UA’s inaugural 3-weekly SFO-PPT flight departed this afternoon with a very healthy load (no doubt some press on board) operated by 787-8. Exciting news that the route will now be year-round - originally announced as seasonal.

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

Interesting route. I hope it does well.

LHUSA wrote:

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

Hawaiian Air still does

janders wrote:

LHUSA wrote:

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

Hawaiian Air still does

Lol, yes of course. Totally forgot

Bon chance, but terrible flight times.

The tourism partners here have tried to persuade them to offer a schedule that would avoid mandatory overnight for clients seeking transit to other islands. By the time flight arrives its too late to make island connections. Even the ferry to nearby Moorea is not possible.

For airlines, yes HA continues to serve PPT.
Formerly have had Continental, Pan Am, plus the many charter operations on companies like ATA, Hawaiian Air, World, and even UA 747 from LAX.

Out of curiosity, is United allowed to sell CDG-SFO-PPT? or is that 100% cabotage (with PPT being France), and thus prohibited by France?

The connection works out alright in both directions, although it's a 6 hour layover on the return;

UA984 CDG-SFO 0910-1245
UA115 SFO-PPT 1400-1940

UAL114 PPT-SFO 2240-0945+1
UAL990 SFO-CDG 1540-1015+1

'902

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

Dragonlionting wrote:

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

Time will tell, but United's announcement today that the flight will go year-round leads me to believe that bookings are strong. United is serving an entirely different market that FrenchBee. A 2pm departure from SFO picks up traffic from the entire continental US.

Dragonlionting wrote:

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

Sheesh, it isn't even 3 hrs into the inaugural flight and you're already spelling doom and gloom?
I can't imagine UA would have timed SFO-PPT to connect off of CDG-SFO if they weren't able to take transit passengers. Beyond that, UA can very easily tap into the rather wealthy population base in the Bay Area as well as the rest of their network for feed. I doubt they would make it year around the same day as the inaugural if they didn't like what they were seeing from future bookings.

Best of luck to them, hopefully the FP tourism industry can support all the added lift into PPT the last year or so to ensure visitors have a place to stay once getting off the plane.

77H

Fun fact, HP/US thought about doing PHX-PPT in the 2000s when they launched Hawaii.

Dragonlionting wrote:

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

On the other hand, United has a network of 200 cities in the US to feed the flight.

With this route going year-round, how will the 787-8 utilization (Europe routes) look next summer?

What is PPT?

adamblang wrote:

Dragonlionting wrote:

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

On the other hand, United has a network of 200 cities in the US to feed the flight.

This. AF also serves Paris-PPT (via LAX), so its not like residents of France have no options.

If UA is more expensive AND moved a season flight to year round, looking like they may have a winner here

AEROFAN wrote:

What is PPT?

Papeete Tahiti.

LHUSA wrote:

UA’s inaugural 3-weekly SFO-PPT flight departed this afternoon with a very healthy load (no doubt some press on board) operated by 787-8. Exciting news that the route will now be year-round - originally announced as seasonal.

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

It was ironically Continental


(Note the error in the link says Pan Am, but the article was corrected to say CO)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/20 ... 19e63e7010

LHUSA wrote:

UA’s inaugural 3-weekly SFO-PPT flight departed this afternoon with a very healthy load (no doubt some press on board) operated by 787-8. Exciting news that the route will now be year-round - originally announced as seasonal.

I'll be giving this flight a try the first week of January. Funny, when I booked the trip last week, I had no idea it was a brand new route for United that hadn't even started. I was able to get 3 seats in Economy Plus using MileagePlus miles. -ir

Does Tahiti count as it's own nation, or part of France?

Congrats to UA--it is a great route, and I hope it is a success!

Though how will this impact AF or TN? It must be driving down yields, since as of earlier this year they had a monopoly.

caliboy93 wrote:

Does Tahiti count as it's own nation, or part of France?

Tahiti or ''French Polynesia'' is part of France and not a nation in it's own right.

Without having to explain I suggest that you check out Wikipedia as that will give a more detailed account.

spinkid wrote:

AEROFAN wrote:

What is PPT?

4 of your answered this!!!

Could have been PowerPoint, right?

simpv wrote:

Congrats to UA--it is a great route, and I hope it is a success!

