Auckland Airport Overnighter – On The Cheap

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Tara

During our recent French Polynesian adventure, ramen noodles weren’t the only cost cutting measure we had to take. Sometimes transit times between Australia and the Pacific Islands can be terrible, even requiring an overnight stay. Lounges close around midnight and reopen for the first international flight of the morning, around 5am-ish. So no matter what class you are traveling in, you will be kicked out for a few hours in any case.

Depending on how long the layover is, you could go to a hotel in the airport vicinity and maybe have a morning of sightseeing. Be aware that not all airport hotels have free courtesy shuttles. My usual go-to brand, IHG charges $6 one way on top of the cash or points for the room so that’s $24 round trip+ for a couple. That may not sound like a fortune, but it’s a savings if you need to get the budget down a bit.

I did have a look through Trip Advisor and saw quite a few reports about people having pre-booked airport hotels and then the shuttle didn’t show up or they had to fork out for a taxi.

Fortunately the Auckland airport is safe and comfortable if you want to just stay airside overnight. If your flight arrives after 11pm, the transit security probably won’t be manned so you have to use a phone near the door to call them down to let you in. Don’t bring any duty-free or lags as they will take them away.

There are couches where you can stretch out on the lower shopping level and various options for food ranging from Burger King to various cafes and bars. They keep the lights on all night but I used a sarong wrapped around my head to block the light and my backpack as a pillow.

You can get 30 minutes of free internet per device. I tried deleting the cookies and using a different email, it didn’t work so it still manages to keep you limited unless you want to pay for more minutes. I had downloaded some movies and books so I had plenty to do while waiting. This isn’t the first time we did this, we usually get stuck overnight when traveling to Rarotonga or Papeete but this was the first time we didn’t have lounge access since I got heavily into the miles and points game. Air New Zealand used to be more generous with J class award seats.

It may not be the most comfortable night you will ever spend but overnighting in Auckland on the cheap is definitely survivable!

Getting Around French Polynesia – Domestic Flights

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Tara

Flights within French Polynesia are operated by Air Tahiti (not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui, the international carrier). Flights are all one-cabin but they won’t be full as they can’t sell all the seats due to weight restrictions landing on the smaller islands.

The two biggest problems are:

1. You can’t use miles to book these flights. Air Tahiti doesn’t have any partnerships with any other airline. You could use cash back type points such as Ultimate Rewards or Barclay’s Arrival points.

2. The flights are VERY expensive! Those of you who have been to Bora Bora ain’t seen nothing yet, but now you know why we had to resort to ramen noodles to at least make up a bit of the budget! They accept most major credit cards so at least you will get a decent amount of miles from the bank!

Air Tahiti Destinations

FLIGHT SCHEDULES

You can download a timetable for all Air Tahiti flights. They are updated twice a year, in March and September. As you can see above, most flights to the outer islands go via Papeete but within each island group there are connecting flights. You can’t go from one island group such as the Australes (where Rimatara is located) directly to another group such as the Marquesas (where Ua Huka is located).

ISLAND PASSES

In my case, I was targeting two specific bird species which are only found on two specific islands and I was limited by both time and money. Therefore all we could do was buy two round-trip tickets from Papeete to Ua Huka and Rimatara. For those who have more time and money, you can get island passes which give you several flights within an island group. There are strict rules associated with these passes, you can see more here.

If we had more time and money to spend, we definitely would have gone for a Marquesas Pass. Even just flying over the various islands, I could see they were stunningly beautiful, would put Bora Bora to shame!

Terms & Conditions for Passes

Pass fares are offered to adults (over 12 years old) and children (2 to 11 years). There are no Pass fares for infants.

As a general rule, all Passes start and finish in Tahiti or Moorea.

You do not have to visit all of the islands included in your chosen Pass, but at least two islands must be visited.

Each island may be visited only once (a single stopover per island); returning to Tahiti while using the Pass is not permitted.

All of your flights must be confirmed at the time of issuing your ticket.

The length of your trip may not exceed 28 days from the start date, including for Passes with one or more Extensions.

