Traveling to Tahiti via Hawaii: The Convenience of Weekly Hawaiian Airlines Flights [Report Part 1]

▲Tahiti, a popular honeymoon destination in French Polynesia, is known for its beautiful seas and consists of 118 islands in Micronesia.

When traveling from Japan to Tahiti, which is known in Japan as the location of Faa’a International Airport, having faced a suspension of direct flights until October, travelers must navigate through connecting flights. Among the popular routes are connections via New Zealand (Auckland) or the United States (Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc.), but Hawaiian Airlines also operates a regular route from Honolulu to Tahiti, allowing access from Japan through connecting flights.

This article reports on the experience of taking a Hawaii-Tahiti connecting flight with Hawaiian Airlines, organized by the Tahiti Tourism Board and Hawaiian Airlines.

Access from Japan to Tahiti is Excellent Even with Only a Weekly Flight

▲Hawaiian Airlines offers a network that connects not just to Hawaii, but to various locations.

The route connecting Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu and Faa’a International Airport in Papeete operates a round trip once a week. The HA481 flight departs from Honolulu at 3:35 PM on Saturdays, arriving in Papeete at 9:30 PM. The return flight, HA482, departs from Papeete at 11:30 PM on Saturdays and arrives in Honolulu at 5:20 AM the following Sunday.

Despite the appearance of an inconvenient once-a-week operation, Honolulu transits are quite efficient for two reasons. Firstly, Hawaiian Airlines operates flights from Tokyo/Haneda, Tokyo/Narita, Osaka/Kansai, and Fukuoka to Honolulu—totaling five flights from four airports in Japan, making it convenient for travelers from varied locations.

▲Access to Honolulu is available from four airports in Japan.

These flights from Japan to Honolulu and then connecting to Papeete allow travelers to effectively use two weekends for their trip, making it a viable option even with only a weekly flight schedule. Additionally, it is possible to adjust the itinerary to include a stay in Hawaii, making for a luxurious travel plan.

For instance, Hawaiian Airlines’ mileage service, “HawaiianMiles,” has no expiration date, offering a good reason to enroll before using it for your Tahiti trip, where you can accumulate about 13,000 miles in one trip. HawaiianMiles can be used for inter-island flights in Hawaii starting from 7,500 miles one-way, and JAL’s domestic flights can be redeemed with 12,000 miles, making it an easy-to-use point system.