the equator, it gets dark fairly early there, and it was pitch black by 1800. I saw a private Lear Jet 35 taxi in and then shut down on the tarmac shortly before our relatively new ATR 72 made its arrival.

Boarding commenced at 1820 and we settled into seats 11A/11B. Started up right on time and made the quick taxi out to the reef runway where we departed to the east and were on our way to PPT once again. Smooth ride and another round of pineapple juice and soon we were on the descent to PPT. Landed on RWY 04 at about 1930 and deplaned at the domestic end of the terminal building. Collected our bags and then had to decide what to do with our 7 hour layover at PPT before we departed on TN for the PPT-SYD leg. We couldnt take advantage of the F/J lounge at PPT because it's airside and we couldn't check in that early.

Overall, I was quite impressed with Air Tahiti. They run a young fleet of 11 ATR's and serve dozens of sprawling islands in the South Pacific. Though we only flew on their PPT-BOB tourist milk-run, they also service lots of other islands that see only local passengers. The F/A's were friendly; the flight crews handled the a/c well and the planes were all in good shape. The airline seems to overnight most of the fleet in PPT and performs overnight maintenance before sending them on their sprawling ways each morning.

We decided to grab a cab back to the Sheraton where we checked our bags, grabbed a quick dinner at the main restaurant and then sacked out for a few hours on the lobby lounge couches (thanks Sheraton!) before grabbing another cab back to PPT International terminal at 2330.

Our flight to SYD was scheduled for 0215.

psierra88

Thurs., May 24
PPT-SYD
TN 0003
Seats: 4A/4B
A340-300 F-OSUN "Moorea"
Scheduled Dep: 0215
Actual Dep: 0245

Once back at the International end of PPT, we checked in using the F/J line at the terminal. Flight was already showing a 30 min delay on the departure screens due to an unknown issue. Once again, checked our heavy bags, and were not assessed the excess fee, though this time the agent did add a bright orange "HEAVY" tag to the bags. We quickly passed through passport control and then security and headed upstairs to TN's F/J lounge, which is located on the 2nd floor of the airside terminal. TN uses three gates for its flights that lead passengers to a covered walkway outdoors. The walkway runs perpendicular to the tarmac and you leave it once you've reached your a/c's parking stand.

Once in the lounge we sacked out on deep couches to wait the 2+ hours before they'd call our flight. They have a small offering of crackers, drinks (beer and booze) as well as a coffee machine. While waiting, we were treated to a few tropical downpours and eventually we were called to begin boarding at around 0200. We made our way across the tarmac in the pouring rain and boarded "Moorea" using the forward airstairs. Interesting that we were on the same a/c that we flew from LAX a week earlier!

Settled into row 4 and the F/A's began handing out pre-departure bevs and hot towels. We boarded quickly and biz class had about 70% load and Y seemed to be at least 60% full. We pushed back at around 0230 and taxied out in the rain for a RWY 22 departure back to the southwest.

Took off and turned towards SYD. Expected flight time of about 8hrs 5mins on this run, which while shorter in distance than LAX-PPT, takes a bit longer. TN flies in wide arc to the south, largely to avoid the TransPac flight tracks of the aircraft coming from the States.

Meal service began about 20 mins after takeoff with the beverage cart, followed by a "snack" selection. I chose the roast pork with a stuffed plum, and cold duck breast. Came with tropical fruit and selection of french cheese.

After that, and within five minutes of my tray being cleared, I was under the eyeshade! Had some solid sleep for about 5 hours, or so, with a few nice South Pacific bumps thrown in for good measure! Awoke and were served an unmemorable breakfast by the crew and soon began our descent into SYD just as the sun was peeking up over the horizon.

We circled SYD from the north and landed over Botany Bay at 0745, about 40 mins behind schedule. After taxiing for about 10 mins (passed an Emirates 777; Virgin Atlantic A340-600; TG 747-400 and myriad other good spots!) we docked at Gate 51 and made it through passport control with minimal wait. Grabbed our bags and headed out into the SYD morning.

The next 8 days would see us take two flights on Virgin Blue (DJ) from SYD-MEL and MEL-MCY, but they're really not worth mentioning. Nor was our Jetstar flight from MCY-SYD. Only thing memorable was that we only got hit for excess charges on DJ from SYD-MEL ($20AUS) as we were both overweight--wife's bag was 30kg and mine was 24. From MEL-MCY the cute ticket agent gave us the "honeymoon pass". No such luck at MCY. The surfer-dude working the Jetstar desk was happy to tell us great things about Queensland while charging us $70AUS(!!!!!!) for our bags. Jetstar sux!

We returned to SYD Intl. terminal bright and early on June 3 for the start of our long voyage home on TN via PPT!

csdf

Great report: thanks! I'm due to do LAX->PPT->LAX with TN (and a few inter-island hops with Air Tahiti in the middle) in a few months' time so it's good to hear how you found it. ^

psierra88

Thanks, CSDF. Final installment coming shortly.

csdf

Sorry to hijack your thread psierra88, but I thought I'd add some quick notes on recent TN flights LAX->PPT->LAX. Not enough to warrant its own thread, really.

Lounges
LAX lounge is on the 4th floor landside. It's a shared lounge and the best description I have is that it's big.
PPT lounge wasn't that much smaller and had a nice view of the apron. And a great selection of La Vache Qui Rit cheese cubes. Try to collect the whole set (mushroom flavour is very rare).

Boarding
Priority boarding for First and Business class passengers.

Seats
Seats in J class are 2-2-2, reclining to about 150°. They're fairly wide, but quite hard. I can't sleep at the best of times in planes, so these really didn't give me much rest. We sat in the central pair, but some might prefer window seats. There's oodles of leg-room, but the foot rest on the seat is too short for anyone over 5' 10" or so.

Service
Varied between friendly and efficient to annoying. Regarding the latter, flight crew seemed to view response to the attendant call button as entirely optional. We pressed the button, waited ten minutes, a flight attendant walked past, noticed it was on. Instead of asking us how she could help, she reached over to the arm control and turned it off, then walked away! So we turned it back on again. 10 minutes later, the same thing happened. The third time, nobody bothered to turn it answer it at all and it was still on when we landed.

Food & Drink
Champagne was Nicolas Feuillatte, which whilst by no means bad, isn't really a prestige label. On my outbound flight I didn't eat at all and just drank champagne (at 23.40 departure, I wasn't particularly hungry) which they had no problems with. Note that you have to ask for champagne, as they didn't automatically offer it.

Food was edible, but not gourmet. Starter is served plated up, then they remove this and serve your main course.

IFE
No AVOD, so just a selection (5/6) of English-language movies, plus a games function and the usual moving map (with an interesting perspective-view screen, as well as a top-down).

Overall
Compared to J flights I've taken with other airlines, this was at the lower end. Still undoubtedly much more comfortable than Y, but not in the ballpark of BA (who I've had most experience of). Better than DT though.

BigBopper

I leave next Monday for PPT. Can anyone tell me about in seat power? I can't seem to find this info anywhere (granted I have 3 more countries to visit on a work trip first so i didn't look too hard ) Thanks for the help.