I am booked on the Paul Gaugin for June. I have recently started looking for airfare and am quite discouraged. The fare is quite expensive, even to fly economy class, and exhorbitant to upgrade to business class. That the flight is 13 and a half hours for me (leaving from DC) is also discouraging. There are almost no flight options and I am not happy about arriving in Tahiti exhausted at 4:30am in the morning. My travel agent tells me that my hotel room will not be available and I will be sitting in a beach chair all day. How have others who have taken this cruise dealt with these issues? I am thinking about cancelling. Thanks, Karen

Flight times are very difficult to Tahiti and it used to be worse before Air Tahiti came on the scene. It would be a shame to cancel over this as it is a wonderful trip.

You just have to get a hotel room when you arrive at that time. If the hotel you are booked in is too expensive then go somewhere else. Do not do it through the cruise line just go on line and book something directly. It does not have to be one of the expensive hotels. Just a place to crash. There are several reasonable hotels around the airport or downtown Papeete - so close you could walk to the ship. Getting a taxi even at 4.30 am in the morning is no problem they are there when the planes come in.

If you are doing a pre-cruise just transfer by taxi to the hotel you are using the next day.

It would be a nightmare to arrive at that time and wait until 3.00 pm for checkin.

First off I agree that it's a bit of a long haul trip getting to and from Tahiti but it is well worth the ordeal of getting there and you will be glad that you did. I fly out of Toronto airport in the east and we usually plan our flight to LAX so that we overnight there, thus giving us a break. Then we wake up refreshed and ready for the long trip from LAX to Papeete.
Coming home because we are so mellow and still in island mode we bite the bullet and just keep going. We fly from Papeete usually landing in LAX at around 9:30 a.m. and then we get on the 3:30 p.m. flight back to Toronto. There is an earlier 12:30 p.m. flight but I would never book it as it takes so long to clear customs in LAX and then go check your bags again. We spend our time in LAX in the lounge just chilling out. Doing it this way then gets us in to Toronto around 11:30 p.m. at night and we are usually at our home by 1:00 a.m after getting our bags, going through customs and hailing an airport limo for the 50 minute drive home. Sure we are trashed but coming home is easier doing it all in one shot as we are still refreshed from just coming off the cruise. Also one thing you should know, going back to LAX from Papeete is a shorter flight then going to Papeete from Lax. Going back is just over 8 hours and it must be because of the winds. If you have the time then you could overnight in LAX on your way back, rent a car and tour around.
We've never done that as we've toured Los Angeles on many previous trips and it's not on our radar to do so for a while. You can also get to the airport early and be one of the first ones lined up for when the reservation agents open the gate for check-in and try and get the business class fare then at a much reduced price. You can do this both at LAX and Papeete. Just make sure you check online how many seats are left in business class before you waste your time lining up early for nothing. Also, for your early morning arrival you can go online and book a hotel close to the pier for the few hours you will be waiting to board the ship. Here you can take a nap and shower and feel much better for boarding.
It is a real pain getting to and from Tahiti but you will be glad you did and if I was you I would not cancel your trip. It's a wonderful place that just must be seen at least once.
Pat

Karen,

My husband and I have frequent flyer award tickets booked for Tahiti this summer (although we haven't decided on a cruise or land accommodations just yet).

Do you have any frequent flyer miles or loyalty points you can use?

If you've got miles on American, Continental, or Delta, you could book an award seat.

If you've got Starwood points you can transfer them to American (20k points = 25k AA miles).

Or if you've got American Express Membership Rewards points, you can transfer them to Continental or Delta.

You can also use Amex MR points to purchase an Air Tahiti Nui ticket (80k for an economy companion ticket, 110k for a free economy ticket, or 400k for a business class ticket).

With American, you'd book on Air Tahiti Nui (which is what we did: 75,000 miles per each economy ticket).

With Continental or Delta, you'd book on Air France. I'm not sure what the mile per ticket fee is.

You may also be able to get to Tahiti via Hawaiian Airlines but the connections might be a nightmare from DC.

I hope you find a flight that will work. Good luck!

