Greetings, All, and Happy New Year! <img border="0" alt="[beer]" title="" src="graemlins/beer.gif" />
Let me preface with the news that several chunks of our Mariner Christmas cruise review are nearly done and ready for posting!

Now on with our show:

Many of you are loyal Radisson users who also enjoy the benefits of the unaffiliated platinum American Express card. It is you to whom this question is directed.

Keith and I are booked for the PG on 13 Aug 2005. We will most likely enjoy a 2-day pre-cruise and 1-day post cruise adventure. Our problems are stemming from trying to arrange international air through AMEX so we can take advantage of the free companion ticket. Is it possible???? Our closest airport is Philly (PHL). Baltimore (BWI) is another option.

I've been researching the pros and cons of many airlines and am coming up against a brick wall. <img border="0" alt="[bang]" title="" src="graemlins/banghead.gif" /> Delta goes to Papeete, but is not an AMEX partner. Thus no companion ticket & the price of air equals the price of the entire cruise. NOT AN OPTION ;) We can get to LAX and fly the partner Air New Zealand, but their screens keep saying "no flights" no matter how often I change travel days.

Allowing Radisson to set up the air and then paying for the upgrade puts us in the same position as the Delta arrangement. :mad:

Keith and I have both experienced loooooong international flights in coach and truly want to avoid this for our trip to Tahiti, but unless we want to shell out the price of another cruise, I cannot figure out how to make this business class thing happen.

Which brings me to THE question: What have you done? I know many people have paid the $600 upgrade at the airport and enjoyed one leg of the journey only to find the offer unavailable on the other leg. I am uncomfortable with those uncertainties.

Again, I apologize for the length of the post, but I felt it necessary to let you know what I've "accomplished" to this point in my research to avoid duplicates in your advice.

I won't say "there's no way we'll fly economy," but if there's any way to avoid it without a major outlay of cash - I would like to know.

Thank you for your time - as always!
Cheers! <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" />
Ash

Ash:

We try to never fly coach, especially overseas. That said, we going to go coach to Tahiti. The Delta flight is actually Air France. I do not know if they are on the PTS list. The other way is to use NW miles on ATN. I think Peter said it was 110K miles. On Delta/Air France, they want 150K for business....not worth it.

We are splitting up the trip. One day in LA on the way out and two nights in LA on the return. Therefore, it is just one 8 hour flight each way in coach.

Just a thought. We used an outfit called Pacific for less -- www.forless@pacific-for-less.com for flights to Fiji and return Papeete. We dealt with a very helpful woman called Hanne. I know that Air New Zealand does not operate every day, and I do not know if they have deals with Air Pacific Nui. I believe Air New Zealand requires some amount of land booking in conjunction with their discounted airfare. Hanne was able to get us a very good biz class fare. I realize your flights are rountrip Papeete, but still might be worth a try!

I need to update my mileage information for Tahiti. Things are always changing. Here is what I have now. I KNOW the AA mileage awards are correct not sure about the others.

USING AIRLINE MILES FOR THE TAHITIAN CRUISE
These constantly change this is a guide

AMERICAN AIRLINES – Flights on Air Tahiti Nui – preferred carrier – best schedules
75,000 Miles for Coach from most US gateways
125,000 Miles for Business Class from most US gateways
140,000 First class not available for miles
You cannot purchase a ticket and upgrade to business.
DELTA AND CONTINENTAL AIRLINES – Flights on Air France – terrible schedule and business and first class VERY expensive in my opinion.
80,000 Miles for Coach from most US gateways
160,000 Miles for Business Class from most US gateways
200,000 Mile for First Class from most US gateways
You cannot purchase a ticket and upgrade to business.
UNITED MILES – Flights on Air New Zealand – terrible schedules.
60,000 Miles for Coach from most US gateways
90,000 Miles for Business Class from most US gateways
120,000 Mile for First Class from most US gateways
You cannot purchase a ticket and upgrade to business.

