Flights to Tahiti
from the US.

01 · The short answer

Los Angeles for choice,
San Francisco for United.

Los Angeles has the most flights. Air Tahiti Nui says it offers 7 to 11 flights a week via Los Angeles with its partners, depending on the season⁶, and Air France flies Paris–Los Angeles–Papeete six or seven times a week in its 2026 northern-summer filings². Two airlines on one route gives you a fallback when a flight is cancelled.

San Francisco suits United loyalists and anyone flying in on United from the rest of the country. United flew daily from 29 June to 23 October 2026 and has four a week filed for the 2026–27 northern winter³. French bee adds three a week, five in the July–August peak⁴.

Honolulu is the twice-weekly option on Hawaiian Airlines, and the obvious one if you are combining Hawaii and Tahiti in one trip⁵⁸.

From anywhere else in the US, the trip is a domestic flight to one of those three airports, then the nonstop. Plan the connection on one ticket where you can.

04 · Choosing

LAX or SFO,
morning or night.

Look at the arrival hour before the fare. United's afternoon departure from San Francisco lands in the evening, between 18:40 and 20:00 in the winter timetable³ — late enough that you sleep near the airport, early enough to eat first. Air France's after-midnight departure from Los Angeles lands at 05:30 and French bee's lands at 04:40²⁴: you arrive before most hotels will give you a room, but in time for a morning flight or ferry onward. Hawaiian lands at about 21:30⁵.

If you are flying on to another island on the day you land, the dawn arrivals are the ones that work. Air Tahiti needs 90 minutes between your international arrival and its departure¹²; with a 05:30 landing that leaves the whole day's domestic schedule open. With an evening arrival, plan the first night on Tahiti.

Frequency matters when things go wrong. A route served twice a week strands you for days if a flight is cancelled; Los Angeles, with two airlines, and San Francisco in the northern summer, with United daily, give the most room to recover⁶²³.

06 · What changed

Seattle, Delta
and the old guides.

Seattle. Air Tahiti Nui flew Seattle–Papeete nonstop twice a week until it suspended the route on 31 January 2026; booked passengers were offered a routing via Los Angeles or a refund, and the airline has announced no return⁶. Tahiti Tourisme's own pages still list Seattle among Faa'a's routes and a 10-hour Seattle nonstop¹³⁹. From the Pacific Northwest, connect in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Delta. Delta flew Los Angeles–Papeete seasonally on a Boeing 767-300; the last flight was on 7 June 2025⁷.

More seats elsewhere. United's San Francisco flight went from five to seven a week for the 2026 northern summer, and Hawaiian from one flight a week to two³⁵. French bee's peak went from three to five a week⁴.

Any itinerary, blog post or fare alert that shows a Seattle nonstop or a Delta flight to Papeete was written before these changes.

07 · Hawaii and Tahiti

Two island groups,
one trip.

Hawaiian Airlines' Honolulu flight is the only practical way to combine the two without flying back to the mainland⁵. It runs twice a week, leaving Honolulu on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the afternoon and arriving the same evening, 5 h 45 later⁵⁸. The return leaves Papeete just before midnight and lands in Honolulu at 05:25⁵.

With two departures a week, the flight fixes your dates more than any hotel does. Book it first, then build the Tahiti part around it, and keep a day in hand on Tahiti before the return: a cancellation means a wait of several days for the next flight.

08 · Fares and seasons

When it costs
the most.

Tahiti Tourisme's own advice is that fares are highest in July and August, the northern summer holidays¹³. That is also when United and French bee add flights³⁴, so more seats do not mean cheaper ones.

The lowest fare we saw advertised on 19 October 2026 was Air Tahiti Nui's Los Angeles round trip from about 98,600 XPF (US$967) including taxes, in economy¹. Treat any such headline as the floor of a range that rises with dates, cabin and baggage; we did not find a published fare table for the other airlines.

Add the domestic flights before comparing package prices: an Air Tahiti round trip from Tahiti to Bora Bora started at 40,246 XPF (≈ US$395) including taxes on the same day¹⁴. The Air Tahiti passes are usually the cheaper way to see more than one island.

10 · Onward

From Faa'a
to the islands.

Every US flight lands at Faa'a, and every domestic flight to Bora Bora, Moorea or the atolls leaves from the same airport with Air Tahiti or Air Moana¹³. Air Tahiti's minimum connections are 90 minutes from an international arrival and 120 minutes before an international departure¹².

Booked separately, those connections are your risk: Air Tahiti reduces or cancels compensation for a missed flight if the booking ignored its minimum times¹². Air Tahiti Nui's codeshare with Air Tahiti lets you put Los Angeles–Papeete–Bora Bora on a single ticket¹⁰.

Moorea is the exception to flying: the ferries from the Papeete waterfront take 30 to 45 minutes on the fast boats¹⁹, and the Moorea ferry guide has the operators and timetables.

On the way home, leave a night on Tahiti before an evening departure if your last island has few flights; Air Tahiti's network shows which ones do. The Faa'a airport guide covers the terminal itself.