On the one hand, business class on the Air Tahiti Nui 787-9 is nothing special: a dated seat that lacks privacy, exorbitant wi-fi prices, and mediocre food. But on the other hand, it was still a lovely way to travel home after a great week in French Polynesia and I appreciated the warm service and comfortable bedding onboard.
Air Tahiti Nui 787-9 Businss Class Review
I booked our tickets via Alaska Airlines for 60,000 miles + $65.30 per ticket, a tremendous value considering the one-way price was over $5K. To be sure, I would not have paid that price so the comparison is only useful to the extent of demonstrating how valuable miles can be. In fact, even if I had zero miles and had simply bought the 60K miles from Alaska at 2.75 cents each with a 50% bonus (current promo), I would have come out way ahead.
Check-In
Check-in at Fa’a’ā International Airport (PPT) in Tahiti opens 3.5 hours before the flight and Air Tahiti Nui check-in counters are arranged by flight, not just the carrier. Keep in mind that there is no early check-in or baggage drop-off available if your flight departs late at night and you have to check out of your hotel at noon. I recommend getting a “day room” or just paying for an extra night…don’t count on wi-fi to be functional at PPT.
Lounge
Air Tahiti Nui business class passengers are invited to use the Air Tahiti Nui business class lounge.
> Read More: Air Tahiti Nui Lounge – Tahiti (PPT) Review
Boarding
Boarding was initially delayed 30 minutes but ended up starting roughly on schedule. There are not jetbridges in Tahiti; from the boarding gate, you walk out to the aircraft and board via air stairs.
Air Tahiti Nui 8
Papeete (PPT) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Sunday, March 24
Depart: 11:45 PM
Arrive: 10:30 AM+1
Duration: 07hr, 45min
Distance: 4,095 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Seat: 3D (Business Class)
Two flight attendants welcomed me onboard and directed me left into the business class cabin.
Seat
It’s easy to understand why Air Tahiti Nui installed 30 B/E Collins Diamond Parallel seats in its business class cabin, despite other carriers like United Airlines ripping out those seats because they were deemed uncompetitive.
French Polynesia is a unique and leisure-heavy destination and the 2-2-2 configuration of the seats makes it easy to sit next to your loved one and converse: it’s an ideal seat for couples and allows for a dense configuration, both of which make sense in a market with limited competition.
Seats are 20 inches wide and convert to a 78-inch lie-flat bed. Since it was an overnight flight, we chose two center seats so that we both had aisle access.
In-seat power outlets and USB-A chargers (one above the power outlets and one next to the coat hook adjacent to the screen) are available, but no individual air vents.
There’s a small opening under each seat for shoes.
Demonstrating that cleanliness is not a problem unique to US carriers, the seat controls needed a deep clean…
…and one of the seat panels fell off while we were landing at LAX:
Bedding was excellent and a pleasant surprise. A large pillow and soft duvet helped me to sleep for several hours during the overnight journey to Los Angeles. Thankfully, the cabin remained cool despite the lack of air vents.
Amenity Kit
Waiting at each seat was an amenity kit. Contents were placed inside a faux-leather bag with the Air Tahiti Nui logo placed on it.
Contents included:
- comb
- socks
- pen
- ear plugs
- dental kit
- mouthwash
- eye shade
- lens wipes
- Heiva skincare products
- hand creme
- face creme
- lip blam
- refreshing towel
IFE + Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi was absurdly expensive: strict data caps and high prices meant I was happily disconnected during the flight.
The in-flight-entertainment library included movies and TV shows, music, games, books and magazines, and even a duty-free catalog.
Noise-cancelling headphones were provided.
Food + Drink
A bottle of water was sitting at each seat and a pre-departure beverage (orange juice or a coconut rum drink) was offered in a glass.
With the flight departing at 11:45 pm, a light supper was served after takeoff and a full breakfast before landing.
Paper menus were offered:
The menus did not list any beverage options.
