A Surprisingly Easy Journey From Los Angeles to Paris: Here’s What My Flight and Arrival Experience Was Like

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Bonjour from Paris! We just landed after a smooth 10-hour Air Tahiti Nui (TN) flight from LAX. We arrived at the ticket counter at 11:43am for a 1:30pm flight. There was no one at check-in, so showing up late has its benefits. FYI: Just be sure to show up at least one hour before departure because that’s when TN cuts off check-in.

The agent, Morgan, was super cool as he weighed all of our checked and carry-on baggage. He had nothing but praise for Air Tahiti Nui since he said they are one of the few airlines that give their third-party contractors two free tickets a year.

FYI: I paid 30,000 American Airlines miles and $5.60 per person for our tickets. I just looked now and was shocked to see that you can fly this week or next from LAX to anywhere in Europe for 30,000 AA miles as long as you’re okay with a connection. The nonstops seem to be pricier.

There was just a short line for TSA PreCheck and when I heard the person in front of me say he was enrolled in TSA Touchless ID, I said I was too … except it didn’t work for me. It took me a second to realize that’s because it’s only available for certain U.S. airlines (here’s more on Touchless ID). Duh.

I’m one of the few people who loves LAX and especially TBIT, the international terminal. However, I do not love, or even like, the satellite gates since it’s a crazy long, sterile walk.

We went out of gate 221 just like we did in November when we flew Air Tahiti Nui to Papeete (here’s my LAX-PPT review). BTW: It was the same plane (Bora Bora, tail number F-OVAA) that we flew in the fall (thanks to the Flighty app for pointing that out.)

Since I had the best seat in coach, 18A, a bulkhead, I asked if we could board early because Olivia is still small and I needed to get my bags up above me. I didn’t want to risk someone stealing something out of my carry-on, which happens on all airlines, especially long-haul flights when everyone is sleeping. That’s why I like to have my bag across the aisle from me so I can see what people are doing. You can’t if it’s above you. They obliged.

TN uses e-gates so passengers just scan their boarding pass and look at the camera. We gave the crew chocolates and they invited the kids up to the cockpit upon landing, but we kindly declined since we needed to make a beeline to immigration for EES. Here’s more information on the new European Entry and Exit System.

Seats in coach on Air Tahiti Nui’s 787 are configured 3x3x3. As I said, I was in 18A, a bulkhead window. My wife and kids were across the aisle in 19DEF. I couldn’t help but notice there was a passenger of size in the seat behind her with a lap child. A passenger of size in coach seats is one thing but with a lap child for a long-haul flight is crazy.

FYI: Bulkhead and exit row seats cost $80 on this route. To assign a seat in advance for the others is $30. Full disclosure, although I paid for my tickets, TN did let me slide on the seat fee.

After takeoff, I noticed my not-friendly seatmate take all of her belongings that she’d carefully unpacked when she sat down, and bolt. After twenty minutes, I came to the conclusion that she wasn’t coming back (and she didn’t). So I scored not only the best coach seat but had one of the few empty middle seats beside me, too. It made the seat even better.

But in good conscience, I couldn’t allow the lady and the lap child to be miserable, so I asked if she wanted to switch. She was reluctant at first, which was surprising, and truthfully, I would have been happy if she’d said no, but she came to her senses. The person in the middle also felt like she’d won the lottery and she later said, “What you did makes me want to cry.” I jokingly quipped back, “It made me want to cry too.” But no doubt, it was the right thing to do.

I pre-ordered kids’ meals since they come out at least 30 minutes before the regular meal. When I noticed my daughter didn’t want to eat her chicken fingers, I asked my wife to pass over her tray. On it was a side of tuna fish (not the best thing to serve on a plane, though it wasn’t smelly). I do not like tuna, so I asked my new seatmate if she wanted it and she gave me an emphatic yes.

She then told me that growing up (she was probably in her early fifties), her parents used to take her all over the world and she flew so much she hated airplane food, so they made her tuna fish sandwiches. The tuna on the kids’ tray brought her back in time (her parents, sadly, like mine, have passed). It was meant to be since they didn’t serve tuna alongside the adult meals, which were gnocchi and chicken tagine.

Because the flight left mid-day and we had crying babies all around us, I didn’t sleep a wink. I also couldn’t work since there are no power outlets in economy, just a USB port, and it’s just too tight to work on a laptop when everyone has their seat reclined. Good thing my wife and I both brought our TESSAN portable chargers so we had plenty of juice to take photos.

When we landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), we cruised to the immigration hall in Terminal 2B. It was empty. It helped that we were near the front of the plane, we didn’t stop to use the bathroom (we made sure the kids did just before we landed; they didn’t turn the seatbelt sign on until 9 minutes prior to touchdown), and there was just a short line.

When I double-checked which line was for U.S. passports (vs all passports), an agent asked if my wife and kids, who were 10 feet behind me, were with me. I said yes. She said, “Then you go to this line,” which had no one in it. It really does pay to travel with little kids 😉

The EES machines were down, so the officer just did everything manually. Since he didn’t take our photos or fingerprints, I asked, “Will this cause any issues when I leave France in a few days, or will I need to register next time?” He said it should be fine. Not sure if there was a bit of a language barrier, but I guess I’ll find out next time and let you know.

Our bags took about 15 minutes to come out and our driver that we had arranged via Daytrip was waiting for us. So we were out of the airport much earlier than I thought. I’m so happy Daytrip hooked us up to experience their new hourly driver service.

What makes Daytrip unique is that they don’t just take you from Point A to Point B like most car services. Instead, they will stop where you want them to, which was perfect for this trip as our apartment rental wasn’t going to be ready until 4pm and the place to store the bags was a mile away. I could have used a service like Bounce, but it’s way better having a professional driver keeping your bags nearby and safe.

So our driver, who messaged me using WhatsApp the day before to confirm where he would meet us, was in direct communication with us the whole time. Whenever we got out, I simply messaged him when we were done and he would pick us up at the same spot he’d dropped us off at. It was really incredible. If you’d like to give Daytrip a try, they’re offering my readers 10% off through June 15 with promo code NG343Y.

FYI: I have T-Mobile and I also combine it with an inexpensive Ubigi eSIM to make sure I always have service.

Since we’d landed on a Sunday morning, our first stop was Mass at Notre Dame. There was a huge line but once they opened up the doors, it moved quickly. It was a beautiful Mass, but unfortunately, I didn’t understand much since it was (obviously) entirely in French. But the choir needed no interpretation; Natalie caught a bit of the soul-stirring music on video, which you can hear below:

 

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After Mass, we went to a local boulangerie to grab sandwiches and eat them in Luxembourg Garden. There are relatively clean toilets there but they do charge 1 Euro per person and you can use Apple Pay. Same with the offering at church.

I will share more tips from our travels this week so stay tuned!