Tahiti

Thanks to a hoard of American Airlines partner airline miles, we flew Air Tahiti Nui from LA to Auckland in a combination of business class and premium economy. ATN doesn’t seem to have the best of record-keeping. When we tried to board, the final computer barrier to boarding in LA rejected both of us, along with another couple. Some mysterious incantation over a computer and they let us on. The flight was comfortable and service was courteous. Didn’t sleep, but didn’t expect to.

Landed in Tahiti, and once again we didn’t exist. Waited for 20 minutes while our passports disappeared. In the meantime the line to get through another full security check was horribly backed up. Eventually, passports reappeared and we were sent to the long security line.

Since we’d already been told we couldn’t use the lounge in Tahiti, despite the business class ticket, I’d purchased lounge passes. Again, we didn’t exist. The check in clerk couldn’t have been icier, insisting that I’d purchased access to the lounge in LA. Ironic that I’d bought those passes while in the free lounge in LA. Eventually, showing her the sequence of 6 emails from ATN confirming my purchase, she let us in and suddenly became super helpful and courteous. Lounge access was only appealing because the layover was 4 hours, the lounge has AC, and was much less crowded than the main waiting area.

As we tried to reboard the flight to continue on to Auckland, Doug was able to pass through the gates. But once again, I wasn’t on their list. Obviously, we made it and it’s worth it to be in NZ! Not looking forward to a repeat of all this on the way home!Read more