These fares may not be used in conjunction with other fares offered by Air Tahiti and are applicable for payment by cheque, credit/debit card or cash only.

Transits or stopovers in Tahiti while using the Pass

Transits or stopovers in Tahiti while using your Pass are not permitted, except:

for the Lagoons Pass, between Moorea and the islands of the Tuamotu Archipelago
for a Pass with Extension, between Pass and Extension

For these exceptions, a maximum transit of 24 hours in Tahiti is permitted.

Stopover (stop lasting more than 24hrs) on an island other than Tahiti

A single stopover is permitted per island.

A transit (stop lasting less than 24 hours) with a change of flight number is considered a stopover except for flights from Bora Bora via Rangiroa to Tikehau, Manihi or Fakarava. For these flights, when there is a flight number change with a stop of less than 2 hours in Rangiroa, such a stop may be considered a transit rather than a stopover.

Passes including more than one group of islands.

All of the islands from a given archipelago must be visited before moving on to the next archipelago (e.g. for the Bora Bora-Tuamotu Pass, all of the islands from the Society Islands archipelago must be visited before moving on to those of the Tuamotu Archipelago).

Within a given archipelago, the islands may be visited in any order, subject to feasibility with regard to Air Tahiti’s flight schedule.

Extensions

An Extension may not be purchased on its own; it must be combined with one of the Passes.

Extensions must be used before or after the Pass.

It is permitted to purchase both Extensions.

A 24-hour stop in Tahiti between Pass and Extension is permitted.

Getting To French Polynesia (Tahiti) With Miles

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Tara

The first thing you need to deal with is that flights into PPT, the international airport of Tahiti, French Polynesia are very limited. Coming from Australia, our only options were through Auckland. People coming from North America can connect through LAX and Honolulu and people coming from Europe could connect through Paris.

STAR ALLIANCE

Air New Zealand is the only Star Alliance airline serving Tahtiti. You can get an idea of availability on United’s site. I couldn’t find anything until Feb 2015 and economy class only.

For the last year, NZ has not been releasing any seats at all between Brisbane and Auckland so even if I could have snagged a couple of rare AKL-PPT seats I would have had to pay extra to get us to Auckland. I didn’t like that option! Air New Zealand used to be more generous with award seats, in 2011 I redeemed business class to Rarotonga but these awards are a thing of the past.

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

LAN is the only OneWorld member flying to Tahiti so unlikely to be of use to people reading this blog, especially since AA no longer offers RTW mileage awards.

SKYTEAM ALLIANCE

Air France is the only Skyteam member that serves Tahiti. From Paris, one way awards start at 40,000 miles economy and fuel surcharge varies.

From the USA, rock bottom ex-LAX seems to be 30,000 miles with 146 EUR fuel surcharge.

The real challenge is trying to get connecting flights on Delta to LAX to hook up with your AIr France flight to Tahiti. I tried a few random dates in late 2014 and mid 2015 using flexible dates and couldn’t find anything to use as a screenshot example.

AIR TAHITI NUI

Air Tahiti Nui serves Auckland and LAX and is a partner of both American AAdvantage and Delta’s Skymiles. For Americans, you will face the same problem trying to get low-level award space on Delta from your home airport to LAX and Delta charges a fuel surcharge. AAdvantage has better availability for domestic USA awards to LAX.

For Aussies, you will fly on Qantas from Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne to Auckland, then transfer to Air Tahiti Nui. Award space was pretty good as long as you avoid holidays. You can see Qantas award space easily using AA’s tool.

Sometimes Air Tahiti Nui availability can be searched using the Flightstats tool.

If the systems are hooking up, you can see the fare buckets still available. This is what it will look like using the more easily searched AKL-BNE route. Ecomony seats are W class, business seats are I class. More information and photos of the cabins can be found on Flyertalk. Business seats are not lie-flat and it’s only a 4.5 hour flight so in most cases economy will be sufficient.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

One last option is Hawaiian Airlines. If you are a member of their program, you can redeem online at these award levels.

