Advice for flying to Tahiti?
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Anonymous
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Does anyone have any advice for flying from DC to Tahiti? We will be flying with my elderly mother who has some physical limitations. This is essentially her bucket list trip and we want to make it happen for her. She would be physically unable to do it on her own.
We plan on flying first class. I’m thinking that we stay one night in LA or SFO before embarking on the second leg - I don’t think she can handle 15-20 hours straight and her body will likely need a break. If anyone has been there, done that, I would love to have some tips - anything from airlines to layovers to recommended hotels for the layover. Thanks! |
Anonymous
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I’ve flown to Australia a few times so similar travel times I think. My thoughts:
1) Arriving day before is good idea but as I’m younger, I prefer to just get to SF, have a 2-3 hr layover, then board at like 11pm for the overnight flight. I find can be more exhausting leaving airport, to Uber to hotel, unpack a few things, not sleep that great, just to do it all again, and pass through security again as well. 2) SF is so much easier to navigate than LA so go from there if at all possible. You arrive from Dulles, disembark, and just walk to intl terminal. With LA much more complicated. First time visiting my son in AU and he recommended this as I was traveling alone and he was so right! 3)Going first class makes a world of difference 4) if Polaris they have a really nice lounge ( or if you have an Amex lounge access, etc) as lounge access makes the layover time easier and certainly great for your situation. 5) Dress in a comfortable but nice lounge set so easy to transition to sleep. Other than that, I can’t think of anything as you will be in first class/ with lay flat comfortable seats, it will be late, and hopefully your mom just sleeps! Oh..maybe a book, magazine, and an audible type book if she does not want to do the movies. Hope this helps! |
Anonymous
Good advice, noting that Tahiti is quite a bit closer than Australia, about 5 hours shorter flight from California. The timing is also different- pretty much all the flights to Australia leave California at night, so you hopefully go straight to sleep within a few hours after departure. There's also a broad range of flight options to Australia. To Tahiti it's pretty much United out of SFO departing around 1 PM, or Air Tahiti Nui departing LAX around 5 PM. But yes agreed SFO is MUCH easier to connect in and deal with, and has a very nice Polaris lounge. |
Anonymous
| Many thanks, PPs - this is really helpful information! |
Anonymous
| We went to Tahiti 2 years ago. We spent a night in LA on the way there and back. It helped a lot! |
Anonymous
| I've done it a couple of times with Air Tahiti Nui. It's not a bad flight at all if you break it up and spend the night in LA or SF. |
Anonymous
| We took a morning flight from IAD, stayed overnight at the Grand Hyatt at SFO (I believe it’s accessible by air train, no need to pick up and re-check bags), then a morning flight to Tahiti. Would do it that way again. |
Anonymous
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Ask your mom whether she prefers the one-night stopover on the West Coast, or would rather have a layover of a few hours and then keep going.
My mom is at the point where she prefers her own bed if at all possible. If that's not possible (like when traveling), she wants to minimize the number of times she has to pack/unpack/sleep in a strange bed. We think the hotel overnight sounds easier, but often for seniors it results in LESS rest -- she might be getting on the plane even more exhausted than if you just swapped planes at SFO and kept going. |
Anonymous
| This is the OP - thanks, everyone, for the advice and guidance. It is really helpful. To the PP, thanks for flagging- I checked with my mom and she said she prefers the layover option, so we will plan for that. Much appreciated! |
Anonymous
| Sorry, to clarify - I meant she prefers the option of staying one night and then taking the second leg of the trip. |
Anonymous
| Also keep in mind you’ll probably want to go to Bora Bora which is another flight after landing in Papeete. You’ll need to coordinate the timing of this or stay overnight near the airport. |
Anonymous
| If you book the flights all of one ticket, so you essentially just have a very long overnight layover in SFO, be sure she packs whatever items she'll need for the night in her carryon, as you may not be able to get your luggage between flights. Even if you ask for your luggage not to be checked all the way through, it may still end up being checked all the way through (had this happen on a flight recently). |
Anonymous
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Vote for the layover option! We did that and it worked well - overnight near SFO and early afternoon onward flight.
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Anonymous
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Airline family here and we have done most of the routes. My recommendation: Fly United IAD-SFO on the 757 or 787 morning flight in Polaris or lay flat seats on the 757. They usually fly one of those in the morning to SFO. Land by noon.
1:30pm 787 flight to PPT in Polaris. Use Polaris lounge in between at SFO. I would absolutely not do a layover in SF. She will be comfortable in Polaris transcon and not tired for the pacific hop. When you get to PPT… you will need to fly or boat again to get to most luxury resorts and you land from the US in the evening. You will need to overnight here before heading out to Bora Bora, etc the next morning. Most domestic flights don’t fly that late. I would stay at the Intercontinental - 10 mins from airport. As mentioned above, if you overnight at SFO, you will then have two nights of travel before getting to the luxury resorts. That sounds exhausting! |
Anonymous
| Whatever option you choose, order the wheelchair for the airports. |