Air Tahiti Nui handles long-haul international flights to and from French Polynesia, while Air Tahiti operates short inter-island routes once travelers are already in Tahiti.
After we checked out of our house rental, we went back to Tahiti’s Faa’a International Airport (PPT). Both airlines operate out of the same airport, but in different sections or concourses within the main terminal building.
We arrived at 9:12 a.m. for a 10:35 a.m. flight to Raiatea (RFP). There was no line to check in and the sweet agent made us sweat a little because they weighed carry-on luggage. Air Tahiti has a 5 kg (11 lbs) limit.
Heck, my Briggs & Riley carry-on roller bag pretty much weighs that without anything in it, let alone my laptop, portable power bank, emergency kit and other travel necessities and gadgets, so I had to move some things around. Same with Natalie.
There’s no sense getting to the airport super early because you can’t go through security until your flight is called. Our security timeslot was 9:55 a.m., and I watched passengers wait in a long line then get denied entry if their flight wasn’t called.
FYI: The security line is by McDonald’s, but there’s also at least one other restaurant to get food from, not including the vending machine that makes fresh on-demand pizzas.
Security was surprisingly strict. Belts and watches off, liquids and laptops out. Some shoes had to come off, but not ours.
What’s crazy is that my 6-year-old daughter’s backpack was flagged. It turns out she had a water pistol in there from summer camp two years ago. My wife said she decided to take the kids’ old backpacks instead of their school ones so they didn’t get dirty. Well, she forgot to go through all the pockets. Fortunately, it was just a toy, but it could have gotten us into some serious trouble. And why didn’t TSA catch it when we went through LAX’s security three days before?
The agent was friendly and so was everyone working at Air Tahiti. The airline flies Air Tahiti ATR 72-600 with a 2-2 configuration that seats up to 70 passengers.
There’s no assigned seating but they let their elite passengers sit in row one, which has more legroom. They board first, followed by families. That was great because by the time we got out of the security snafu, the line to board was long. The pilot saw our kids and stopped everyone from boarding to let us on.
He was amazing. As we always do when we board, we asked the flight attendant if the pilots could sign the kids’ flight logbook. Not only did he sign it, but he came back to our row to do it.
He then came out again mid-flight and said to Jack, “You want to be a pilot?” I said, “He’s not sure.” He encouraged him and then said, “You have to work and study hard,” then took the stripes and patches off his shirt, removed his Air Tahiti pin and handed them to Jack. I was speechless and so sorry I didn’t catch this very special gesture on video.
The colorfully-dressed flight attendants served a pack of cookies and tropical fruit juice. They also had items on board for sale.
According to FlightAware.com and my camera’s timestamps, we departed the parking stand on time at 10:35 a.m., took off at 10:43 a.m., and landed at 11:25 a.m.
It was raining when we landed, but it was just a short walk into the open-air terminal where we met our hotel representatives.
FYI: I just read this week that Air Tahiti plans to grow its fleet in late 2026 when they take delivery of an ATR 72-600 with an all-business class layout, featuring just 26 seats in a 1-1 configuration. Here’s more on it.KEEP READING
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