Trip report: Air Tahiti Nui CDG LAX CDG

THIS STORY IS A BIT DIFFERENT TO THE OTHER STORIES, AS THIS ONE IS INTENDED FOR AIRLINERS AND AIRLINE ENTHUSIASTS !!! THUS CONTAINING INFO ABOUT AIRCRAFT TYPE, SEATING, FOOD AND SERVICE AND FLIGHT DETAILS ETC. (MANY AIRPLANE AND AIRLINE ENTHUSIASTS IN THE GAY COMMUNITY I BELIEVE HA HA).

I decided to go to California this Xmas. Checked fares up to three weeks before departure date (23 dec. 2008) and noticed they jumped up and down a lot. The choices available (within my price range) for CDG to LAX were Delta (via Cincinnati or Atlanta or Salt Lake City), United/Swiss combo via Chicago on UA and Zurich on Swiss, or non stop with Air Tahiti Nui. Remembering missed connexions because of winter weather and wishing to try a new airline, I decided to go with Air Tahiti Nui and got the fare for 560 euros taxes included (the fares jumped to 760 and 860 for a while before returning back to 560 euros, which was when I grabbed it, but this fare was still available for some time after. Still wonder how one knows when to buy the tickets to get the best fare, if anyone can give me hints).
On this trip, I also had to get tickets from Orange County to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, before taking the flight back to Paris. Orange County (SNA) to SFO was too expensive and I chose instead a Southwest flight to Oakland (not too big a deal to get to SF). SFO to LAX I had two LCC choices, Virgin America or Southwest. Unfortunately, the price for Virgin for the hour that I wanted was higher than Southwest, so booked Southwest again. The Virgin fare, however, went down a couple of days later to half of that of Southwest! Bummer!
Took a day to prepare stuff, like finding a TSA approved lock for my backpack (very expensive in Paris), adapter for my phone, printing e tickets and hotel reservations, buying presents and organizing what to bring etc etc.

SO HERE GOES:

Called Air Tahiti Nui Paris to reserve a seat and was told by the nice lady at reservation that it was no longer possible as control has been transferred to airport and will be assigned there (yet their website said this could be done up to 24 or 48 hours before departure and I called 4 days before departure). Was told that I could, however, reserve my return seat. But when I asked for 45K was again told that the said seat was airport-controlled (why would this seat be airport controlled and not the others?), so was given another seat with the idea of changing it again when I check in at the airport.

23/12/2008
Flight TN 0021 Air Tahiti Nui
CDG (Terminal 2A) to LAX (TBIT)
STD: 11H45
STA: 14H35
Equipment: Airbus A340-300 “Moorea”

I was a bit worried on the days leading to departure as Air Tahiti Nui flights were either cancelled (on one of the days, though this might have been known way in advance, taking into account the holiday schedule) or delayed (until 6 am the following day from the 11H45 scheduled departure time! On Dec 22 there are two TN flights to LAX, flight 21 and 421, the latter indicating the delayed flight). So the day of departure, I was up and about early to check the flight status. Got to CDG about 3 and a half hours before departure and check in was already underway. Waited a bit and got the seat that I wanted which was 45K, the last row of the left hand side in a set of two.
The agent also told me that there are lots of pax but that the flight was not full. Indeed, in the end I got the two seats for myself and at least a dozen others have two or three seats to themselves.
The beautiful liveried A340 of Air Tahiti Nui at Gate 51 CDG 2:

We boarded at gate 51 of terminal 2A. Once we boarded though, we waited and waited for apparently two pax who had checked bags in and failed to appear at the boarding gate (I always wonder about these kinds of pax…what happened to them?). Their bags unloaded, we were on our way at 11H50 for the 11 hours 10 minutes scheduled flying time to LAX.
Inside the plane, it was very refreshing with the blue color seats and the flight crew who seem to dress in a manner less stiff than other companies. After talking to several people prior to the flight, I did have high expectation regarding the friendliness of the crew, but actually for this flight it was as you would expect from Asian airlines and no more (the flight back, however, very much conformed to my expectations re friendliness of the crew).