But the IFE screen featured the menu as well as the beverages available (note that Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve Champagne was free-flowing)
The supper snack included:
- poultry terrine with turmeric
- smoked salmon
- vegetable macédoine with turmeric mayonnaise
- strawberry and pistachio tartlet
- fresh fruit wedges
A choice of bread was also offered.
I appreciated the presentation but did not care for the terrine or the turmeric mayonnaise. I would have preferred a more substantive hot meal, but the snack was appropriate for the timing of the flight.
Between flights, a snack basket was placed in the galley behind the business class cabin with a variety of French snacks.
Two hours prior to landing, the lights were gradually turned up and a hot towel and orange juice were offered.
A hot breakfast followed with a choice between:
- Cheese omelette, grilled turkey ham, tomato, country-style potato
- or
- French Toast sandwich with mango, roasted pineapple and vanilla sauce
Both were served with fresh fruit, yogurt, a croissant, and pain au chocolat.
The breakfast was edible (a cheese omelet is hard to mess up)…but not particularly flavorful.
My wife Heidi did something I wish I could do: she skipped both meals and just slept. That’s impossible for me when I review a flight, but I admire her choice to skip the food and take advantage of the lie-flat bed.
Refills on coffee and juice were offered during breakfast and after.
Lavatory
The lavatory included a floral print on the wall, tropical flowers, and products from Heiva.
Service
The cabin crew were all female, all Tahtiain, and all lovely. Sevice was very friendly and also efficient: I greatly appreciated the post-takeoff supper was served and collected in under an hour, allowing for more rest.
Not to generalize superficially, but the warm smiles, flowers in their hair, and great uniforms were lovely reminders of the warmness of the Tahitian people we experienced throughout our stay on the Society Islands.
CONCLUSION
We landed on-time and even somewhat refreshed at LAX.
We had quite a walk to passport control, then quite a wait for our bags…but by 11:20 we were on the road home.
Yes, the seats are not cutting-edge, but they did the job quite well and were greatly appreciated on the overnight journey to Los Angeles. While I would not fly Air Tahiti Nui over Air France to Paris (Air Tahiti Nui also flies between Los Angeles and Paris), I would not hesitate to fly Air Tahiti Nui again when I return to French Polynesia.
Do they have Polynesia drums for the background music ?
Maybe I’m just a rube, but what is always the focus with any airline or hotel on whatever brand the lotion and facial mist is? There are so many different brands (especially with hotels) I’m sure most people have never heard of most of them. Nor do I think someone is going to buy a flight or later shop a product based on one squirt of hand lotion on an airplane. I feel like they could make up some brand and nobody would be any the wiser. I mean, I fooled people on FlyerTalk saying I’d visited a little known Michelin starred restaurant and took a photo of some foaming grocery store brand hand soap squirted in a squiggly line on a coaster and people fell for it until the moderator deleted it for “mocking.”
@NedsKid … +1 . And by the way , “mockery” is good . Humour never hurt anyone .
One of Trump’s defects is a total lack of humour .
I just put it in because it distinguishes one airline from another – but I could not care less personally (unless a carrier started stocking Aesop product, my personal favorite). I do like the La Prairie on SWISS.
Do you like the Soeder cosmetics Swiss is using now?
Haven’t tried them.
Seattle’s 9 pm departure got a full dinner service iirc, if connecting I’d absolutely prefer that flight instead of the shorter (and more competitive to redeem) LAX flight
I would have too, but I took what I could get and Mrs. Klint also doesn’t like connections! I suspect the 2130 departure to LAX (TN2) might also have a full meal? I could not find a single other report from PPT (many the other direction).
I’d get a kick out of flying this route because TN just seems exotic, but all else being equal, there really are three other airlines flying better products to the West Coast. I’m surprised they don’t try to differentiate themselves more..
Did you mean to type ‘between meals’?
Between flights, a snack basket was placed in the galley behind the business class cabin with a variety of French snacks.
How was the turbulence? Flying from Papeete to SFO in a few days and very scared. Thanks
No turbulence on my flight. Seatbelt light off the entire flight.