Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Air pass Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
vidaboa 04:35 UTC 19 Jul 2008 | Hi fellow travelers, I'm trying to organize a travel pass that starts in Auckland and ends in Sydney but with a whole heap of Pacific Islands thrown in the mix. Air New Zealand doesn't run their Coral Route fare anymore, and I'm having difficulty finding a decent pass that allows me to go between say 3 or 4 Pacific Islands. One World seems to have one, but it requires me to buy it in conjunction with a RTW fare or some other fare it seems. Does anyone know a pass that is going to get me around som eof these islands? Or am I looking at individual tickets? Thanks a mill in advance, Damon |
Laszlo 07:26 UTC 19 Jul 2008 | There is no really good value air pass in this region. Basically, your best bet is getting individual OW fares from whichever airline gives them cheapest. Start by looking at Pacific Blue (bookable online), and Air Pacific's Bula fares. Both offer OW fares that are better than those offered by the Visit South Pacific Pass. Note that Air Pacific is more flexible about date changes than Blue. | 1
ozziegiraffe 12:21 UTC 19 Jul 2008 | Most countries have different airlines, though some, like Pacific Blue, go to several countries. We might be able to help better if we knew which countries you were interested in visiting, as many people on this board know more about some countries than others. | 2
newfie43 23:29 UTC 19 Jul 2008 | We looked into air passes when planning our SP trip and ended up just doing individual bookings with the different airlines in the region. A lot of the routes have been eliminated making island hopping difficult. You can do a loop from Auckland- Fiji-Vanuatu-New Caledonia-Sydney on different airlines(check our Air Calin, Air Vanuatu). Star Alliance used to have a South Pacific Pass that let you fly on 9 different airlines, but I don't know if it is still an option. Good luck! | 3
Laszlo 23:50 UTC 19 Jul 2008 | Actually the most extensive island-hopping route doable without backtracking between NZ and AU would still be: NZ-Tonga-Samoa-Fiji-New Caledonia-Vanuatu-Solomons-PNG-AU. Which is actually a pretty nice route. | 4
ozziegiraffe 10:35 UTC 21 Jul 2008 | Another alternative would be the Air Pacific route, Sydney or Brisbane, Nadi, Port Vila Honiara and return. I understand you can stopover in Nadi in one direction and Vila in the other, but you would need to check conditions woth the airline. | 5
Laszlo 23:05 UTC 21 Jul 2008 | I don't think Air Pacific is allowed to carry passengers between Honiara and Vila only, even though their Nadi-Honiara flight stops in Vila to drop and pick up passengers who travel on the same flight with Solomon Airlines or Air Vanuatu tickets (it's a codeshare). Ironically, their OW fare from Honiara to Nadi was lower than any Honiara-Vila fare, so if not travelling with checked-in luggage, one could have just used an AP ticket and "escape" from the flight in Vila to save money! ;-) This was the situation 2 years ago, and I'd expect it to be the same today. | 6