Is there a direct flight from Los Angeles to the Cook Islands?

Covid put paid to Air New Zealand’s direct weekly Los Angeles to Rarotonga flight. What’s the best route to the Cook Islands from the Northern Hemisphere now?

The direct flight from Los Angeles to Rarotonga

I am fortunate enough to have been to the Cook Islands twice.

Both times, I came via one of the world’s most unusual flight routes – the direct Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles to Rarotonga.

Flight number NZ19

Flight number NZ19 ran once a week, departing Los Angeles late on a Saturday night and arriving at Rarotonga Airport the next morning.

This Los Angeles to Rarotonga flight route was significantly subsidised by the Cook Islands government.

The rationale for subsidising the flight was that having a direct connection to North America provided outsized value for the tiny nation.

The Cook Islands on a round-the-world flight itinerary

For travellers, this flight was a brilliant keystone of a round-the-world itinerary. It made the Pacific Islands relatively easy to add in to the route.

You could explore North America and head to California. Then once you’d run up Runyon Canyon, visited the Griffith Observatory and paid respects at the Grammy Museum, you could fly out of Los Angeles to the South Pacific.

With Air New Zealand also running several flights between Rarotonga and Auckland, the Cook Islands became a stopover on the way to New Zealand.

What happened to the Los Angeles to Rarotonga flight?

Alas, the direct Los Angeles to Rarotonga flight was a victim of Covid.

Air New Zealand temporarily paused the route as borders closed in 2020, and never unpaused it. In 2022, the airline confirmed that the Los Angeles to Rarotonga route was permanently scrapped.

Essentially, Air New Zealand needed to focus on its core routes after Covid’s financial battering, and this oddity was an obvious victim.

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Getting to the Cook Islands from the Northern Hemisphere

So, what’s the best way to get to the Cook Islands from the Northern Hemisphere now?

Sadly, most routes now go through Sydney or Auckland. Jetstar operates direct routes from both, while Air New Zealand operates from Auckland.

The other options are via Papeete in French Polynesia with Air Tahiti Nui and via Honolulu with Hawaiian Airlines. The latter allows for one-stop flights from the continental US, and works as a cross-Pacific option on a round-the-world itinerary.