There is some information I thought you should be aware of regarding the use of frequent flyer awards in conjunction with a cruise on the Paul Gauguin. When the air is purchased from Radisson in conjunction with the cruise you receive extra benefits. When you use miles to pay for the air portion of the cruise you lose all of these extra benefits, that have a value in the range of $600 per couple. These items can be purchased separately from Radisson and added to your cruise.

· An overnight room and buffet breakfast at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton the night before departure. Free transfers from airport to the hotel by Hilton.
· On arrival in Papeete transfers from the airport to the ship.
· On disembarkation a 3 hour tour of the island of Tahiti
· A day room the day of departure at Le Meridien including a buffet lunch
· Transfer back to the airport for departure to Los Angeles.

If you decide to use your miles you might consider flying back from the cruise on Friday night. The ship docks in plenty of time for you to make the Friday night Air Tahiti Nui flight. The day in Papeete is not worth the cost involved in my opinion if it is not included in the package.

Some still luck out with the upgrade at the desk but with this becoming very well known I think there are more and more people trying to do that. A few years ago your odds were better.

We have booked the 4 day pre-cruise at Hotel Bora Bora. Bit the bullet and will get BC air from RSSC, from LAX. Will use miles to get our own first class air on Delta from Charleston to LAX. The RSSC BC fare seems to be a better deal than from Air Tahiti especially with the added benefits. By doing our own air from CHS to LAX, we will pay for the LAX overnights each way, but will reduce the Intl. air a little bit and assure us of domestic first class.

Marc is right about Northwest - you can use 110,000 Northwest Worldperks miles for Business Class on Air Tahiti Nui, which typically includes First Class on NWA from any US departure city to and from LAX for the connection. We had booked our flights last year just prior to the NWA/ATN relationship, so we used NWA miles to and from LAX (First Class) and paid cash for Business Class flights on ATN between LAX and PPT (about $1500 each). Next time we'll just use NWA miles...

As for the Amex Platinum benefit - check with Amex to see if NWA/ATN is an option either directly or else through one of the NWA partners (Delta, Air France, Continental, Hawaiian, etc.).

Cheers,
Ken

We took RSSC BC air and were offered to upgrade to First on ATN for $100 each. We were amongst the first in the BC line.

This is another advantage of RSSC air....you stand in different lines and get moved along faster.

I have yet to find the 2 for 1 AMEX platinum benefit worthwhile.

It will be interesting to see what perks are included or not included for us east coasters once Air Tahiti Nui starts up it's non stop service in July from New York. I wonder if a hotel stay will still be included as one of the added benefits.

HRPROF, You are going to be so happy about your stay at Hotel Bora Bora. We did three nights before our PG in January. Unbelievable is all I can say.

Additional note on the ATN award using Northwest air - they might put you on Delta and/or Continental depending on convenience and availability. We booked ATN award in Business using NW miles and from our city (Cincinnati) we were put on Delta in First Class. Business class was definitely 110,000 miles - and I think coach was 80,000 (not absolutely sure) - First Class is not available.

Yes, Northwest does codeshare with both Delta and Continental, so they often have many options and usually seem to try to do whatever makes the most sense (even if it means using a partner, but they always let you know at booking). Just over one year ago when we were already booked to Grand Cayman on Northwest using Northwest miles the route was temporarily suspended, and Northwest not only switched the freebie tickets over to Delta without any problem, but managed to keep us in First Class.

Cheers,
Ken

My miles are with USAirways, and unfortunately the rules are that you can't buy a ticket and upgrade on other StarAlliance members. However, last time we travelled and got cancelled on USAirways the United lady at the gate (as I was asking to get credit at least for the miles)told me if I had mentioned Silver preferred status with when rebooking, I could have at least been put in the Economy Plus section of the plane. My Joanna and I now call this the free mini-up grade and she just got it for a NYear's eve weekend trip to London for herself and her traveling companions. It really takes work to learn all the rules from these airlines.