Otherwise, Hawaiian Airlines partners with many other frequent flyer programs such as United Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways, Alaskan Airlines, ANA, Korean and Virgin Australia so you may be able to use their miles to construct an award Mainland USA – HNL-PPT.

SUMMARY

In summary, getting to Tahiti using miles is one of the most challenging awards you will ever book so you do need to plan well in advance and research your airlines and award levels. I found the easiest option for availability to be on American’s AAdvantage program but as usual, your miles may vary!

Rare Birds & Ramen Noodles – Birding Remote French Polynesia

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Tara

Last month, I snuck off to two of the most fascinating islands in French Polynesia for birders – Ua Huka and Rimatara. Although I was pretty much unplugged for this trip, I did have blog posts queued up for auto posting so no one probably even noticed I was away. But now it’s time to ‘fess up and introduce you to two amazing islands that most travel bloggers have never heard of, let alone traveled to!

Location of Ua Huka and Rimatara in relation to Papeete and Bora Bora

This map shows where we were in relation to the two French Polynesian islands most other bloggers have been posting about – Tahiti and Bora Bora.

This trip was a bucket list journey for me in which I got to see one of the world’s most beautiful birds – the Ultramarine Lorikeet for the first time………………….

Ultramarine Lorikeet

……………………and to see the beautiful Rimatara Lorikeet, previously seen in Atiu in their original homeland of Rimatara!

Rimatara Lorikeets

I have many more photos of these gorgeous birds, I haven’t really sorted through them all yet so as this journey progresses you will get to see a lot more………………and yes they will be clear shots!

This is one trip you can’t do totally with miles and points. I had originally planned to do it in Feb 2015 with AAdvantage miles redeemed on Qantas and Air Tahiti Nui but brought it forward to June 2014. All the recent devaluations have spooked me a bit and this is one trip that could be vulnerable to the new US/AA merger. Air Tahiti Nui is a partner of AAdvantage but not US Airways and even then they are only a half partner. You can redeem but not accrue miles on Air Tahiti Nui using AAdvantage and they are not in OneWorld or any other alliance. Theoretically, I should have been able to do this trip with Star Alliance partner United or even US Airways before they merged but it’s been over a year since Air New Zealand has released award space in ANY class – economy or business on the Brisbane-Auckland route and space between Auckland and other Aussie airports is extremely limited. I felt it was a situation of book now or possibly lose my chance to get the flights to Tahiti on miles period!

Once in Tahiti, we still had to get to the islands of Ua Huka and Rimatara. The only way to do this is on Air Tahiti (not the same as Air Tahiti Nui) and you can’t use miles, you MUST pay cash and these flights are not cheap! I’ll be going into detail in a later post but now you know why we ate ramen noodles for most lunches (and will be eating them a lot at home for the next couple months)!

Okavango Part 3

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Tara

Here’s part 3 of the series I shared yesterday, enjoy!

Amazing Okavango Adventure

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Tara

I thought I would share this stunning video from National Geographic of a research expedition in the Okavango Delta. You can read the full story on their website.

The mission of the Okavango Wilderness Project is to secure the Okavango Delta and its vast untouched catchment in perpetuity. The film Okavango is a rallying point for the global community of stakeholders, government officials, researchers, activists, tourism operators, community members, conservationists and guides that support the protection of the Angolan catchment. Readers can help build up to our 8-week expedition over 1,000 miles down the length of the Okavango River in 2015 by sharing this epic, once-in-a-lifetime research and conservation expedition down the full length of the Okavango River through an abandoned wilderness into the Delta. — Steve Boyes.

PART 1

PART 2

Future of Travels Part 2

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Tara

Following on from part 1, Skyscanner brings us this fascinating look at what airports and planes of the future might be like. No more 1st class, business class, economy, there will be sitting zones, sleeping zones and eating zones. That should make redemptions interesting!

The trip to the airport will be positively pleasurable as our traveler spends his time surfing the web or chatting to friends and family in a taxi equipped with virtual reality and cyber-connected technology.

