Review of Air Tahiti Nui flight from Los Angeles to Paris in Business

Introduction

Hello and welcome to a new series of Flight-Reports. While I have an ever-growing backlog of reviews to write up, I'll be sharing these more recent flights first as it's an interesting departure from the usual oneworld airlines I normally review. 

This trip back to France was unplanned, especially as we'd only returned home to California from spending the Christmas holidays in France a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately, we needed to rush back at the last minute due to a family emergency.

As everyone knows, last minute long-haul airfare is always exorbitantly expensive, so I was very thankful to find 3 award tickets to Paris in premium cabins using American Airlines miles. We were able to book a round-trip on Air Tahiti Nui's nonstop LAX-CDG route, with the outbound in Business and the return in Premium Economy, for 97,500 miles, an exceptional value these days.

A roundtrip in Business would have been 115,000 had we been more flexible with dates–a very good deal for an 11h flight–but there was no availability on the return date we needed. I was glad to have gotten at least the outbound flight in Business as it was a night flight. Also, this was an opportunity to try two different cabin classes on a new airline I'd never previously flown. 

Routing

Check-in & Lounge

We arrived at the LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) a little over 2 hours prior to departure. Normally, I like to arrive closer to 3h before, but we had a long-drive up from San Diego on that morning and ran into the usual LA traffic. 

The Air Tahiti Nui counters are located in Check-in zone A, which is where we entered the terminal. 

The counters were easy to find and have a dedicated lane for Business and Premium Economy passengers. 

There was no one in the queue and check in was super quick as we only had cabin baggage for our short last-minute trip. I'd checked in online the previous day, but wanted to get paper boarding passes and lounge invitations.

As usual, the TBIT TSA Pre-check security lanes were completely empty.

We were through security in barely 30 seconds. 

Prior to heading to the lounge we made our usual pit stop at the playground behind the food court so my son could get some of that 6-year-old energy out before the long flight. 

In the meantime I went out on the patio to do a little planespotting. It was definitely Asian departure rush hour!

I like the look of Air Tahiti Nui's boarding passes. The lounge invitation is included on the Boarding pass. 

A little word of warning for American Airlines flyers who may consider buying Air Tahiti Nui tickets through AA.com in the future: If you buy a revenue Business class ticket through the AA codeshare (i.e. with an AA flight number), you will NOT have access to Air Tahiti's lounge in LAX. I was quite surprised when I learned this, but only passengers with TN prime flight numbers on their tickets/boarding passes can access the lounge. Air Tahiti Nui even state this on their website : "For American Airlines passengers, please contact American Airlines for more information on lounges."

I've read of many instances of Business class passengers with AA flight numbers being denied entry to the Air Tahiti contract lounge at LAX. Some seem to be able to access the Flagship lounge in T4, but it seems to be hit-or-miss as Air Tahiti Nui are not in the oneworld alliance, so technically this falls into a grey area where AA lounges are technically not obligated to allow entry to those flying Air Tahiti Nui. 

As for us, we had a TN prime flight number on our tickets, so this was not a concern, but I did want to share this bit of information. 

For the past few years Air Tahiti have used the Star Alliance lounge at LAX so we made our way upstairs from the central atrium. It was already obvious that the lounge was crowded before we even got to the entrance. 

There was a short line to get in but luckily no wait. Lounge agents were very friendly and welcoming, they advised to make sure to leave enough time to head to the gate as the Air Tahiti Nui gate was quite far in the satellite concourse. 

Having been a oneworld flyer for over a decade, and a SkyTeam flyer before that, it was kind of cool to be going in to a Star Alliance lounge as that's a rare occurrence for me.

The lounge was nicely decorated for Lunar New Year. 

First impressions of the lounge are positive. The decor is modern and warm with lots of different seating areas. The problem was that it was difficult finding 3 seats together anywhere. 

There's a quiet TV lounge towards the back…There were seats there, but not really an ideal place to be with a child, especially as we wanted to grab a bite to eat. 

Unfortunately, the outdoor patio was closed as it has rained earlier that morning. A shame as it looks like a neat space, and sitting outside at an airport is always a unique experience. 

We ended up finding a table near the buffet. Not the quietest part of the lounge, but it was fine for the hour or so that we'd be there. Plus, we hadn't yet had breakfast, so it was convenient to be closer to the food and at a proper table. 

