Air Tahiti Nui has just announced that they’ll be eliminating first class and instead installing new business class seats on all five of their longhaul Airbus A340 aircraft.
They plan to stop selling first class for travel as of April 1, with the first plane being reconfigured by mid-April, and three of the five planes being reconfigured by early June, which should initially operate on the Los Angeles and Paris routes.
Despite the fact that it’s 2013 they’ll be installing angled flat seats, which is pretty disappointing. Then again they’re in the unique position of having very little competition, so I can’t really blame them.
The real good news in this announcement is actually that the elimination of first class and new seats will result in an extra eight business class seats, meaning there will now be 32 business class seats. Hopefully this results into a bit more business class award space. I don’t think this is a market where demand varies greatly based on the quality of product, given that Air Tahiti Nui only really competes with Air France on the Los Angeles to Tahiti route, and Air France really can’t compete on frequency.
Interestingly they won’t be offering any in-flight entertainment to passengers booked on one-way flights:
The highlight of the new cabin is the new Inflight Entertainment System featuring an “on demand” access to a selection of 25 movies and 24 television programs, as well as magazines, games and music on every roundtrip journey.
😉
(Tip of the hat to Gary)
we flew back from ppt to lax and coach was surprisingly good. I would not pay the extra miles or $$ for business. Biz is just not that much better and can't even go flat.
Air Tahitit Nui, even better than an LOT 767. :D Not to mention, even though one way ticktes cost 75% of R/T tickets, the IFE is not included. Pay more, get less, that's ATN !
You try buying a one way to PPT without an onward connection without "Carte du Residence". You can always go with LAN the long way and see Easter Island on the way?
Just smiles all around for me business air tahiti late summer . Wooohoooo
@ jason -- It's 125,000 American miles roundtrip. It's almost impossible to find three seats, though. Most flights have one, or at most two. Maybe it'll change in the future. Who knows.
How many AA miles for Business LAX-PPT?
Is it easy to find 3 business seat?
Well, any upgrade is a welcome one, I guess. And there can't be many companies paying for LAX-PPT flights, so when you're talking about leisure travelers (and mostly honeymoooners who want to "make it special"), I guess we can't expect much.
oh those in front were first class ? damn I thought it was my grand ma recliners ... seriously, upgrading that business class can't hurt. I am wondering when my company will next have me on one of those lax cdg again ... in the mean time no entertainment as I rarely flight round trip .... I guess I will load up the MBP.
I was really impressed with Air Tahiti Nui's coach (moana class) product when we flew with them last year, and we were very comfortable there on the 8 hour ride from LAX to PPT. The business class at the time looked like domestic first on United. This is definitely an upgrade! Overall, very nice airline though.