Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Samoa from Tahiti?

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

I'm island hopping across the Pacific from Chile to Australia but there's a big problem getting from Tahiti to Samoa and it looks like the only way is via either Honolulu or Auckland. Both places are well off the route I want to take so I was wondering if anybody has managed to find a more direct route? Maybe there is a boat? Thanks

No boat.

Is there a flight from Fiji - Samoa? You could fly Tahiti - Cooks (Air Tahiti, not Air Tahiti Nui, or Air Rarotonga) then Cooks - Fiji (Air New Zealand, but check that they will be flying that route when you want to.)

You could also fly to Los Angeles from Tahiti and from there fly to both Samoa and Tonga before reaching New Zealand.

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I am not sure about Rarotonga to Fiji with Air New Zealand either because they are cancelling a lot of their routes in the Pacific. But there are two weekly flights from Fiji to Samoa with Air Pacific or Polynesian Airlines (in code sharing)..

Honolulu is not a reasonable option, as you only get to American Samoa from there directly and you would have to buy another ticket over to Independent Samoa (Apia). This route would be very costly.

I think regarding costs, not mainly distance or flight time, the best option would be to go via Auckland. Fares are quite low between Auckland and Samoa when you book early enough.

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I think the RAR/Fiji route is scheduled to end in late October. If it does, you'd have to go via AKL to get to Samoa.

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