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Air France has released a bunch of business class award space between Los Angeles and Pape’ete, Tahiti (gateway to French Polynesian islands like Moorea and Bora-Bora). Greg received an alert from SeatSpy and things are looking pretty wide open for at least 2 passengers. Availability is better on the way way back to the US, but either way there is certainly more availability than is typical for the route from November 2021 through May 2022 (and more availability from the US than the last time we alerted readers to availability on this route).
The Deal
- Air France has released a nice amount of business class award space between Los Angeles and Pape’ete, French Polynesia between November 2021 and May 2022. Some options for booking include:
- ~64K miles + $223 departing the US (or $285 departing PPT) via Air France Flying Blue
- 100K miles + $5.60 departing the US (or ~$52 departing PPT) via Delta SkyMiles
- 185K/195K miles + taxes each way via Virgin Atlantic
Quick Thoughts
Award space is plentiful between November and May. Keep in mind that Air France only flies this route a couple of days per week, so “plentiful” doesn’t mean “daily”. Still, here’s a look at Pape’ete to Los Angeles in February.
I believe that flight is only offered on Mondays and Thursdays and you can see that it is available on every Monday and Thursday from February into early March. Not quite every day is available through the end of the schedule, but many of them are.
Note that Delta will charge you 100K miles and $5.60 departing the US (taxes are about $50 in the opposite direction).
You can save miles by booking via Flying Blue. All of the dates I checked were 64,000 miles through Flying Blue, though note that you’ll pay surcharges when booking through Flying Blue. The total came to about $223 departing the US or $285 departing French Polynesia. (Also note that Air France has variable pricing, so it is possible that some dates cost more or less)
Virgin Atlantic charges 185K one-way off-peak or 195K during peak dates, making that an entirely unattractive option.
Since this saver availability is readily available on Delta.com and VirginAtlantic.com (along with AirFrance.us), I expect it should be available to other SkyTeam partners as well if you have miles with other relevant programs.
In terms of the flight itself, I traveled this route from Pape’ete to Los Angeles in fall of 2019 after spending just over a week in Bora-Bora. I found the Air France flight to certainly be comfortable, the seats reasonably private, and the food and wine to be about what I’d expect. There didn’t seem to be a great seating option if you were traveling with a partner. I sat across the aisle from my wife and son as that seemed to be the easiest option for Air France’s 777 business class configuration.
And of course Tahiti and Bora-Bora were terrific. I spent a few nights at the Conrad Bora-Bora, which doesn’t feature any view of Mount Otemanu or the lagoon, but is nonetheless quite luxurious and beautiful.
Then we spent a few nights at the St. Regis Bora Bora, which is the hotel from the movie “Couples Retreat” (which plays nonstop on the TVs in the rooms on one channel) and features exactly the view you’d expect.
Tahiti was perhaps less idyllic-looking in the sense that it is a place where people live and drive cars and go shopping rather than a place where you are isolated at a hotel away from the world, but we enjoyed exploring its black-sand beaches and beautiful sunsets just the same.
One tip for those interested in visiting French Polynesian islands: you need to pay for a separate ticket from Pape’ete to your island of choice on the national domestic airline, Air Tahiti (not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui, which is an American Airlines partner). Air Tahiti only operates domestic flights and is not partners with any frequent flyer programs. I booked our tickets to Bora Bora through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal in order to use 30K points for the ~$450 (per person) flights. However, I later found that for less than $100 more, we could have booked island-hopper flights that visited 5 islands if we had booked directly through Air Tahiti. If you’re interested in visiting a few islands, I recommend looking into those package deals.
At any rate, the availability is there through next May. Keep in mind that if you intend to book a Marriott property with Points Advance, you’ll need to have the points to cover it within 60 days of booking – no more holding space for months and months.
If French Polynesia is on your list, this could be a great opportunity to check it off.