Andrea

Thanks for your replies. Andrea, American Express will not honor the companion ticket for Papeete on any date going forward all through the summer. Just don't understand. Also, they want 740,000 points for a flight from LAX to Papeete. I think that is ridiculous. It would be possible to use points from here to LAX. It is going to take alot of research on my part to make it work. I will not give up yet. Thanks all of you for your support. I guess the trip is worth it in the long run. You all seem to think so.

One possible approach is to buy the Regent Air from LAX, with the ugprade to Business. I can't remember what it was last December, but it was reasonable.

Then use points to fly from D.C. to L.A.

This time around we did not do an overnight in L.A., but went straight through from Toronto. We had about 6 hours in LAX, which was a pain, but it was nice waking up in Tahiti instead of Los Angeles. The downside was that we got to our hotel at 3 a.m. I would try to do it differently next time--i.e., get on an earlier flight, or bit the bullet and stay over in L.A. again.

We usually fly straight home as well, although this time we stopped over and spent Xmas with family in L.A. This was a very pleasant way to adjust to the cold after the tropics.

Wendy, that sounds good the Regent Air thing. However what airline did you take. I am seeing so few flights. Flights that arrive in Papeete from LAX at 4:30am mostly. Also the return flights either leave from Papeete at 7:30am (which obviously you can't take because you wouldn't have even gotten off the ship, or the other one leaves at 11:30 at night

For our PG trip in October, we used miles for the Charleston-LAX RT in BC. Currently our ATN flight to PPT leaves at a very civilized hour of 1 PM and arrives PPT at 6:30 PM. I know that that could change. We have used the Regent BC upgrade supplement which seems quite reasonable for an open jaw LAX-PPT-Fiji flight. We will be overnighting at Lax both ways - connections are too tight for comfort. Since we are doing a B2B we get another air credit for the second leg. I wonder why ATN has adopted that kind of schedule with a 4:30 arrival?

Yes, I have seen the 1pm flight to Papeete which is reasonable. Just can't make a return flight work. Whidh is either leaving at 7:30am or 11:30pm

You will be in port the night before, so getting the 7:30 am flight is not a problem. You just have to leave the ship earlier than everyone else. We came home on the 11:30 pm flight--if I went again, I would try for the morning flight out.
We got our tickets with American miles, so the cost wasn't a problem, but yes, it is VERY expensive if you have to pay for the ticket with money. I collect and save my miles for trips such as this.

Yes, ours was the 4:30 flight, and in fact it was delayed an hour. I would try anything to get the earlier flight, including travelling on whatever day there is one--there wasn't one on the day we went, and we had no latitude to fly in another day early. ATN (Air Tahiti Nui), which we flew, is having financial trouble, just got a bail-out from the FP government. So the number of flights I believe has been trimmed in some cases.

You should be able to take JetBlue from DC to LA very inexpensively. I would spend a day or 2 there to break up the trip. Then take the free air from Regent. The upgrade to business seemed high when I checked with Susan. We are going as a family of 4 in July. The last time we went on the PG, we booked the upgrade to business chlass on the way out at the counter at LAX. I am not sure if it is still possible to do this. Since I need to pay 4 fares, we will spend some time in SoCal and then do the LAX to Papeete leg in coach. The upgrade would be over 10K for us- just not worth it! The PG, however IS!!!!

Used Regent air when 10 of us went on the Paul Gauguin 02/15/03. GLAD WE DID.
True we were only flying out of Billings Montana but our choices of flights are limited which was a big problem.
Realize embarkation and disembarkation on the PG have changed since then but still are advantages of using Regent air.
For us we were required to fly into LAX the day before. Regent put us in the LAX Hilton. Next morning had a free breakfast buffet voucher. Bus took us back to LAX airport. Bus picked us up and took us to the ship. Had a 11:30 pm return flight. Got off ship, free bus excursion of island of Tahiti, taken to hotel given a free lunch voucher, around 2:30 pm given a "day room".
About 9:00 pm bus took us to airport for return flight.
All this was included in the Regent air package.