Interior of the A340 of Air Tahiti Nui :

We took off at 12H04 after a 50 seconds roll. The crew distributed amenity kits consisting of socks, eyemask, and earplugs (liked the earplugs that sort of hang on each ear individually) as well as menu.

Y seats on TN (Recaro) are extremely comfortable with, I think, a 33 inch pitch. The A340 in TN colors I thought was beautiful, the interior fresh and the crew fine (they changed clothes a couple of times and dress at some point in Tahiti traditional outfits). The IFE is a bit ancient as it is not AVOD so you have to wait for the cycle to begin again. I watched mostly the route map. The choices include games and movies.

IFE monitor indicating 10 years of Tahiti Nui (TN) Remote and earphones for the IFE on TN :
Meals were served 50 minutes after take off and there were no peanuts or pretzels and drinks given out prior. The meals, though nicely presented with the new dishes that TN uses, were rather small in proportion and the dessert was nothing exciting, just yogurt. I chose the chicken which tasted ok especially since it was just warm and not exactly hot. The portion of the meal became important when you think that the other hot meal that you will get is not until a couple hours before arrival in LAX.
First meal served, chicken in pesto sauce :

The new design dish of TN :

In between meals, TN has food available for pax in galleys. However, I wondered if all pax bothered to do that, and if it was not just better to do the run so that everyone could get a sandwich, a soup, chips etc. that were available at the galleys. Soft drinks, juices etc were also available here. And the nice part is that they also had ice cream available, though in small cups so you had to grab a couple or go back often.

Ice cream, simple and no brand, but good nonetheless:Drink runs through the cabin were made by crews at frequent interval, though (water only).
The second meal was served at 9:30 pm Paris time (I bet those who did not go to the galleys for snacks were starving). I had the pasta which was better than the first meal. Again the dessert was nothing to write home about (or a blog about ?).

Second meal:
At 7:30 pm Paris time we were over Canada heading down toward Edmonton at a speed of 559 mph and at an altitude of 38000 feet. Then over Nevada I saw on the route map the city of Winnemucca (sp. ?)….a city I recognized from Armistead Maupin’s novel.
We started our descent at 10:50 Paris time and landed 30 minutes later and docked at gate 105 (or 106) of TBIT at 11:40 pm Paris time (14h40 LA time). It was a sunny 12 degrees C in LA, nice and warm after that grey cold of Paris.

Overall, the flight was good. I loved the seat and the service was good though the food was not that great (could be bigger portion and nicer dessert). Their presentation of the food was nice though with the new dishes they use that look at the same time modern but traditional.
Immigration was fast and was out with my bag not 15 minutes after we landed.

USA:
In between, I took flight with Southwest from SNA to OAK and from SFO to LAX. Southwest was fine: Both flights departed pretty much on time, seats were comfortable (indeed, very surprised by the pitch they have on their 737 700s) and we were served soft drinks for free (and peanuts on the SFO to LAX flight). The open seating was a bit strange though very organized nonetheless as you get assigned to groups that board one by one and you sit wherever you like (so, if you were in the last group, you will find mostly middle seats).

RETURN flight:
Date 31/12/2008
Flight: Air Tahiti Nui TN22, LAX (TBIT) - CDG (Terminal 2A)
STD : 11h45
STA: 07h45
Equipment : A340-300 “Rangiroa”

Check in at TBIT was fast. The counters opened 3 hours before departure and there was not too many pax checking in at that time. Of course it was also the 31st of December which means that we would spend new year’s eve on the plane. I asked for 45K again but was told that the seat has been taken (TN 22 actually started in Papeete and continued on to Paris from LA).