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I saw four round trip tickets for my spring break trip, confirmed both on Delta and Air France. Transferred 512k to Flying Blue but it won’t complete the booking even when it shows the space. I’m freaked out. Any thoughts what to do? Can’t get a hold of AF of course.
It’s day time in Paris right now. I’d try calling an office in France (surely they have agents who speak English at any office in Europe). Or look for an office in the UK if you’re very worried about language barrier. Google Voice is cheap for international calls.
One thing to keep in mind (I booked for December due to my availability) is this flight is unlikely to return until the US reopens to the EU. I don’t believe this has flown for a year and it is cancelled though the end of July at this point. I’d say there is a good chance things return to something closer to normal by end of year but I’d still make sure whatever you book is cancellable.
appears to be gone now. I searched from 1/31-6/1 and nada under 189k. : (
Seatspy is still showing tons of availability, especially Tuesday outbound and Wednesday return. I just spot checked one of the dates they show: 2/16/22 and found it for 64K
Well I wish it showed up for me. As I wrote, I checked every single date and never found one below 189k.
it is all gone.
Did you have to book a separate seat for your child or lap children over 2 are allowed in Air France Business class?
And of course, standard room availability virtually disappears.
I’m getting ready to pull the trigger on LAX-PPT. It’s showing 64,000 + $31.43 each way, not the $223 mentioned in the article.
I saw that as well, a few weeks ago. However, when I got to the last page while booking the $200+ fee was displayed.
on the final screen, you will see $480 for a round trip
I just returned from French Polynesia. Flew Air Tahiti Nui business booked 2 seats at 68,400 qantas points each. If you can Go sooner there’s a lot of award space with Hilton and I was able to go to Moorea and Bora Bora using the 5th night free benefit twice for a total of 10 nights. Don’t pass that up
Related to a comment by Nick in the Ask Us Anything, depending on when you travel, there *may* be a second option for a points hotel on Tahiti (besides the Intercontinental he mentioned). Hilton Tahiti Resort is accepting reservations starting 1/1/2022. This will help some if they need a place to crash for one night before heading to Moorea or Bora Bora.
wow… playing this miles and points game for past 6 years and I thought this is like an unicorn that I will never be able to seat availability for my family of 4 to Bora Bora. Well, never say never… just burned a boatload of Delta miles and even amex points… that’s 800k skymiles to burn but still, Departing on 11/24 eve of Thanksgiving and returning on Monday to give us maximum days without missing much school days… just 1 day.
Oh well.. I canceled it after thinking about it for few hours. Decided it’s not worth spending 800k skymiles for a under 9 hour flight and realized that it’s going to cost us $2000 for 4 of us to fly from Tahiti to Bora Bora not to mention the cost of positioning flight to LAX over the Thanksgiving weekend plus lack of any free nights at Hilton or IHG means it’s going to cost at least $800 per night for 4 of us to stay at one of those overwater villa… and the cost of boat transfers to some of these hotels… it quickly became a very expensive trip.
Bora Bora is a expensive place to travel to and stay on. have you thought about the main island, and moorea?
booked with Delta miles. is adding position flight to LAX needs more miles?
Yes. I tried SEA-LAX-PPT and it came out like 150k per person one way and that is just the start.
Do you know if a positioning flight from the east coast to LAX could be included?
No, that would be more and pricing is variable with Air France, so you may be better off booking the positioning flight separately, but YMMV. Got to search it at AirFrance.us.
ok – thanks…hope I can find something
Nick, if booking through flying blue can you add a domestic flight from another US city to LA for the same 64k or would that be in addition to depending on miles required for that flight?
No, that would be more and pricing is variable with Air France, so you may be better off booking the positioning flight separately, but YMMV. Got to search it at AirFrance.us.
Unable to fit this in, but was checking to see if it would be even possible to book this for my family, and surprisingly was able to see 5 seats open RT over the Christmas break!
December is low season with humidity, high temperature, and heavy percipitation.
yes do ur homework.