Carrier : Air Tahiti Nui
Flight n° : TN001
Route : LAX-PPT
Aircraft reg n° : F-OJTN
Aircraft type : Airbus A340-300
Aircraft's name : Bora Bora II
ETD : 1300
ETA : 1935
ATD : 1255
ATA : 1900





It's 11:00 sharp in LAX and I must leave the hotel to get to LAX international airport. My hotel is close by It's the Marriott LAX and a 10 minute drive is more then enough to get there. I am travelling with to other friends today to our homeland... Tahiti.
The last suitcases are packed and I mean packed... My friends were on a shopping spree when I joined them from Paris...
After checking that all is on the hotel trolley I shut the door of our room and we take the elevators down to the lobby. There we meet the inbound Air Tahiti Nui crew who flew on TN002 from Tahiti. They are picking up their room keys before hopping into the lift and up to their rooms for a well deserved nap.
After we've loaded all the bags the bus is taking us to LAX. We make a stop at Air Canada first as some other passengers are taking a flight back home to Canada. Then It's our turn to get dropped of in from of Tom Bradley's International terminal. We count the suitcases the 6 of them are here... there's no trouble at all, let's get trolleys because these things are huge and heavy... I wonder what they didn't buy because the rest of the Mall must certainly be in there !
Checking counters are rather empty... not many people queueing in froom of Air Tahiti Nui's counters... The ground staff is wearing ATN's very nice tahitian floral shirts for the gents and long floral pattern dresses for the ladies... The bags are going in the hold and we are assigned seats 21F and G for my two friends and 22 G for me and we have the 2 rows to ourselves as the flight is rather empty hence the fact that there is not that many people in the queue... Thanks for the seats and of to some more duty free shopping... I am getting nurvous because the queue is HUMONGOUS at security points !!! I mean it scares me each time I come to LAX... Yet we go through it with a breeze... no shoes to remove, no bags to open its a nice thing for once !
We get on time to gate 101 and boarding hasn't started as yet... I can see parts of our A340-300 parked in front of the terminal close to an asian carrier's 747-400 which one I don't remember... boarding it started a little later than scheduled but that's OK seeing that the flight is empty. Boarding is done by seat numbers with Club Poerava's customers invited to board at their convenience. When the boarding room seems to be empty my friends and I decide to board the plane... There we are greeted by two young and good looking cabin crew. they are wearing the very distinctive light turquoise green uniform for the girls with a mother of pearl name badge and a deep ocean blue uniform with an embroided tiare flower and mother of pearl name badge for the boys. They are wearing a full smile and invite us to get to our seats accross the galley and to the right...
The interior of the airplane is all red and is clashing a little with the exterior which is all blue and green... All seats are red with deeper red and orange stripes and are all equipped with an individual television with Air Tahiti Nui's welcome screen which is very beautiful... All in deep blue with the Tiare flower logo and waves which makes it very dynamic ! Boarding is nearly finished and the purser greets us first in tahitian then in french and finally in english. The door is closed and we are on our way to the take off runway. The safety demos are done manually, it's been a long time since I've last seen an international carrier do the demos manually. Then the crew is going through the aisles to offer a tiare flower, Tahiti and Air Tahiti nui's emblem... A first step getting us closer to home for some and nearer to their life time dream holidays.
The crew are called to their takeoff position and soon the aircraft is pushing itself up... of the ground our beautiful bird is climbing towards its natural element and towards its home island...
After take off the crew is handing out towellettes, ear phones and menus before they start the drink service. As it is the last day of the month, there are no video programs in the seat pockets, just the inflight magazine Reva Tahiti with Dino Dexter, Mister Tahiti, on the cover. Our purser is on the public address and is giving us the titles of the 6 movies we will be able to watch.
Drinks are offered from a half trolley and there are loads of things to choose from and liquours and wines are served from full size bottles. There is an impressive choice of soft drinks and particularly fruit juices with such things as guava, pineapple, grapefruit, orange etc... and believe me when I tell you that Tahiti' pineapple juice is THE best there is ! Yet I choose to have a Maitai drink before lunch and that also is excellent... the brand is Raanui and I make a note to myself that I must buy some while in Tahiti.
Lunch is served just after and the menu reads as follow...

Season Salad
Beef Bourguignon served with Italian mixed vegetables and Rice Pilaf
or
Grilled fillet of Salmon with tequila lime butter served with italian mixed vegetables and new potatoes
Cheese
Baked orange cheese cake

I chose to have the salmon which was nice but not warm enough. To drink I wanted some fresh grapefruit juice which was available. The tray was nice but small in portions compare to Air France on the route. The crew is aslways smiling and the guy who is attending to us is a nice chap, very funny and helpful, on his way back to the galley he offered everyone another drink and whishing everyone a bon appetit both in french and tahitian, tama’a maitai !
Soon after the dinner service and the coffee service the crew was in aisles again with the duty free articles, for once there is an airline which is selling a lot of Air Tahiti Nui memorabilia, such as airplane models, caps, pareos, watches etc... with the usual cigarettes, perfumes and alcoholic drinks.
The lights dimmed and all are enjoying a little rest or watching a movie. During the flight the crew is back in the cabin with some sorbet as a mid-flight snack which is a very nice touch and enjoyable. And I was even more lucky to have a frozen orange from business class as I was chatting with the crew in the business class galley !
Before arrival in Papeete the lights are back and the crew is handing out towellettes before the snack service.
The menu reads as follow :

Tuna salad on a lettuce bed
Garlic herb chicken cold plate with cheese and honey yogurt pasta
Candy
Choice of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit juice and beverage from our selection.

The snack is plentyful and nice eventhough the chicken is rather dry... oh well, not a problem !
The cabin is cleared rather fast and the aircraft is starting it’s descent to the magical island of Tahiti, the last few announcements are made and the crew is ready for landing.
Our A340-300 is overflying Tahiti, Papeete’s harbour and a short while after we are on the ground, a smooth landing for us...
The crew is bidding us farewell over the public address, and are thanking us for choosing Air Tahiti Nui. The aircraft is making its final turn into its parking stand and stops. The doors are open ! Hello and Welcome to Tahiti...
Ia Orana i Maeva i te fenua Tahiti !

Happy Flying,

AF Cabin Crew.

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Photo © Alain Mengus