It is Friday morning the 13th of December. We have a couple of hours in Papeete before going to the airport for our afternoon flight to Maupiti. We took a taxi downtown to do some shopping and stroll to the town. It was a nice morning and nothing suggested different. Zuckerberg’s yacht was sill at anchor in the harbor and traffic in Papeete was congested as usual.
At noon we returned back to our accommodation, picked up the bags and headed to the airport. Checkin was quick and smooth and excess weight was covered by our scuba certificates. So we went through security into the waiting area for our flight, scheduled 90 minutes from now. Soon there was a first announcement that our flight will be delayed, since the incoming plane from Maupiti is late. Nothing to worry about. However, later, when our names were called over the loudspeaker and we were guided out through security into the checkin area by an airline agent, we knew that things were taking a turn. Another agent was already waiting there for us with our checked-in luggage on a trolley, telling us, that our flight was canceled and there won’t be another flight that day. We had to go to the Air Tahiti office to find out about the next moves. That is what the agent in Moorea meant with ‘back to normal’ operations.
In the office I had to pick a ‘number’ – the indicated waiting time was 56 mins as there were many others also impacted by flight cancelations. Once it was my turn, the lady at the counter explained, that the runway in Maupiti is too short, to be safe enough for takeoffs and landing when it is wet. Thus we have to wait until the weather changes and we will be notified. We will be put onto the ‘next available flight’, whenever this will be. There was no other support from Air Tahiti, e.g. for accommodation and food or alike, what you would expect if a flight was canceled. So we were left alone with our decision to what to do next. Shall we we wait ‘indefinitely’ in Papeete for a surprise call to get on a flight, or replan our journey? What if we happen to get to Maupiti within the 4 days, we planned to stay, and then we can’t get off again, due to further unforeseen circumstances? Since we had already made a plan B, in case the strike would hinder us from going to Maupiti, we drew this card and decided to skip Maupiti and fly directly to our next island: Raiatea, if there are flights available. Sure enough, there was a flight at 14:30. However, it was already 14:20 and we had to go back through security checks, etc.!
No worries in Tahiti. Long story short, we made it to the gate, just to be informed that the flight will be delayed by 1 hour, which turned out to be 2 hours at the end.
At the end of the day, we made it to our new hotel, where we will spend 8 days instead of the planned 4 days. But this ensures, that we make it to Bora Bora thereafter without, x-ing fingers, further headaches.
