Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# WHAT!! 15 minutes to change planes in Rangiroa...??? Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Tahiti & French Polynesia
bosboy73 00:53 UTC 15 Apr 2009 | Ok so I'm quite stumped over another question. I looked at the Air Tahiti schedule for any Friday in June from Bora Bora to Tikehau. It shows Flight 545/550 leaving Bora Bora at 1305h and arriving in Tikehau at 1450h EVERY FRIDAY. What I realized when I tried to do the math here is that the first flight 545 is Bora Bora - Rangiroa dep 1305h arr 1415h. The next flight is Rangiroa - Tikehau flight 550 dep 1430h arr Tike 1450h. So I HAVE 15 MINUTES TO CONNECT AND there is a change of aircraft? In my life, I have never made a connection in 15 minutes... Is this the norm every Friday in Rangiroa? I checked with my travel agent and he said he could not find the flights in the system as a connection because it was an illegal connection. But Air Tahiti still shows it on their PDF schedule on their website (bottom of Page 4). Can someone familiar with this please advise, as I need to tell my travel agent whether or not to book this flight in the next few days. Thanks!!! |
cruzando13 01:03 UTC 15 Apr 2009 | if no one here answers in time, http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/company/offices.asp is the link to email air tahiti. | 1
sneaker_fish 09:01 UTC 15 Apr 2009 | This info may help you It refers to this flight as being a built in connection and absolutely ok to book. Admittedly the page is aimed at travel agents so they are encouraging you to book with them :) I assumed from looking at the page that this is a flight which would either be the same plane, or, waits for the connecting flight. Similar to the flights in Fiji where they essentially do a few hops to get to places. | 2
bosboy73 01:09 UTC 16 Apr 2009 | Thanks sneaker_fish... actually their timetable clearly shows an asterix noted as an aircraft change. | 3
sneaker_fish 01:16 UTC 16 Apr 2009 | I would be inclined to think they are flights which connect with the previous/following flight then. Is there a returning flight from Rangiora back to Bora Bora? If there is it definitely makes me think its a connecting one. | 4
bosboy73 15:48 UTC 18 Apr 2009 | Air Tahiti confirmed that the connection is valid. _______________________________________________ From: reservation@airtahiti.pf Subject: Reservation - ura Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:12:06 -1000 Iaorana, Thank you for you remail.In response to your request we inform you that Flight Bora Bora - Tihekau with a stopover in Rangiroa is available and if the first flight is late the second one will be late too. We stay at your disposal for any aother information. Regards, Air Tahiti - Long Distance Sales Department Air Tahiti - Ventes à Distance Tel : (689) 86 42 42 Fax : (689) 86 40 99 Website : www.airtahiti.aero Email : reservation@airtahiti.pf | 5