He will eagerly anticipate his arrival at an airport that has been transformed from the transit holding station of today into a luxury Aeroville, with body-morphing seats, shoppable virtual walls, 3D cinemas, rooftop swimming pools and yoga centers set amid atrium forests.

Molecular scanners, digital bag tags, and facial and retinal recognition technology will have eliminated lines at security and check-in. Holographic staff members will guide our traveler seamlessly to his seat that molds to his body shape and comes with 3D multimedia and internet connection as standard.

Rottnest Island – Perfect Day Trip From Perth

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Tara

Rottnest Island makes a great day-trip for eco-tourists and just about anyone! It is easily accessible from Perth and Fremantle by ferry. Rottnest Express departs from Perth’s Barrack St Pier, calls in at Fremantle where you may have to change boats, then docks at Rottnest Island. It’s a very pleasant trip down the Swan River and most people sit up on deck to enjoy the views.

Ferry to Rottnest Island

If you have the flexibility, there are often Tuesday specials for this day trip from Fremantle.

For a day trip, if you can’t do Tuesday special it’s probably better to book a ferry package that includes whatever excursions you want on Rottnest. The Adventure Tour is great because it includes a trip around the island on a smaller tour boat that gets you very close to fur seal colonies and other wildlife.

Rates for 2 adults

Here’s a few pics of what you can expect – ospreys, fur seals, dolphins and more!

You will arrive back on land in time for lunch. Rottnest Island has several options such as Subway for those on a budget and a few nicer sit-down cafes.

We came here hoping to see Rock Parrots which are known to be present near the lighthouse (see photo above taken from the boat). It’s easily walkable from the restaurant area. While you are walking, keep an eye out for other wildlife such as quokkas, peacocks and other birds. Check out the bird list here.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see the Rock Parrots this time, they are pretty elusive and even the local Quokka Tour Guide didn’t know anything about them. Watch your time as you don’t want to miss your ferry back, it’s a long way to swim! Of course Rottnest does have some nice accommodation if you prefer a longer visit!

If you are looking for Rock Parrots, the yellow-highlighted area is the best place to look.

Convert Your Starpoints Into AAdvantage Or US Dividend Miles – Earn 20% Bonus Miles

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Tara

This is one of the best ways especially for Australian Amex MR card holders to get miles in American AAdvantage. Most Aussies can’t get the more lucrative AA & US credit cards so have to resort to the Amex MR transfers to SPG, then on to the US based program.

And now US Airways has jumped on the bandwagon so you have 2 choices.

In a nutshell:

20,000 Starpoints = 20,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles
Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles
AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles
Total = 30,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles

Since 2 Amex = 1 SPG, 40,000 Aussie Amex MR = 20,000 SPG = 30,000 AAdvantage/Dividend.

Remember that these two programs are set to merge in 2015 and devaluations are expected so don’t convert unless you plan to redeem before then. Otherwise it is best to keep you SPG miles in the flexible SPG program so you maintain a better choice of airlines

AAdvantage Full details and T&C’s

US Airways Full details and T&C’s

Hotel Review: Comfort Hotel, Perth City

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Tara

Comfort Hotel Perth City is situated in East Perth, and offers affordable, clean hotel and studio rooms. Just 15 minutes walk to Perth CBD or use the free public transport (CAT BUS) nearby. A good buffet breakfast and other meals are available at Bluerock Cafe, located on site.

While you could use Choice Rewards points to stay here, at 25,000 points a night I don’t think they represent a good value. You would do better to book on their website if they have a special running or use Pointshound or Rocketmiles to earn miles with your booking. I think that Choice Rewards points are best saved for Europe.

If you like Korean food, there is a Bulgogi Restaurant just a couple blocks away that offers meat you cook yourself at the table which was good fun. I thought it was hilarious that there is a buzzer to call the waiter at each table even though it’s a small restaurant and easy to get the waiter’s attention with a wave.

Also in the area are some interesting old buildings and mini-parks.

Miles To The Wild

Create unforgettable eco-tourism and birding adventures using miles & points!

Monthly Archives: July 2014