There’s a new way to book Air Tahiti Nui award space with your American Airlines miles. Again…
Air Tahiti Nui recently changed its fare class codes for economy class and business class awards.
- F = Business Class Award
- U = Economy Class Award
This has caused some confusion at American Airlines, where many agents are used to checking Air Tahiti Nui award space under the old fare buckets (I for business class, W for economy class).
The good news is that the with the fare code changes agents no longer have to use the trick I outlined here to book. The bad news is that you still often need to gently instruct an AA agent on how to search for this award space.
How to Book Air Tahiti Nui Award Travel Using AA Miles
You can use Expert Flyer to search for Air Tahiti Nui award space. Once you find space on your preferred date(s), you must call AA to book.
Reference the flight number you are looking to book and say something like this–
The previous agent told me that Air Tahiti Nui has new booking codes for award space. I’m not quite sure what that means, but she said F like Foxtrot is now for business class and U like uniform is now economy class. Do you know what she is talking about?
Better to act dumb, because few agents enjoy being told how to do their jobs. But this always does the trick.
CONCLUSION
Air Tahiti Nui remains an excellent use of your American Airlines miles, but familiarize yourself with how to book…or face a headache on the phone. Finally, note that Delta agents seems to have received the memo on this. While you may have to remind Delta of the new booking codes, that has not been my experience.
Thank you! I was just looking for it! I need to check availability for PPT to AKL
@ Matthew — As long as I am not pushing the rules, I prefer not to act dumb since it is disingenuous. I actually prefer to be honest and let them know I am a stable genius like our Fearless Leader. 🙂 Some agents actually appreciate being kept up to date by frequent travelers.
@ Matthew — I meant “Dear Leader”…not enough coffee yet. 🙂
Just don’t say Code F,U too quickly.
Am I the only one who finds it funny that the ones that changed are F-U? Sorry – had to go there…
If I have to speak on the phone with an agent, usually I state something like “my PNR is…”, “can you confirm the fare code/fare basis?” and giving an airport codes i.e. “San Jose SJC” sets the appropriate tone and signal that they’re not dealing with an inexperienced traveler without sounding like a duffel bag.
Struggling with agents on this at present. Seems that, at times, LAX-AKL (TN101) shows F4 (noting that TN101 is direct with a stop), but the same LAX-PPT (TN101) and PPT-AKL (TN101) will show F0. Agents citing this as the problem, but it’s unclear to me why that would be a problem (it’s just TN releasing space differently, right)?
This married segment availability happens. If you just want TN1001 as far as PPT, book the through flight (same number of miles) and skip the second segment.
Thanks. I actually want it through, but I can’t find an agent to book it. Will keep calling. Cheers.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the tips. I have a basic question about AA points. It seems folks are generally talking about LAX to PPT as being 40k points. I live on the east coast. Could I get NYC to PPT for the same 40k points, or does that require 2 reward flights (JFK to LAX and separately LAX to PPT).
Thanks in advance for your help
Hi Nick, you can do everything on one award! All you need saver space on both flights.
I had the same question. I am new to expert flyer. This is what I see when trying to get from CMH to PPT. Does this mean there are no award space on the first leg (CMH to LAX)?
AA 2102 0 CMH
02/22/19
4:30 PM LAX
02/22/19
6:26 PM 319
Unavailable
100% / 7m
TN 101 0 LAX
02/22/19
10:55 PM PPT
02/23/19
5:05 AM 789
Unavailable
67% / 21m
Business – Award F 0
Economy – Award U 7