MrRandal Posted July 19, 2021 #1 Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) Well, just to pile on the stress, Air France has cancelled all of their flights from LAX to PPT in August, which were supposed to resume August 3. Their first flight available now is September 7th, although I have no confidence in them flying at that time. Anyone booked on the August 28th cruise, and also booked on Air France must be scrambling, you have my heartfelt sympathy. So now we have to (a) make our final payment August 25 before the Paul Gauguin ever leaves port on it's first cruise, and (b) make our final payment for our cruise before our scheduled airline resumes service between the two cities where we are flying, and refuses to even communicate with me about the possibility they may cancel flights in September. Add in all of the stress with trying to coordinate the ungodly number of required Covid tests and it's just ridiculous. I so want to take this trip, and just be done with it, but I think it may be best to just try and reschedule. My wife is still holding out hope. Edited July 19, 2021 by MrRandal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vjr Posted July 20, 2021 #2 Share Posted July 20, 2021 Ugh, I just heard about this. Our cruise is not until 12/04, but we are flying Air France, and I'm just trying to stay positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted July 20, 2021 Author #3 Share Posted July 20, 2021 I would certainly hope they are flying by December, but not having them flying before we need to make our final payment to Paul Gauguin makes me very, very concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooz Posted July 21, 2021 #4 Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) Ugh! My heart skipped a beat when I read this…. I agree it’s just adding one more stress point even though we aren’t going until November so I really feel for Mr Randal. I saw a comment from someone on another site who said Air France had to cancel because they didn’t have clearance yet to land in Tahiti post- Covid. Not sure how reliable the source of that comment was… I do see if they had a press release saying they were offering more flights from Paris to Tahiti via LAX. So that gives me hope that it’s all positive and moving forward. I think I may end up weeping a few tears of joy if my feet actually land onboard the ship in November ⛴ Edited July 21, 2021 by Shooz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted July 21, 2021 Author #5 Share Posted July 21, 2021 That's the first I have read about Air France not having clearance yet. While it is "French" Polynesia it is autonomous from France. Yes, I have also seen the press releases and gotten emails from Air France touting their return to Tahiti as well as numerous other destinations they flew pre Covid. They are now flying between Denver and Paris, a new route. Our tickets are actually booked through Delta, who codeshares the flight with Air France, as we are Medallion Delta FFers and this is a lot of miles. But, neither Delta nor Air France will tell us squat, just that at this point our flights are scheduled to depart as planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted July 21, 2021 Author #6 Share Posted July 21, 2021 20 hours ago, Shooz said: Ugh! My heart skipped a beat when I read this…. I agree it’s just adding one more stress point even though we aren’t going until November so I really feel for Mr Randal. I saw a comment from someone on another site who said Air France had to cancel because they didn’t have clearance yet to land in Tahiti post- Covid. Not sure how reliable the source of that comment was… I do see if they had a press release saying they were offering more flights from Paris to Tahiti via LAX. So that gives me hope that it’s all positive and moving forward. I think I may end up weeping a few tears of joy if my feet actually land onboard the ship in November ⛴ E.U. citizens are not allowed to even pass through the U.S. at this time, so Air France is routing their normal Paris/LAX/PPT through Vancouver, with no stop at LAX. I would assume since you are in Seattle you could just hop up to Vancouver and catch the flight there. I tried to find out from both Air France and Delta if they would book us flights to Vancouver from LAX or SAN if that is still the case in Sept, but it's virtually impossible to get through to them. Air France won't even talk to me about our flights because we booked them through Delta. Delta is being very cagey and less than forthcoming. I'm not going to book a flight on my own to Vancouver until I have a firm answer from them. For us, going that route would make for a heck of a long day, and add additional cost. For you it would shorten your day and you wouldn't have to fly to LAX. You can book a flight in August from Paris to PPT via Vancouver, but starting on Sept 7 the flight shows that it stops at LAX. It all boils down to when the present administration starts to allow E.U. citizens to enter the U.S. and reciprocate the fact that U.S. citizens are now allowed to travel to most countries in the E.U. The airline and tourist industry are begging the administration to open up to E.U. citizens, but they don't seem eager to do so. So, we sit in limbo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooz Posted July 22, 2021 #7 Share Posted July 22, 2021 17 hours ago, MrRandal said: E.U. citizens are not allowed to even pass through the U.S. at this time, so Air France is routing their normal Paris/LAX/PPT through Vancouver, with no stop at LAX. I would assume since you are in Seattle you could just hop up to Vancouver and catch the flight there. I tried to find out from both Air France and Delta if they would book us flights to Vancouver from LAX or SAN if that is still the case in Sept, but it's virtually impossible to get through to them. Air France won't even talk to me about our flights because we booked them through Delta. Delta is being very cagey and less than forthcoming. I'm not going to book a flight on my own to Vancouver