Though how will this impact AF or TN? It must be driving down yields, since as of earlier this year they had a monopoly.

Not much. TN takes a lot of US leisure traffic, AF takes a lot of connecting traffic to France, UA takes virtually all Americans who have UA MP accounts

For news for French Polynesia, hopefully places like Micronesia can be next when it comes to options.

caliboy93 wrote:

Does Tahiti count as it's own nation, or part of France?

Part of France... Much like BQN or SJU would be considered USA.

TWA902fly wrote:

Out of curiosity, is United allowed to sell CDG-SFO-PPT? or is that 100% cabotage (with PPT being France), and thus prohibited by France?

The connection works out alright in both directions, although it's a 6 hour layover on the return;

UA984 CDG-SFO 0910-1245
UA115 SFO-PPT 1400-1940

UAL114 PPT-SFO 2240-0945+1
UAL990 SFO-CDG 1540-1015+1

'902

A quick look suggests UA is not selling PPT-SFO-CDG. With PPT-CDG flyers they appear to be offering primarily PPT-SFO-FRA/MUC-CDG, with the last leg of course on LH.

I can't speak for everyone, but it seems as though many more people that I know have only heard of Tahiti and the surrounding islands in the more recent years, since ~2010 I would say. Of course, it always was a popular vacation destination, but with social media and advertising being more prevalent than ever before, exotic tropical destinations as such are being considered much more nowadays than previously. Personally I had never heard of Tahiti until I was in late middle/early high school. Now my 7 year old cousin already has it on her vacation destination radar lol

With that being said, I feel like (and hope) this route will perform better than previously expected.

Dragonlionting wrote:

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

I would be more concerned with the long-term existence of French Bee. I believe UA will do well.

Dragonlionting wrote:

I don’t think this route will do well. FrenchBee already has ultra low cost flights on the same route and with a connection to Orly, these flights are mostly full. But United is way more expensive and only picks up on American traffic.

I would be more concerned with the long-term existence of French Bee. I believe UA will do well.

a/c dxer wrote:

AEROFAN wrote:

What is PPT?

Papeete Tahiti.

Try this: https://www.world-airport-codes.com/

Deltabravo1123 wrote:

I can't speak for everyone, but it seems as though many more people that I know have only heard of Tahiti and the surrounding islands in the more recent years, since ~2010 I would say. Of course, it always was a popular vacation destination, but with social media and advertising being more prevalent than ever before, exotic tropical destinations as such are being considered much more nowadays than previously. Personally I had never heard of Tahiti until I was in late middle/early high school. Now my 7 year old cousin already has it on her vacation destination radar lol

What about Bora Bora ?

Pan Am lost a 707 taking off from Papeete on July 22, 1973. It was PA816 AKL-PPT-LAX-SFO. The plane reached an altitude of 300ft before banking to the left and crashing into the Pacific. The wreckage lays over 2,000ft so the CVR was never recovered. One passenger survived but had no memory of the crash. The crew of 10 and 68 passengers died. A rumor at Pan Am speculated the cockpit windshield failed.

tpaewr wrote:

It was ironically Continental

How's that possible, considering that a US carrier (HA) has served it since CO flew there/existed?

Aesma wrote:

Deltabravo1123 wrote:

I can't speak for everyone, but it seems as though many more people that I know have only heard of Tahiti and the surrounding islands in the more recent years, since ~2010 I would say. Of course, it always was a popular vacation destination, but with social media and advertising being more prevalent than ever before, exotic tropical destinations as such are being considered much more nowadays than previously. Personally I had never heard of Tahiti until I was in late middle/early high school. Now my 7 year old cousin already has it on her vacation destination radar lol

What about Bora Bora ?

Tahiti and the surrounding islands would include Bora Bora.

Great location for Polynesian history, Gauguin museum (island of Tahiti), very clear waters for diving, great white sand beaches. Main Islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Raitea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Flying Air Tahite DCH6 Twin Otters and Beechcraft King Airs offer fun flying and great sightseeing from the air. Interisland air service is frequent and fun

Fun flight MOZ to PPT via Air Tahiti King Air schedules for 15 minutes, we made it in less than 10

BNORD1 wrote:

Great location for Polynesian history, Gauguin museum (island of Tahiti), very clear waters for diving, great white sand beaches. Main Islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Raitea, Bora Bora and Huahine.

