Kim and I had toyed with the idea of going to Easter Island for a long time. There’s only one way from New Zealand to get there, and that’s through Papeete. The flight from Papeete to Easter Island on LAN Chile is pricey, so the best way was to used our Qantas Frequent Flyer points on an award ticket for that route.
When Qantas announced an updated award table, the points required was going to go up significantly. We tried to get seats at the old rate before the increase but there weren’t any available. Then we decided that we could get Business Class seats at the old rate for a little less than the new Economy rate. So, the trip was all booked about six months in advance!
Kim’s friend Rodger dropped us off at the airport. He would join us there a couple of days later, then arrive back in Auckland after us as well. And that’s when Kim would repay his favour by picking him up afrom the airport.
We departed Auckland at 1550 seated in seats 1JK having been shifted from way down the back. The flight went quickly and we arrived into Rarotonga with a very harsh landing. We were fortunate enough to continue to Papeete in 1JK again.