French Polynesia

[neila85]

Hi All

I am planning a trip to Bora Bora or close by in March 2027.

Is there a way to do this on Avios or is it worth investing in an alternate points scheme?

Wanting business class for all legs.

Thanks

[mzb]

I am afraid not, there used to be a LATAM flight SCL-IPC (Easter Island)-PPT pre-covid. These days though the closest you can get with Avios is Auckland (QR, CX), and it’s then a 5 hour flight to PPT.

Most direct routes are via LAX (Air France and Air Tahiti Nui) and SFO (United). AF is Skyteam, United is Star Alliance, Air Tahiti Nui is not in an alliance (think you can use AA miles)

[masaccio]

AF flies premium economy which would take the edge off a bit, but it’s poor value at £1400+. Reward flights for that route are also expensive at 65k in PE and 145k+ in business.

Personally, I’d do Avios to LAX then suck it up in economy hopefully paying for extra legroom.

[redlilly]

masaccio wrote:

AF flies premium economy which would take the edge off a bit, but it’s poor value at £1400+. Reward flights for that route are also expensive at 65k in PE and 145k+ in business.

Personally, I’d do Avios to LAX then suck it up in economy hopefully paying for extra legroom.

Having flown the route – I concur with all of this. I also found that our flight from LAX to PPT with Air France was lightly loaded so we got a row of 3 for 2 of us. We arrive on Good Friday two years ago. Not sure if that had anything to do with it, but also the numerous flights with French airlines that run West Coast (Seattle and SF also – if my memory serves me correct) to PPT.

[phantomchickenz]

Avios can get you to AKL on Qatar, then it’s a relatively short cash flight to PPT and onward to BOB.

[Colin MacKinnon]

Towards the end of the pandemic, we booked avios to TYO and then used American Airilines miles (earned via Marriot Amex Card) to book TYO-PPT.

Then TYO-PPT was cancelled, so fortunately I had also booked AA miles AUK_PPT and was able to book Qatar to Aukland.

A good way to do it.

But now Alaska Airlines is OneWorld and has taken over Hawaiian Airlines, is that not an option?

[warrior01]

As Colin says above, you could get to Honolulu by Avios (BA/AA/IB/AS/AY combination through US airports), then AS/HA to Honolulu. From there you can get as close to Bora Bora on Avios as possible (Hawaiian to Papeete (the capital of French Polynesia), then a short hop on a cash fare to Bora Bora on either Air Moana or Air Tahiti. Look at both BA and QR to compare avios fares, as they differ.

If there is any way for you to earn/buy Alaska Airlines miles, they have really good redemption fares on Hawaiian right now, and no fuel surcharges.

[warrior01]

Just closed down the site and realised Alaska Airlines currently has a 100% bonus on purchasing miles, and they have Air Tahiti Nui as a redemption partner. So, you could fly direct from Tokyo to Papeete, Paris to PPT (via LAX), or Seattle to PPT. Lots of options if you use Alaska Atmos miles outright or combine Avios/Atmos flights to Tokyo/SEA/LAX.