Tahiti is good for culture. In terms of scenery and beaches, Moorea is about as perfect as a tropical island can get. -ir

LHUSA wrote:

UA’s inaugural 3-weekly SFO-PPT flight departed this afternoon with a very healthy load (no doubt some press on board) operated by 787-8. Exciting news that the route will now be year-round - originally announced as seasonal.

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

Doesnt mean anything, route can get cut just as quick as it was added. UA is famous for that. Besides, this will be a great route for UA to take miles off of its books. I bet this will be a very popular route for folks to burn those unites miles on. So, just to clarify, its still just 3x week or did it also go daily year round?

jumbojet wrote:

LHUSA wrote:

UA’s inaugural 3-weekly SFO-PPT flight departed this afternoon with a very healthy load (no doubt some press on board) operated by 787-8. Exciting news that the route will now be year-round - originally announced as seasonal.

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

Doesnt mean anything, route can get cut just as quick as it was added. UA is famous for that. Besides, this will be a great route for UA to take miles off of its books. I bet this will be a very popular route for folks to burn those unites miles on. So, just to clarify, its still just 3x week or did it also go daily year round?

No airline flies routes to burn miles. Bad theory.

mercure1 wrote:

Bon chance, but terrible flight times.

The tourism partners here have tried to persuade them to offer a schedule that would avoid mandatory overnight for clients seeking transit to other islands. By the time flight arrives its too late to make island connections. Even the ferry to nearby Moorea is not possible.

Personally, I think the flight times are great. The times I've taken a PG cruise I always taken the Thursday afternoon TN flight out of LAX, arrive 10pm at PPT go to the hotel, enjoy PPT area on Friday and then hop on the ship on Saturday. Beats arriving at 5am on Saturday morning and waiting around until 3pm to board, or paying a fortune for day room.

caliboy93 wrote:

Does Tahiti count as it's own nation, or part of France?

It is a "French Overseas Territory," so a full part of France.

If (?) United cannot sell a CDG-PPT via SFO as it is considered a French domestic route, if both sectors had LH (or other EU airline) code, it probably could be sold through LH?

So is FrenchBee's CDG-PPT via SFO the only domestic route in the world with a layover in another country?

caliboy93 wrote:

So is FrenchBee's CDG-PPT via SFO the only domestic route in the world with a layover in another country?

Same situation with Air France and Air Tahiti Nui CDG-PPT flights via LAX.

mercure1 wrote:

Bon chance, but terrible flight times.

The tourism partners here have tried to persuade them to offer a schedule that would avoid mandatory overnight for clients seeking transit to other islands. By the time flight arrives its too late to make island connections. Even the ferry to nearby Moorea is not possible.

For airlines, yes HA continues to serve PPT.
Formerly have had Continental, Pan Am, plus the many charter operations on companies like ATA, Hawaiian Air, World, and even UA 747 from LAX.

Surely the folks over in the Network department know this. I'd assume that it was more important to time the flight for feed from United's US/Canada operation rather than onward connections on the islands which United wouldn't even sell.

Flighty wrote:

Fun fact, HP/US thought about doing PHX-PPT in the 2000s when they launched Hawaii.

Fun fact? Maybe if they actually flew the route or made a public announcement they were going to fly the route, but lots of airlines "think" about flying lots of routes. It hardly fits the criteria of being either fun or fact.
I'm not trying to be argumentative; maybe I just need another coffee. Or some more sleep.

jumbojet wrote:

LHUSA wrote:

UA’s inaugural 3-weekly SFO-PPT flight departed this afternoon with a very healthy load (no doubt some press on board) operated by 787-8. Exciting news that the route will now be year-round - originally announced as seasonal.

When was the last time a US airline served PPT? (If at all)

Doesnt mean anything, route can get cut just as quick as it was added. UA is famous for that. Besides, this will be a great route for UA to take miles off of its books. I bet this will be a very popular route for folks to burn those unites miles on. So, just to clarify, its still just 3x week or did it also go daily year round?

United hasn’t been known as a dartboard airline. If you believe that can you share some examples?