While there were some wines and beer in the buffet area, there was no champagne so I headed to the bar. The bar tender was super friendly and chatted as he poured us some glasses. 

He'd added a little raspberry, which was a nice touch. 

There were a decent amount of fresh and hot options at the buffet, though nothing terribly exciting. Just the usual Western breakfast fare. 

I was actually surprised not to see any Asian options given the plentiful Lunar New Year decor and the fact that the vast majority of passengers in the lounge at that time were Asian. A little Dim Sum would have been so nice!

A check of the departures screen shows several transpacific departures leaving over the next hour. 

As a result, the lounge cleared out, but it wasn't worth moving as we'd be leaving to head to the gate soon. 

Restroom and showers are located towards the back of the lounge. 

As we were getting ready to head to the gate, I checked the LAX airport website to see how long it would take to get there. Many airlines have this wayfinding feature in their apps, but Air Tahiti Nui do not so it's nice that the LAX airport had this.

Wow, 14 minutes, I guess we'd better get going!

Off we go!

The signage in the terminal to get to the satellite concourse is very good. You can't miss it as it's huge!

From the main terminal's central concourse, the path takes you down an escalator.

…then through a loooong underground tunnel underneath the tarmac. 

And finally back up another set of escalators into the satellite concourse, and all the way to the end of the concourse.

Despite being several minutes past the scheduled boarding time, there was not yet any activity at the gate. 

Boarding

Finally about 10 minutes after the scheduled boarding time, agents called for pre-boarding. As the inbound flight from Papeete had arrived on time and there did not seem to be any obvious reason to begin boarding later, I can only assume that TN purposely put an earlier boarding time on the boarding passes to get people out to the gate in time since it's so far from the main terminal. 

General boarding began with Group 1, comprised of Business class and Air Tahiti Nui Gold status frequent flyers. 

We were among the first to board this beautiful 787-9. Too bad there weren't really any windows to see it from the terminal. 

Passengers first see a mural of dreamy Bora Bora upon first entering the aircraft. Cabin crew warmly greet passengers and verify boarding passes, showing the way to seats. 

The Business class cabin consists of 30 Collins Diamond full-flat seats laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration over 5 rows. 

As usual, we'd selected seats in the last row of Business. We were lucky that so many seats were still open, just a few days before departure. 

While the 2-2-2 layout is not the most modern, it's perfectly adapted to Air Tahiti Nui's mostly leisure customer base, who generally travel as couples or families. In our case, we're travelling as a family, so the lack of direct-aisle-access isn't an issue. 

The cabin design is very nice, with the light blues recalling the beautiful lagoons of French Polynesia. There's are also murals of island scenery throughout the aircraft and a Gauguin replica ornaments the rear wall in the Business cabin. 

Each Collins Diamond seat is 20-21 inches (51-53 cm) wide between armrests and converts to a 78 inch (198 cm) fully flat bed in sleep mode. 

At each seat were a large pillow with a beautiful Polynesian motif, a blanket, a bottle of water, noise-cancelling headphones, and an amenity kit. 

The seats are very comfortable and spacious with plenty of legroom, as is the norm for long-haul Business class. The Diamond seat model is notorious for having small foot-wells in the window seats. As a side sleeper of average height (5'10" / 1m78), it's not terribly bothersome to me, but be aware if you're tall. 

The noise-cancelling headphones have the TN logo on them and are of decent quality. 

The in-flight entertainment remote is located to the side where you'll also find a small storage space containing the literature pocket. 

Seat controls are located on the centre console between seats. 

There's a small storage space over the shoulder, which is also where the headphone jack is located. 

The amenity kit is a nice leather bag, rather on the larger side compared to most other airlines. Again, with a beautiful Polynesian design. 

Contents are generally standard with some nice little extras like mouthwash and lens wipes that aren't too common. 

Shortly after settling in, cabin crew pass through with welcome drinks—a choice of champagne, orange juice, or water. 

As boarding continued I checked out the IFE…uh oh, I hit a wrong button somewhere along the way and now everything was in Mandarin! 🤣

Ouf…figured it out! Thank goodness the language options themselves are in that language and not the language of the interface! I've studied a little bit of Japanese in the past so I could recognise the Japanese option at least, but definitely don't know any Chinese. 