until I have a firm answer from them. For us, going that route would make for a heck of a long day, and add additional cost. For you it would shorten your day and you wouldn't have to fly to LAX. You can book a flight in August from Paris to PPT via Vancouver, but starting on Sept 7 the flight shows that it stops at LAX. It all boils down to when the present administration starts to allow E.U. citizens to enter the U.S. and reciprocate the fact that U.S. citizens are now allowed to travel to most countries in the E.U. The airline and tourist industry are begging the administration to open up to E.U. citizens, but they don't seem eager to do so. So, we sit in limbo. A-ha - thanks for the update - now I understand the "clearance" comment on the other site. I won't say "this makes sense" but I now follow and understand what is happening. Thank you for taking the time to share your research with me and thinking of me in Seattle - starting August 9 we will be able to drive over the border to Vancouver but I am hopeful all of this will change before then - especially hopeful that September arrives and you are on target for your trip!! It will indeed be a long day to fly to LAX as we left a huge time gap between our arrival in LAX (flying on miles on Alaska Airlines) to the midnight departure in case something went wrong with catching the SEA flight.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tahitianbigkahuna Posted July 22, 2021 #8 Share Posted July 22, 2021 Please verify but I believe the Paris - Vancouver - Papeete flight is a stop in Vancouver for re-fueling only ... no additional passengers ... but as I said ... verify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted July 23, 2021 Author #9 Share Posted July 23, 2021 1 hour ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said: Please verify but I believe the Paris - Vancouver - Papeete flight is a stop in Vancouver for re-fueling only ... no additional passengers ... but as I said ... verify You are probably correct, we tried to see if we could book a flight in August from Vancouver to PPT and it can't be booked on the AF website. Plus, the flight through Vancouver is a different flight #, 74, as opposed to #76 going through LAX. So much for the Vancouver option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenandrew Posted July 23, 2021 #10 Share Posted July 23, 2021 I’m sorry you guys are having this additional stress…it has to be incredibly frustrating. I’m not trying to antagonize anyone, but it just seems to me that making travel plans (especially international travel plans) for the foreseeable future are going to be fraught with uncertainty. I would consider trips that go without issue to be the exception as opposed to the general rule for quite awhile. I’d be thrilled if I am completely mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted July 24, 2021 Author #11 Share Posted July 24, 2021 6 hours ago, stephenandrew said: I’m sorry you guys are having this additional stress…it has to be incredibly frustrating. I’m not trying to antagonize anyone, but it just seems to me that making travel plans (especially international travel plans) for the foreseeable future are going to be fraught with uncertainty. I would consider trips that go without issue to be the exception as opposed to the general rule for quite awhile. I’d be thrilled if I am completely mistaken. While I appreciate your concern, this cruise was booked pre pandemic, and the flights were only booked after vaccines were available and being widely distributed and Air France assured their customers they would begin flights from LAX to PPT in June or July at the latest. However, you are correct, 17 months into this pandemic international travel is still fraught with uncertainty. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy The Wanderer Posted July 27, 2021 #12 Share Posted July 27, 2021 (edited) Just bear in mind that Canada will allow Americans in who are fully vaccinated as of August 9th, but there are hurdles--pre-testing, testing on arrival, a quarantine plan in case of a positive test. And that assume you could even get on the flight in Vancouver, which apparently you cannot. (And this seems likely since fully vaccinated French citizens can't travel to Canada until sometime in September.) Edited July 27, 2021 by Wendy The Wanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartfelttraveler Posted July 27, 2021 #13 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Yuck! I just saw this thread. We are booked on Delta/Air France in October. This trip is a rebooking. If we have to switch to Air Tahiti Nui our Business Class tickets will be at least three times the price of Delta. If we can even get seats. Fingers are crossed for Air France to begin their Paris to LAX leg in September. (Delta told me that the AF planes are grounded in France and unable to fly to LAX.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted July 27, 2021 Author #14 Share Posted July 27, 2021 (edited) Delta is lying to you. Air France is flying round trips Paris/LAX, Paris/Denver and Paris/JFK that I know of. They are also flying Paris to PPT with a stopover for fuel in Vancouver. They just aren't flying LAX to PPT. They are scheduled to restart the LAX/PPT route Sept 7th, however I see the Biden Administration announced yesterday they will refuse to reciprocate and allow E.U. citizens to visit the U.S. due to the Delta variant. I'm pretty certain that puts the nail in the coffin for September flights, as most experts expect the Delta variant to peak in October. We also have Business seats on AF, booked through Delta. They are changeable up until Dec 31 2022, but not refundable. Business fare on Air Tahiti Nui is about double what you probably paid on Air France, depending on the days you were flying. We will almost certainly wait until August 24th, the day before our final payment is due to Paul Gauguin, and reschedule for next fall. Just way too many unknowns, Paul Gauguin won't tell us our itinerary since the Cook Islands are still