French Polynesia — which includes the sought-after islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora — is known for its beautiful landscapes, excellent beaches and great resorts. However, finding reasonably-priced, open award availability is difficult, especially in premium cabins.
But if you act quickly, you can get to the bucket list destination of French Polynesia in style. Right now, there’s great award space availability on Air Tahiti business class, including nonstop flights from Los Angeles and Seattle. This award space was first reported by AwardWallet.
Let’s take a look at the open award space and how to book it with points and miles.
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The deal
Airlines: Air Tahiti Nui.
Routes: The best availability is from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Tahiti International Airport (PPT). You can connect from other airports if award space allows.
Cost: 60,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles or 80,000 American AAdvantage miles, plus minimal taxes and fees.
Dates: Best availability through March 2023.
Pay taxes/fees with: The Platinum Card® from American Express (5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with the airline; on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), Chase Sapphire Reserve® (3 points per dollar on travel) or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (2 points per dollar on travel) for travel protections on the award flight.
Related: The best ways to get to Tahiti using points and miles
Sample itinerary
The best availability is from Seattle. I found that many flights have up to four business class award seats.
There was also good availability from Los Angeles, although I could not find space for more than two people at a time.
There is also decent award space from San Francisco.
Of course, you can also connect to these flights for no additional miles if you book with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan or American Airlines AAdvantage. For example, you can book this itinerary from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Tahiti for the same 60,000 Alaska miles, and the DEN to PPT leg is in Alaska domestic first class.
How to book
The two best ways for booking these seats are through Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and American Airlines AAdvantage.
Alaska Mileage Plan charges 60,000 miles for Air Tahiti Nui one-way business class from the United States to Tahiti. Alaska also allows free stopovers on their one-way award tickets, so you could have Tahiti be your stopover if you wanted to visit Australia or elsewhere in the South Pacific.
The other option is to book through the American Airlines AAdvantage program. American AAdvantage charges 80,000 miles for Air Tahiti Nui one-way business class.
Related: Maximizing stopovers and open jaws on award tickets
Earning miles for this award ticket
Alaska miles are relatively difficult to earn as they aren’t transferrable from programs like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards.
One of the best ways to earn Alaska miles is through the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card. This card is currently offering an elevated welcome bonus of 70,000 Alaska miles after you spend $4,000 in the first 90 days of account opening.
Meanwhile, AAdvantage miles are considerably easier to earn due to the number of cobranded credit cards. There are four Citi American Airlines credit cards with varying sign-up bonuses and earning structures:
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®: Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $2,500 within the first three months of account opening ($99 annual fee, waived the first year).
- CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®: Earn 65,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first four months of account opening ($99 annual fee, waived for the first year).
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®: Earn 80,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $5,500 within the first three months of account opening ($450 annual fee).
- American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card: Earn 10,000 bonus miles and a $50 statement credit after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening (no annual fee).
You can also transfer Bilt Rewards points to AAdvantage at a 1:1 transfer ratio.
Related: The 6 best airline award chart sweet spots
Maximize your purchase
Don’t forget to use a credit card that earns additional points on airfare purchases to pay taxes and fees. This includes cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express (5x on flights booked directly with airlines or American Express Travel), Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express® Gold Card, Citi Premier® Card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2x on all travel purchases). Check out this guide for more on maximizing airfare purchases.
Bottom line
It is incredibly rare to see widespread business class award availability to Tahiti, so now might be the perfect time to lock in that once-in-a-lifetime destination trip. Remember, you’ll get the best deals with Alaska Mileage Plan or with American AAdvantage miles.
