Review: Air Tahiti Nui Business Class (787-9)

When we visited Le Meridian Maldives in early 2024, my significant other and I were discussing future trip plans and the idea of Bora Bora came up as a tropical destination that is a bit closer to home. Shortly after returning home from that vacation, I booked an outbound flight on Air Tahiti Nui business class from Los Angeles (LAX) and an inbound flight on Air France business class to LAX.

Getting to French Polynesia can be a bit of a pain as there are not many carriers that fly there, and thus, award space for two people can be hard to come by. As I am always eager to try out a new business class product, booking Air Tahiti Nui business class (also referred to as Poerava business class throughout their marketing materials) was an easy decision.

Let’s take a look at my Air Tahiti Nui business class review to see if it is an experience worth revisiting in the future.

Booking Air Tahiti Nui Business Class

This one-way itinerary was booked at a cost of 80,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles per person, plus $5.60 USD in taxes and fees. Booking with AAdvantage miles offers some of the lowest taxes and fees in the award travel space, plus AAdvantage bookings have no change or cancellation fees.

I earned my AAdvantage miles through the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard and the Citi / AAdvantage Business World Elite Mastercard. Citi credit cards are accessible to Canadians who have an ITIN and can be a logical next step after having American Express US credit cards for a period of time.

Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard

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Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard

The Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard earns AAdvantage miles and offers perks when flying American Airlines including a first checked bag free and priority boarding.

BONUS
75,000 AAdvantage

MINSPEND
$3,500

NET VALUE
$1,050+

ANNUAL FEE
$99 (FYF)

FOREX FEES
No

EXPIRY
–

While the best way to earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles is through the Citi co-branded credit cards for those who have access to US credit cards, Canadians can also transfer RBC Avion Rewards to AAdvantage Miles at a rate of 1:0.75. While this isn’t a great rate, it does present an opportunity for those who are earning Avion Rewards via the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card.

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card

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RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card

The RBC Avion Visa Infinite card earns 1.25 Avion Rewards points on all travel purchases. Avion Rewards points can be redeemed against travel purchases or transferred to popular frequent flyer programs.

In 2025, we awarded this card as the Best Flexible Points Travel Credit Card.

Check out our RBC Avion Visa Infinite card review for more details.

BONUS
55,000 Avion

MINSPEND
$0

NET VALUE
$925+

ANNUAL FEE
$120

FOREX FEES
Yes

EXPIRY
Jun 3, 2025

Alaska Miles earned in the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan can also be redeemed for flights on Air Tahiti Nui, at a cost of 60,000 Alaska Miles plus $18 USD in taxes and fees per person.

Ground Experience

The Air Tahiti Nui business class ground experience at LAX isn’t anything special, but it does have a few notable aspects.

First of all, Air Tahiti Nui does not participate in the TSA Precheck program, meaning your NEXUS membership is worthless. You will need to stand in the normal security lines, which weren’t terrible during our departure, but it is something worth being aware of.

On the more positive side, Air Tahiti Nui business class passengers do receive access to the Star Alliance Lounge in Tom Bradley International Terminal.

This lounge is nothing short of fantastic and was very comparable to recent American Express Centurion Lounges that I have visited, including the American Express Seattle Centurion lounge. While the lounge was busy, it was a huge space with a variety of seating.

While we were only here for a little while, we did enjoy a few drinks, the noodle bar, and a decent buffet. After hearing about the limited food choices on Air Tahiti Nui, I opted to fill up at the lounge which was definitely the right choice.

Cabin Arrangement

Air Tahiti Nui’s Poerava business class cabin offers an older 2-2-2 seating arrangement. This means that not all business class seats have direct aisle access, which could be a problem, but many passengers on our flight were flying as couples (as you would expect for a destination like French Polynesia and Bora Bora), so maybe it isn’t that big of a deal on this route.

More importantly, the bulkhead row has a much bigger footwell than all other rows. It is a significant difference and makes prioritizing selecting seats in row 1 even more important than direct aisle access. For what it’s worth, I booked our seats around 11 months in advance and had no issue selecting seats 1D & 1E.

I do believe that 1D & 1E are the best business class seats on this aircraft, so select these if you can. If not, I would prioritize any seats in row 1, followed by prioritizing seats in the middle.

Seat

As we boarded, the first thing that I noticed about the cabin was the gorgeous blue highlights throughout which felt very on-brand.

Each pair of business class seats has a small table in between them. The seats do feel quite open to the rest of the cabin and the aisle, as there is very little privacy to be had.

Directly in front of the seats are the entertainment consoles with a small shelf below them.

As mentioned, the seats in the bulkhead row have a way bigger footwell, and it makes a huge difference. There is storage space for a backpack or messenger back underneath the footwell.