closed, their testing requirements are a major pain, our airline is not presently flying our route, and won't tell us for certain if they will when we are scheduled to fly. Edited July 27, 2021 by MrRandal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besttime Posted July 29, 2021 #15 Share Posted July 29, 2021 CDC is ramping up masking and mandates again - the looming expected Delta fall/winter surge with increased transmission. Will be interesting to see if air travel is affected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy The Wanderer Posted July 30, 2021 #16 Share Posted July 30, 2021 On 7/27/2021 at 2:02 PM, MrRandal said: We will almost certainly wait until August 24th, the day before our final payment is due to Paul Gauguin, and reschedule for next fall. Just way too many unknowns, That's sad, but I'm sure you're doing the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted August 4, 2021 Author #17 Share Posted August 4, 2021 FYI, Air France has now cancelled all of their LAX/PPT flights through Oct 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dkaye Posted August 6, 2021 #18 Share Posted August 6, 2021 On 8/4/2021 at 1:29 AM, MrRandal said: FYI, Air France has now cancelled all of their LAX/PPT flights through Oct 5. We have Oct 3 flight and as of last night we were told by rep that it still confirmed. Any details on your info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted August 6, 2021 Author #19 Share Posted August 6, 2021 58 minutes ago, Dkaye said: We have Oct 3 flight and as of last night we were told by rep that it still confirmed. Any details on your info? We booked through Delta, as we are Delta Medallion members. Our flight on Sept 23rd also still showed confirmed on the Delta "My Trips" section on the Delta website. However after checking that every morning for the past month, I would log out of my account and try and book my exact flights on the Delta website, 5 days ago it said one of my flights was not available. I have a special Delta/Air France phone number and called. They originally said my flights were still flying as scheduled, however after checking further, told us all flights were cancelled until Oct 5 between LAX and PPT. So our return trip was still available, but our outbound trip was cancelled. Since they cancelled our flight, they refunded our tickets, even though they were non refundable tickets. They were refunded to my AMEX within 72 hours. If you booked through Delta, DM me and I will give you a special number to get through to an agent almost immediately. I have also been carefully monitoring the spike in COVID-19 cases in Tahiti, I fear the islands will close again to tourists very soon. We decided to cancel our Sept 25th cruise and rebook for the fall of 2022. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooz Posted August 9, 2021 #20 Share Posted August 9, 2021 On 8/3/2021 at 10:29 PM, MrRandal said: FYI, Air France has now cancelled all of their LAX/PPT flights through Oct 5. MrRandal - so sorry for you - I have appreciated the info you have provided the last few weeks. Air Tahiti Nui is also cancelling Flights 7 & 8 through 10/1 (but not Flights 101 and 102) for the same Paris reason.... Hubby and I discussed today and decided that we could not put a price on peace of mind and cancelled our fully refundable November AirFrance flight rather than being so anxious for at least one and possibly two months about a potential cancellation. We re-booked on the ATN flight 101 and 102 despite it being substantially more $$. We thought if we wait and the flight in November is cancelled we would be scrambling with everyone else and may not find an alternative....I have an extra issue with my husband being Super Sized and claustrophobic so I have to be very careful with seat selection - we were going First Class to Tahiti because Premium aisle seats were full. We ended up having to go two days earlier to get decent seats on ATN but I guess that is an unexpected silver lining 🙂. Now I get the fun of finding a resort for 3 nights instead of 1.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRandal Posted August 9, 2021 Author #21 Share Posted August 9, 2021 16 hours ago, Shooz said: - we were going First Class to Tahiti because Premium aisle seats were full. We ended up having to go two days earlier to get decent seats on ATN but I guess that is an unexpected silver lining 🙂. Now I get the fun of finding a resort for 3 nights instead of 1.... I haven't flown on the new Dreamliners, so I can't tell you how comfortable the premium or Business class seats are. Certainly the ambiance on ATN is much nicer than on AF, and the aircraft much newer. I think you will enjoy your flight. You could spend the 3 nights at the Intercontinental Tahiti, but, I would strongly suggest 1 night in PPT, then take the ferry to Moorea, and spend 2 nights at the Hilton. You have plenty of time to check out take the ferry back to PPT before you embark. At this point I wouldn't make any non refundable, unchangeable reservations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwimSwamSwum84 Posted September 11, 2021 #22 Share Posted September 11, 2021 @ MrRandal: Thank you for all of the info you posted here. Are you able to share with me the Delta/Air France number you referenced via DM or in this post? I'm in a similar boat having booked an Air France flight through Delta, and need to reach them. I tried to DM you for the number but it says DM's have been disabled. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted September 11, 2021 #23 Share Posted September 11, 2021 Cruise Critic has never allowed DMs, as the implementation can't meet our privacy standards. And please don't post in large bold type. It looks like shouting, and is hard on the eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teresitaboy Posted November 25, 2021 #24 Share Posted November 25, 2021 try united SFO - PPT everyday except monday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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