Flight to Polynesia: layover issue in the United States

Hi there, I’m explaining our situation—my daughter and her young family have just moved to Polynesia, specifically to the island of Raiatea. That’s great, of course, and my wife and I are planning to visit them. However, flights that go through the United States are causing us a problem because we’ve been to Cuba. I think we’ll need a visa because of that. Has anyone else dealt with this situation before? Any advice on flights and visas would be really helpful. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Hi there, The alternative seems to be avoiding the US by flying via Vancouver. Total flight time and price are more or less the same. Check out this page from January 2026 from top to bottom: https://quidoo.fr/paris-papeete-sans-etats-unis/ and this one from April 2026 https://quidoo.fr/paris-papeete-sans-us/

You will indeed need a U.S. visa, which in itself isn’t a huge problem—except that it’ll be more expensive and, more importantly, you’ll have to schedule an appointment for an interview with a consular officer. The wait times can be long (months, not days), and you’ll also need to hope there’s a U.S. consulate near you.

The alternative would be to route through Asia.

Anyway, hang in there and good luck!

There are also flights via Tokyo or Sydney. It’s a shame that French airlines absolutely want to layover in the US. During Covid, they were laying over in Guadeloupe.

Hi, there’s definitely a reason why airlines have layovers in the USA. The price of a liter of kerosene is certainly lower than in Japan, with fewer taxes on it.

you need to find a flight that doesn’t stop over in the US or arm yourself with patience to get a visa

Hi everyone, something not many people know is that if you're on a plane that flies over the U.S., the airline is required to share the passenger list with U.S. authorities. This applies even if the plane doesn’t make a stop in the U.S. So if you want to go via Vancouver, I’ve already flown from London to Vancouver—normally, the plane doesn’t fly over the U.S.

But if flights pass over Greenland or if Canadian authorities have agreements to share passenger names with U.S. authorities, who knows? It’s just speculation, but you never know... especially with *you-know-who* in the White House.

thanks so much