Tahiti from Toronto

[boone2]

I am a fairly experienced flyer but have never gone to Tahiti before so would like to ask the advice/opinions of those of you who have gone or know airlines better than I do. DH and I are booked on the Tahitian Princess next October 20th. I have booked cruise air from Buffalo but only as a very last resort back up, i believe it is around $1500. I have been avidly watching the prices from 330 days out and have seen every price from $1600 - $4600 for economy. I am rethinking the Buffalo part as I don't really want to fly from Tahiti-LA-whereever else-Buffalo and then have a 2 hour drive home. Today I have seen a price advertised with a local TA for Toronto/LA/Tahiti for $1400.plus taxes. So far this is the best I have seen BUT - should I wait? Does anyone know if it is likely these prices will go down. My friends have just cruised Hawaii and flew TO- Hawaii for $880 on a seat sale, is this likely with Tahiti? Thanks in advance

Terry

[ab0si]

Unless you are going via New Zealand or France or some other remarkable indirect way, your flight to Faaa (code PTT) is going to leave from LAX. tehre is basically no competition on this route, so there is little reason for a sale.

[LHT28]

You could check websites for the routing you want then ask your TA if they use consolidators like Intair.

You can some good prices if your TA deals with them

 

the code is PPT

[ljtinney]

We did the Tahiti-LA-whereever else (Dallas)-Buffalo and the 2 hour drive home 2 years ago. It was certainly a long haul. And....after missing a connecting flight, well, 26 hours later we pulled in. This time we are flying Toronto to LA non stop(used miles) with a night in LA and then Princess air from LA to PPT and back. Even though we really do not like flying out of TO.....my DH is much happier with this idea.

 

The $1400 out of Toronto sounds great if it's a non stop flight to LAX. The taxes are probably a few hundred each.

Can't see it going down much. If you were to do it as 2 separate flights you might get some seat sales later on.

[DanJ]

There are tons of ways to get to Hawaii from Toronto. Not so much to PPT. I wouldn't be holding out hope of that kind of price. What was the difference in doing cruise air from Toronto compared to Buffalo? Convenience is worth the price in situations like this.

[boone2]

The price diffeerence was only about 300 each and I also don't like flying out of TO but for such a long haul I'm beginning to think TO is a much better option. I had thought of booking two legs separately, TO-LA and then LA to Tahiti, what are the pros and cons of doing that? Thanks all for your input. By the way the price of 1400 was for a three legged flight. It is 1590 for the 2 legged one plus taxes of about $300. I will keep monitoring but any input is appreciated

Terry

[jagoffee]

Did you consider the direct flight from New York to PPT? This is an option if you do not want to connect in LAX, but it is still a connection with a greater opportunity for weather delays.

[wrp96]

The price diffeerence was only about 300 each and I also don't like flying out of TO but for such a long haul I'm beginning to think TO is a much better option. I had thought of booking two legs separately, TO-LA and then LA to Tahiti, what are the pros and cons of doing that? Thanks all for your input. By the way the price of 1400 was for a three legged flight. It is 1590 for the 2 legged one plus taxes of about $300. I will keep monitoring but any input is appreciated

Terry

 

 

The less connections or stops you have to make while in transit the better. Every stop is just one more place you could get delayed.

 

I was going to recommend doing a roundtrip flight to LAX the night before you fly out to Tahiti. That way it breaks up the long flight AND it gives you extra time to get to LA in case of weather delays.

 

Coming back though, make sure to give yourself several hours (or consider overnighting at LAX again) after your flight from Tahiti lands at LAX before your flight to Toronto departs. Because you would be flying on separate tickets, you would not be protected on the flight to Toronto if you miss it due to delays on your flight from Tahiti.

[DanJ]

There may not be much choice on overnighting in LA on the way home. I'm not sure what time the Princess Omni charter flights leave for LA, but I notice Air Tahiti Nui's flights leave Papeete in the evening, arriving in LA the next morning. To make the last Air Canada flight to Toronto from LA at 1030pm, the flight from Tahiti would have to leave Papeete by something like 10am.

[ljtinney]

The price diffeerence was only about 300 each and I also don't like flying out of TO but for such a long haul I'm beginning to think TO is a much better option. I had thought of booking two legs separately, TO-LA and then LA to Tahiti, what are the pros and cons of doing that? Thanks all for your input. By the way the price of 1400 was for a three legged flight. It is 1590 for the 2 legged one plus taxes of about $300. I will keep monitoring but any input is appreciated

Terry

 

The reason we booked our flights separately is because we plan to overnight in LA. I booked Princess air (and travel care) early this year and watched it til final payment. I did not find anything cheaper. We plan to fly to LA on the 24th and then to PPT on the 26th with a 2 night pre cruise stay. Turns out that because of our pre cruise in Tahiti, Princess has us on the 11:55pm flight on the 25th and I have had to cancel 2 of our rooms in LA for the second night. So....just one more thing to be aware of.

 

Sometimes that few hundred dollars more in this case can certainly be worth some peace of mind.

[boone2]

Thanks for all your suggestions, i have found a good deal on airfaires with AC from TO to LAX today for 400 return so have booked them. I am holding Princess cruise air to Tahiti for 1296 plus deviation fee of 75 for flying in a day ahead but have found flights and hotel on Expedia for 1441 with Quantas staying at one of the resorts ahead of time which look like a good deal at present. I will keep an eye on this. thanks again

Terry

[greatam]

Thanks for all your suggestions, i have found a good deal on airfaires with AC from TO to LAX today for 400 return so have booked them. I am holding Princess cruise air to Tahiti for 1296 plus deviation fee of 75 for flying in a day ahead but have found flights and hotel on Expedia for 1441 with Quantas staying at one of the resorts ahead of time which look like a good deal at present. I will keep an eye on this. thanks again

Terry

 

Hawaiian Airlines is running slightly less than $1100 RT LAX/HNL/PPT. 20 HR layover in HNL (arrives about 8:45PM), so a little extra for your money. The dates I used were Oct. 17-LAX to HNL, Oct 18, HNL to PPT, arrive PPT about 10:30PM. Return October 26 leaving PPT at midnight, arriving LAX at 4:30PM. Only two hours on the return in HNL.

[Ontario Cruiser]

I highly recommend that you take Princess's air from LA to Tahiti as there are very few seats available on most flights, Princess reserves most of them. The price is fairly good. But you should definitely book your own to LA. We booked through a Travel agent and the total cost from Toronto to Tahiti is $1988.63. We did this in September for April 2008. The booking fee was $50pp from YYZ to LAX and $28.00 from LAX to PPT. Now the price from YYZ to LAX is a lot cheaper.

Merry Christmas to all

Ontario Cruiser