So it looks like the interface language options are English, French, Japanese, and (Simplified?) Chinese

Ah, here we go, back in my native language. 

I will say that the screen's touch sensitivity isn't great despite the aircraft being relatively young (about 5 years old). Luckily there's also a touchscreen remote controller, which worked perfectly. It's also more practical since the IFE screen is quite far. 

As usual, whenever there's a remote with a screen like this, I like to have the moving map on the remote. 

Continuing to explore seat features, you'll find USB ports and coat hooks between the IFE screens. 

There are also combo 110v AC power & USB units between seats. 

All Air Tahiti Nui 787s are outfitted with Wi-Fi. 

There's a Wi-Fi user guide inside the literature pocket. 

Yikes! Those are some of the highest Wi-Fi prices I've ever seen on a plane. Shocking to see another airline actually more expensive than American Airlines!

There was also an in-flight magazine in the literature pocket; however, it was oddly four months old.

The Flight

Despite the late start to boarding, doors were closed on time and we pushed back from the gate right on schedule. 

The cabin ended up being mostly full despite the seat map showing about a 50% load during online check-in. From overhearing some conversations I learned that some passengers had been reprotected from a delayed flight on another airline and 3 passengers were airline staff, who were moved up to Business after boarding was completed. 

The safety video played as we pushed back and began to taxi. Air Tahiti Nui showcase the beautiful landscapes of French Polynesia.

The Wi-Fi became available right as the aircraft doors were closed. Business class passengers receive a voucher code in e-mail for free messaging, Otherwise, it's $8 for the messaging-only plan…which, again, is quite expensive for just messaging. 

Taxi time was rather long, so there was plenty of time to continue exploring the IFE, which featured food & beverage menus. After receiving paper menus later in the flight, I'll find that the menu on the screen was completely wrong—this was also the case on the return flight. So if this is consistently the case, I don't see the point of having this in the IFE system.

With the busy transpacific departure bank, we were in the conga line for departure for a while. 

Finally we were off, as usual from LAX taking off towards the Pacific Ocean before making a turn back inland. 

As we turned back inland, we could see Santa Monica and the Pacific Palisades. 

The area had been completely devastated in the huge Palisades fire, which had only been brought under control a few days before this flight. 

The Los Angeles urban area is so gigantic, it's hard to imagine this large area is only a small northwestern corner of the L.A. basin. 

Menus and wine lists were distributed by cabin crew shortly after takeoff. Having a separate wine list feels quite premium. 

As mentioned earlier, the menu turned out to be completely different from the one shown on the IFE. The options all looked good, however.

As a Frenchman living in the U.S. for a long time, I love to see a separate cheese course! Yes, my people…they understand that one should NOT have to choose between cheese or dessert as they should be separate courses. I hadn't flown long-haul on a French airline in years, so this made my French heart happy, haha…it's the little things.

Another positive point is the EXTENSIVE wine list with some very decent options!

While playing some games on the IFE, my son's screen froze. We advised the friendly flight attendant when he stopped by to take drink orders. He immediately went to reset the system. 

And voilà! Just a few minutes later, good as new! Very attentive and reactive cabin crew!

This is the first time I've taken an eastbound transatlantic flight that's left before noon–I think the earliest I'd even seen before was 3-4PM. It's quite odd as it's daytime for most of the flight with a very short night before arriving in Paris in the early morning hours. 

Shortly after takeoff, we were over the California desert as the in flight service began. 

The service started with hot towels. 

Next table linens were laid. I like the discrete and classy Air Tahiti Nui logo. 

The moving map's background on the information screen really made me want to plan a trip to Tahiti! Trips are already all planned out for this year, but maybe 2026!? We shall see!

When looking through the IFE content library for something to watch, I noticed that there is much less content than on the larger airlines I normally fly like AA, BA, IB, and AS. Nevertheless, there's something for everyone.

I ended up biting the bullet and going for the $38 200MB Wi-Fi plan…but boy did I regret it immediately!

I guess I'm not really used to thinking in terms of MB anymore since these kinds of plans haven't really existed in the past decade for the most part. 

It barely took more than scrolling through 1 Flight-Report to be completely out of data! 😲

Yep, definitely out of data, ugh. Definitely not a great use of $38, yikes!

Luckily, the champagne arrived to cheer me up!