Charging ports are available on the front of the center console with both normal and USB plugs.

The entertainment console remote is attached to the center console. The literature pocket is in a weird spot, directly beside the remote.

The entertainment console remote was good and similar to what I’ve seen on other airlines. It was responsive and much easier to use than tapping on the actual entertainment console screen.

The tray table folds out of the center console and can be used as a half or a full tray table. It was sturdy and would be sufficient if you wanted to use a laptop during the flight.

The seat controls are located in the center console, complete with buttons for lie-flat and take-off/landing configurations.

Once the seat is reclined a bit, there is a personal light and additional seat controls behind the headrest.

There is also a small storage space in the back-right of the seat. This was the best storage space the seat offered, as outside of this compartment, there really wasn’t anywhere else to place personal belongings.

Overall, the seat and its layout were ok, especially for a less-than-optimal 2-2-2 arrangement.

Bed

Upon boarding, a pillow and a comfortable blanket were already placed at our seats.

The seats do recline fully into a lie-flat mode which is great, but I found them to be very uncomfortable when trying to sleep.

Sleeping on my back felt impossible, as it put my right shoulder in an odd position (and I definitely do not have broad shoulders) because the seat is narrow. Sleeping on my side was a bit better, but it still wasn’t really comfortable. While there is nothing that can be done about the dimensions of the seat, a mattress pad could go a long way in improving the comfort and quality of sleep.

I did manage to get around five hours of sleep, but it was the worst sleep I have ever had on an airplane. The seats are simply far too narrow, and I can only imagine how much worse it would have been if I wasn’t in a bulkhead seat that has the additional footwell space. It was a pretty rough experience, especially considering it was a red-eye flight where the main and only goal was to get a good night’s sleep.

Amenity Kit

Amenity kits were placed at our seats before we boarded and included many of the typical amenities we’ve come to expect.

The amenity kit included earplugs, a toothbrush, mouthwash, an eye mask, socks, lip balm, a pen, a comb, and a few other creams. The most valuable amenity was the pen, as the flight attendants passed out physical forms to enter French Polynesia after we departed.

Bathroom

There are three bathrooms available for business class passengers: one at the front of the cabin, and two in between the business class and premium economy cabins. All of the bathrooms were typical and offered a few additional amenities. The flower was a nice touch.

Dining

Shortly after boarding, flight attendants offered a welcome beverage of champagne, juice, or water. We both selected champagne, which was served in branded Air Tahiti Nui glassware.

Food and wine menus were also distributed prior to departure.

The food menu is as follows:

The wine menu is as follows:

Since this flight had a 10:45 pm departure and I had adequately snacked in the Star Alliance lounge prior to the flight, I wasn’t too bothered by the small and limited menu with a lack of choices.

Around 30 minutes after departure, meal service began and the Asian salad with chicken, cheese plate, fresh bread, and passion fruit juniper tart were all distributed on one tray. It was fine, but again, I recommend eating before the flight in case the meal isn’t to your liking.

Roughly an hour and a half before landing, the cabin lights were turned on and breakfast was served. Business class passengers could choose between a garlic and cheese omelet or brioche french toast. Both myself and my partner selected the french toast.

Between the two meals, breakfast was the stronger offering. Overall, the food was okay. Not memorable or noteworthy, but it’s food on an airplane so my bar is set pretty low. I did appreciate how the service was prompt and on a tight schedule the entire flight, as it allowed me to maximize shut-eye on this red-eye flight.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

The Air Tahiti Nui business class cabin offers an entertainment console with a touchscreen and remote at every seat.

Business class passengers are provided with Air Tahiti Nui branded headsets. Since this was an overnight flight where the only goal was to get some sleep, I didn’t use the headset at all.

There was an adequate selection of movies and television shows, including some new releases.

As is tradition, I chose to keep the flight map on for the duration of the flight.

WiFi

Air Tahiti Nui does offer in-flight WiFi, with a small complimentary data allotment for business class passengers, with the option to purchase additional data.

A few days in advance of the flight, Poerava business class passengers will receive a complimentary internet voucher for 10Mb via email. While this isn’t as generous as what is offered to business class passengers on other airlines, free is free.

If 10Mb of data isn’t enough, passengers can pay for additional data allotment. The prices as of January 2025 are captured below, should you find yourself on an Air Tahiti Nui flight and want to get some work done.

Conclusion

There are only a handful of ways to get to French Polynesia, and while I am glad I got to experience Air Tahiti Nui business class, it felt like the experience was a miss. The seat in lie-flat mode was the biggest disappointment, and it left me with some pain for a few days afterward.

If I were to return to French Polynesia in the future, I would definitely prioritize booking round-trip flights on Air France business class, as both their older and newer business class products are miles ahead compared to what is offered on Air Tahiti Nui.