Air Tahiti: The Popular Way to Explore French Polynesia

~ Chris Wada

Air Tahiti is one of a couple airlines that operate inter-island flights in French Polynesia. We can’t help but compare it to its rival Air Moana.

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Booking

Much like our flight on Air Moana on the way to Bora Bora, I had some travel credits to use up thanks to our Capital One Venture X credit cards. Both Jenn and I have one, so we each used our own credits to book these flights on their travel portal. The $300 travel credit is applied as an immediate discount (meaning you won’t earn any Capital One miles on that portion of the airfare).

This flight was going to be simple: a one-way routing between Bora Bora and Tahiti. If we were going to bounce around the islands a lot more, we would have considered purchasing a Multi-Islands Pass. However, since we only needed to visit one island, it didn’t make sense for this trip.

Before the travel credit applied, the flight total for our party of four was going to be $628.80. This rate matched what we found on Air Tahiti’s website directly. The travel credit dropped the total down to $328.80, a hair under the $334.40 that Air Moana charged on the flight out.

Is it cheaper booking Air Tahiti flights in French Polynesia?

As with Air Moana, I was curious if Air Tahiti would show the same dynamic: that inter-island flights purchased in French Polynesia would be cheaper than when they are purchased abroad.

Let’s take a look at an example. While I was there, I looked at the price of flights in the month of July 2025. Fairly uniformly, the cheapest flight available could be purchased for 15,901 XPF (~$155 US) for one adult from Tahiti to Bora Bora. I’d consider that to be quite affordable. Yes, it’s a short distance, but I’d much rather take a short flight than a long ferry.

I then set my VPN to the United States and logged onto their website. The same dates and flights would now magically say 25,201 XPF (~$245 US) for the same route for one adult. That’s a sizeable difference in the price!

If you’re observant, you’ll notice the website is different between the two screenshots. Sadly, when you try to directly access airtahiti.pf from the United States, the site will automatically redirect to airtahiti.com.

Unfortunately, I know of no credible VPN service that will allow you to set your destination to French Polynesia. If you want to take advantage of it, you could potentially wait until landing in French Polynesia to buy your plane tickets. But that might require some more flexibility on your part if your preferred time is sold out.

Please don’t waste your money on Premium class

While we’re talking about the booking process, I’d strongly encourage you not to book Premium class. The upcharge just doesn’t make sense with Air Tahiti. Sure, the fare category doubles your checked and hand baggage allotment from regular economy, but you don’t get much else.

  • 46 kg of checked baggage allowance
  • 10 kg of hand baggage allowance
  • Priority service (which lets you board first and get off the plane last)
  • A complimentary drink and snack
  • Ticket refunds

Unless you are unsure you’re going to take the flight, it’s just not worth it.

Arrival to Bora Bora (BOB) airport

We left the St. Regis Bora Bora and said goodbye to a butler (not our butler because she was too busy to wave us off, but I digress). While the ride to the hotel caused all sorts of hair problems, the return to the airport had pretty smooth winds.

Once inside, we encountered a very long line to check in at the Air Tahiti desk. We got in line, but thankfully, someone from the St. Regis desk noticed and said we could go into the Premium line to drop off our bags. Though it’s not explicitly listed on their signs, it’s the same thing as with Air Moana: those who check in online can use the Premium line. That sure makes it worth that money to pay for Premium, eh?

Once through the check-in procedures, we had time to check out the rest of the terminal. The thing that stood out the most to us was the complete lack of security. It’s been a long time since we’ve been on a flight and didn’t need to pass through a metal detector. I guess that speaks to how safe the island is.

Anyways, the terminal is quite small. There are only three stores where you can buy souvenirs or other goods, such as this pop up store below.

Kaimana Nui is perhaps the biggest store and has most things you could need.

If you get hungry, there is a very small restaurant here too.

In case you’re wondering, there is no free Wi-Fi at the airport.

Boarding

Soon enough, it was our time to board flight VT 400. The first thing we noticed was how crowded it was in comparison to our Air Moana flight over to Bora Bora. Air Tahiti is the more established carrier, so in that sense, I can see why so many purchase flights with them.

Just as Air Moana did, we were invited to the family boarding line, which was immediately after Premium.

Once they were ready for us to talk a walk on the runway, we marched on towards the plane that would take us to Tahiti.

It’s always a fun time boarding a prop plane.

Everyone gets to board via the rear of the plane. This is also where you’ll deplane after the flight ends.

Our inflight experience

I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the cabin for this Air Tahiti flight, but the interior is almost identical to our Air Moana flight with the color scheme and logos changed. There are no seat assignments, so we decided to take a spot near the middle of the cabin. Alex, my seat partner for this flight, wanted to show off the seat.

Across from us, Jenn and Char had plenty of smiles (too bad Char smiled at the floor). We had them sit on the starboard side of the plane so they could get a final view of Bora Bora and Mt. Otemanu from the air.

Also at each seat is a small tray table that folds down. It’s not like you’ll be eating a meal onboard the flight, so the size was good enough.

Food and beverages

There is an inflight menu, where you can check out the pricing of drinks, snacks, and merchandise. If you wish to order something, be sure to know what you want once you get to your cruising altitude.

Once at our cruising altitude, the flight attendant came by to deliver a cup of pineapple juice and some cookies. There was no choice of drink.

And that’s it. This is a short flight, and thus the service is also abbreviated. We didn’t see anyone order anything off the a la carte menu.

Wi-Fi and entertainment

On the back of each seat is some basic instructions on how to access the Wi-Fi system.

Sure enough, it was easy to connect to the internet. From what I could tell, there was no way to purchase full internet access. Instead, it was just a way of delivering some streaming entertainment to your phone or device.

There’s truly not many options to watch in the system. But with a flight so short, it’s hard to fault them on the selection. To make things easy, we’ll just sort through all the options and you can see for yourself.

Main page
Suits: only three episodes available
Magnum P.I.: only three episodes available
The Magicians: only three episodes available
Page 1 of games
Page 2 of games

Arrival to PPT airport

It was a very simple, uneventful flight to Papeete (PPT) airport. As we were taxiing to the gate, we passed by an Air Tahiti Nui plane. It seems like many people confuse Air Tahiti with Air Tahiti Nui. You can think of it as Air Tahiti Nui handles the long haul flights and Air Tahiti takes on the short haul flights. (Nui means large or big.) But the airlines don’t have anything in common other than their name.

Once into the terminal, we waited a moment for the luggage to appear and that was it. To be sure, there was no security we needed to clear upon arrival. You could bring all the water you wanted to bring (subject to hand baggage weight limits, which also weren’t checked for our backpacks).

Closing thoughts

We liked our Air Tahiti flight. Between Air Tahiti and Air Moana, we actually marginally liked Air Moana a little more. And by “marginally”, I truly mean the decision is at the margins. The flight and service is identical. There’s really just two areas where things seemed different:

  • Reliability, which favors Air Tahiti. Air Moana did change the routing a few times between when we booked and when we flew. On the other hand, the Air Tahiti flight only changed once.
  • Load factor, which favors Air Moana since there were so few passengers on the flight.

Assuming the plane takes off as intended, Air Moana is the winner. While reliability is important, there are some growing pains as the airline tries to establish itself. Hopefully it can continue to grow, but at the same time it seems tough to have two airlines operating inter-island flights. Still, we enjoyed both flights and wouldn’t have any qualms about taking either again.

Do you prefer Air Moana or Air Tahiti?

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