If you’ve made it to this page it’s probably because you’re having problems booking an award flight from Tahiti online. After calling multiple times and searching everywhere, I finally found a simple trick to get around the errors. This is how to Use Qantas points to fly Air Tahiti Nui from Tahiti to Los Angeles.
How we got here
With Tahiti in business class on our minds for our next year’s anniversary, I dove into research and planning. After two weeks of closely monitoring flights on PointsYeah and Qantas, we finally snagged one-way tickets from LAX to PPT (Papeete, French Polynesia.) Read more about it here.
With the outbound flight secured, it was a weeklong nerve-wracking wait for the return flights to LA to become available.
The Problem
If you’ve made this attempt, you were probably met with a screen like this:
Here’s a refined version:
One source suggests that Qantas’s system struggles to process currency from certain countries or destinations—like French Polynesia, which uses the French Pacific Franc. This could explain the issue. To book flights from these specific locations it’s recommended to call and make the reservation over the phone.
So I called—three times over three days, and still no luck. I could clearly see the flights on PointsYeah and in a round-trip search from LA using Qantas, but the agents insisted there was no availability that far out, even though it was right in front of me.
Finally, on the fourth call, the agent could see the flights. But after 20 minutes of trying, they told me their system couldn’t access the fare, meaning they couldn’t book the flight.
The Solution on How to use Qantas Points to fly Air Tahiti Nui from Tahiti to Los Angeles
I still don’t have an answer for why it doesn’t work, but I did find a solution: multi-city bookings. By using the multi-city search tool, I selected the option to book with cash, entered PPT to LAX, removed the second flight, and searched again. If you don’t book with cash, the system will tell you there are no classic awards from French Polynesia, which is likely the error that prevents it from searching directly in the first place.
Once you’re there, you can filter to ‘rewards,’ and bingo—your flight appears, ready to be booked. As you can see, it’s not a currency error since you can still pay the taxes and fees using the French Pacific Franc.
Conclusion
Some things just don’t make sense in the world of award travel, but now you’ve got the inside scoop on how to use Qantas points to fly from Tahiti to LAX. It may take a bit of creative maneuvering, but with this trick in your back pocket, you’re all set for your next adventure.