I had been assigned 42K but switched to 46D an aisle seat in the last middle set of 3 seats. I ended up having the whole row to myself though. I walked out to see the planes docked at TBIT between check in and boarding and saw 2 QF planes (Wanula dreaming and regular QF liveried planes), two Korean Air planes (777 and 744), LanChile (767 I think) docked there. My flight was assigned gate 108 which is one of the off terminal boarding gates. We had to take a bus there, then through a walkway going up and up to reach the jet-way and board the plane.
As usual, my bag was tagged and I had to drop it off at the bags drop off point. Went through security to get to the boarding area and was selected for additional check using the machine that you have to enter and take different positions (arms raised in front of you or arms extended and down in front of you) and finally cleared from there. In the boarding area, the boarding time announced previously (10H45) passed and we waited and waited. Finally an announcement was made that due to processing time of transit pax, boarding and departure would be late (All transit pax from Tahiti to France via LAX had to clear immigration in the US!).
Gate 108 at LAX :Finally at 11H50 pre boarding was announced, followed by general boarding 5 minutes later. The bus ride to the the boarding area was great as we had to traverse the vast LAX and got to see lots of airplanes (NH 773 which was beautiful and long, Air China 744, a TN sister ship, MH 744 and more QFs).
The plane was decorated with happy New Year banner at the galley right by the door where we boarded as well as at the rear galley. Later on, the crew donned party hats and gave party streamers to all pax. We did a count down to New Year en route (New year according to Paris time, so a couple hours after we took off).

Decorated galley for the New Year's eve : The crew on this flight was a good outgoing group. They were very attentive, friendly and in the mood to celebrate New year’s eve even with strangers (pax!). I have taken to their blue uniform decorated with the stylized Tiare flower (Again they changed en route to tradition dresses for the lady crews and traditional designed shirt for the men).
Flight time to Paris was announced as 10 hours and 30 minutes.

Pushback was at 12:35 LA time. Safety demonstration was done manually. During the long taxi, I could glimpse from the left window (I was seated on an aisle seat in the middle set of seats) the Qantas A380 that I had wanted to see in real for so long taxing to a terminal. Looked great from what I could glimpse from my seat.

After the long taxi, we took off at 12:58 after a close to 60 seconds roll.
Soon after, the crew gave each of the pax a Tahiti flower (Tiare) followed by amenity kits and menu. Then party streamers were given out! As NY was approaching according to Paris time (female pax also received a bright colored necklace). Then it was a drink service with pretzels.

Traditional tahiti flower given out to each pax :

The crew donned a party hat and started serving lunch. By this time we were over Wyoming flying at a speed of 951 km/h.
Not long after, a PA announced the countdown to New Year and every one threw their party streamers in the cabin…..
We flew over South Dakota and entered Canada (over Manitoba, then Ontario) and on over Hudson Bay (907 km/h at an altitude of 11277 m).

First meal TN 22 :

Main dish of the first meal, chicken in bbq sauce and rice which was quite good !!
Between meals, as usual, the galleys have food for pax: packets of Oreos, chips, pretzel and all kind of soft drinks and juices.
At one time, the pilot also walked the whole cabin to talk and to wish happy new year to pax !
At about 4 hours before reaching Paris, we were near the southern tip of Greenland.
Breakfast was served 2 hours before landing. Unfortunately, there was a technical problem as announced by the crew which meant that we did not have hot drinks, and I was so looking forward to having coffee after attempting unsuccessfully to sleep. Yet, I sure had the ideal condition for sleeping since I had the whole row of 3 seats to myself! (Attention for potential pax, certain seats would have a large IFE box so that you cannot put your feet let alone your luggage under the seat in front of you: these are seats A, L and for the middle rows the most right seat). To entertain myself after deciding not to try to sleep, I watched Hancock on the ptv and read my book.

Dreams from my Father (Barck Obama), great book!:Paris had lots of low clouds as we prepared to land and we could not see the ground until very close to touch down which was a bit scary. But the pilot made a very smooth landing and we touched down at 8:35 Paris time. People actually applauded as soon as we landed and oh how so smoothly despite the terrible weather outside (fog and low temperature of 0 degree celcius).
TN 22 plane resting in CDG after the long flight from LAX :
Overall, Air Tahiti Nui was great and I would fly them again (have just joined their frequent flyer program)....nice crew, nice seats etc.