A Miami couple who were stranded on Bora Bora during their dream honeymoon due to an airport strike share how they finally made it home.
Earlier this week, Omid Kazravan posted a series of TikToks detailing how he and his new wife Karrah are stuck on the picturesque island and trying to get back to the US.
After considering several options, the couple decided to join other stranded tourists on an 18-seat charter plane. Due to regulations, only 10 people were allowed on board. For $7,500, they rented an 18-seat charter plane.
But in an update posted yesterday, Omid complained that the group was forced to board a much smaller plane, and that it was not the private jet he had booked.
Omid and Karrah Kazravan were forced to charter a private jet after being stranded on Bora Bora during their dream honeymoon amid skyrocketing costs due to airport strikes
Omid then shared photos of the plane they eventually boarded, noting that it looked like a “cylinder in the air with no space” rather than the “luxury private jet they had seen on Google.”
He then tells viewers that another hotel nearby tried to secure the plane for their stuck customers.
He explains: ‘We woke up at 6am to coordinate everything, because we had to make sure everyone wasn’t too heavy for the plane.
‘When everyone had paid, we finally got all the information from the agent. It turned out that they had filled in the wrong date. We thought: what is this for tomorrow? And yes, after a lot of back and forth, it turned out that the agent had made a typo.
‘When the plane arrives, the ticket sales people tell us it wasn’t our plane and we travel back and forth with them.
“The pilot had to come over and tell us it was the plane, but it turned out that another resort on Bora Bora, the St. Regis, was trying to hijack our plane.”
He described the journey from Bora Bora to a “small private airport” in the “cylindrical” plane as the “longest 35 minutes” of his life.
Omid then shared photos of the plane they were on, which he said looked more like a “cylinder in the air with no space” than the “luxury private jet they had seen on Google.”
He described the journey from Bora Bora to a “small private airport” in the “cylindrical” plane as the “longest 35 minutes” of his life.
The video, which has been viewed nearly 45,000 times, was captioned: “Normally when you think of chartering a jet you think of something luxurious. This was far from that.”
The couple were initially stranded due to the ongoing union strike at the airport on the day they left.
The entrepreneur went on to say that there was only one eight-hour boat ride from the most expensive island, where a can of Coca-Cola costs $9, to the mainland
The industry action led to Air Tahiti and Air Moana cancelling all domestic flights through Bora Bora airport. The strikers demanded that the authorities meet their demands.
No international flights have been affected by the strike.
“We have to take matters into our own hands. There has been no communication from domestic airlines. They are not even sending emails,” Omid told viewers in his previous videos.
‘We literally have to call them five times before they send an email saying our flight has been cancelled.
The entrepreneur went on to say that there was only one eight-hour boat ride from the most expensive island to the mainland, where a can of Coca-Cola costs $9.
After considering several options, the group rented an 18-seat charter plane, which due to regulations could only carry 10 people, for $7,500
The strike has led to Air Tahiti and Air Moana cancelling all domestic flights through Bora Bora airport as the strikers demand their needs be met by authorities.
They also contacted the US Embassy for assistance and were told that a cargo ship would arrive shortly to take them to the airport.
After some investigation, Omid discovered that the freighter was also an eight-hour journey, with no chairs or other seating on board.
As they began to figure out what to do with the rest of the stranded tourists, the resort suggested renting a small plane, which would cost $10,000 for eight people.
Air Tahiti has currently issued the following warning: ‘Due to the strike by Tahiti airport staff, disruptions to the flight schedule from Bora Bora, Rangiroa and Raiatea are expected.’
The company did not provide any other information.