A proper apéritif service with a nice salmon amuse-bouche. Definitely quite premium so far. 

Cabin crew were through the aisles regularly topping up drinks prior to serving the first course. 

The Child Meal first course was served first. It looked very well-presented with a lot of healthy but fun items. The chicken salad appetiser had a carrot smiley face on it, but my son ate it before I had a chance to take a photo. Very cute and love the effort put in to make the presentation fun for a kid!

The adult appetiser was also very well-presented. 

Duo of seared tuna with avocado cream and oriental humus,
braised leek, goat cheese, and caramelised hazelnuts

Delicious and visually beautiful. So far very impressed with the quality of the catering. 

The Child Meal's main course was also quite nice with chicken tenders and lots of vegetables. 

For the main dish, I went with the Thai prawn curry option, as it sounded nice. Also very well-presented.

Prawns cooked with Makrut lime, vegetable risotto mille-feuille,
served with a curry sauce

Again, delicious and a creative dish. It's nice to see something different from the usual poultry or beef options I see all the time. 

Lights were dimmed towards the end of dinner. 

I enjoyed the cheese and dessert courses with a nice Jurançon dessert wine. 

By the time the lunch service was over, we were over the Dakotas. I like these longer flights from the West Coast as they allow enough time to enjoyed a properly coursed out meal and still have plenty of time for sleep—at least on later departures. I admit it was a bit difficult trying to sleep afterwards as it was only early afternoon. 

So I put on a movie that I'd seen several times before in hopes of that putting me to sleep. The image quality is beautiful. 

The further north we flew, the darker the skies got. Great, that should help for sleep!

Here's a view of the seat in bed mode. It's quite spacious, especially as the armrest can fold down. It would have been nice to have a mattress pad; however, to make the bed a little softer and to cover the bumps where there are folds in the seat. 

Most passengers darkened the windows to get some sleep, while several kept the windows light as it was still early in the day. 

The products in the Business class lavatories are quite good and the flowers are a nice touch. 

Beautiful sunset colours on returning to the seats.

Try as I may, it was impossible to sleep. It was just too early in the day in the Pacific time zone. I may have gotten a half hour, maybe an hour closer to the end of the flight. At least I was comfortable in bed position so I was able to get some rest, even if it wasn't deep sleep due to the early departure time. 

Before I knew it, the mood lighting was turned up for the breakfast service. As usual, the Child Meal was served first. Wow…it had a lot on the plate! yoghurt, fruit, Oreos, Jam, 3 pancakes, sausages, a tomato, and an omelette! Needless to say, my son couldn't finish it all, but enjoyed everything. 

It's funny how CHMLs often have more food than regular adult meals.

For my breakfast, I went for the French toast option. When the flight attendant offered pastries, both my son and I asked for a "Chocolatine" to which he immediately reacted, "Oh you're from the southwest!" Yes, indeed we are (of both France and the US, haha). We then had a nice little chat and it turned out his wife was from the southwest of France as well. Absolutely lovely friendly cabin crew! 

Brioche French Toast with pineapple compote

Once again, delicious and a nice change from the usual omelette or fruit plate. 

Towards the end of the flight, a customer survey popped up on the IFE screen. I was happy to give some very positive feedback. 

Soon enough the cabin was readied for arrival. 

Getting close!

Arrival

We made good time and looked to be landing about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. 

The mood lighting cycled through different colours towards the end of the flight. I guess the green gives a nice Polynesian tropical vibe in sharp contrast to the cold winter rains outside. 

It was still pitch black out on landing around 6:40 AM. We passed by another overseas French airline on the way to our gate in terminal 2B.

We parked on the end of terminal 2B. As the taxi time was quite long, we ended up getting to the gate only a few minutes ahead of scheduled time. 

As the jetbridge was pulled up to door 2L, being in the last row of Business we were among the first to deplane. 

"Paris vous aime" If you love Paris…apparently it loves you back! 🤣

It had been years since we'd flown into CDG, and I always remembered it being slow and painful at immigration, but it was very quiet this morning! Business class passengers were invited to use the "Accès N° 1" Priority lane at immigration. There was no one in the queue so we were through in seconds with French passports. 

After collecting the rental car, we got a nice view of our beautiful "Tahitian Dreamliner" on leaving the airport.