Fiji Airways trip report: SYD-NAN-LAX and return in J: So amazing!

[Berlin]

I was always curious but when FJ released some really good fares just after opening the country up post Covid, we took the plunge. And contrary to all our fears and some reviews we’ve ready on line, the experience was excellent from start to finish.

Boarding in Sydney went seamless and without any pains- we had done our Covid test right at the airport and left plenty of time, just in case. We noticed that at the check in desk, there were plenty of people in heated discussions about vaccine exemptions and all sorts of stuff. Staff was tough and stuck to the rules from what we could tell resulting in quite a few travelers not being allowed on. My advice to anyone travelling right now would be to not ride it and to study all rules and regulations in and out, as we did beforehand. It’s just not worth it otherwise.

The lounge situation in Sydney is a bit of a shamble at the moment and Air Fiji gives you some vouchers which you can use pretty much only at Meccas. Qantas refuses to let you access their Business lounge as long as you haven’t booked under QF flight number which is just nasty and stingy given they were the sponsor airline themselves to get Fiji Airways set up as an Oneworld connect airline. In any case, the American Express lounge came to the rescue so we managed perfectly fine.

Upon boarding, there was a clear priority queue and staff did their best enforcing it and making announcements to explain. We we were on the plane within minutes and welcomed with a friendly “Bula! To the left for you please Sir!”- just what you want to hear! As soon as I had settled into my -fabulous- reverse herringbone seat, I was offered a glass of champagne or orange juice. This was the first time of many that I noticed something has seriously changed at FJ. In the past, they shears tortured you with their weird stickily sweet coughtails that contain the usual Fijian paintstripper spirits. You can still get those in a long drink if you specifically ask for it but those tacky coughtails are gone for good. Instead, it’s French champaign being served, a rather unknown but quite tasty Brut which we preferred a thousand times better. Throughout the meal service actually it felt as if someone at Fiji’s management really asked customers about what’s important and what isn’t and the experience was tailored accordingly to now feel much much more in line with other quality airlines around the world.

Here a few images of the menu SYD-NAN:




Meal preferences were taken before takeoff still and an after takeoff drink was proactively offered and I gladly opted for a Bloody Mary before changing back to champagne. Service was professional, friendly (how could it not- it’s Fijian!) and fast throughout. Together with their super comfy seat on a near new A350 that surprisingly hardly showed any signs of ageing which we had half expected due to the gorgeous white/grey colours scheme, we were wowed by the experience.

Meal service came and the food was not only super tasty but also delightfully presented. It all looked so nice, it might go through as a first class meal on some airlines!





Changing planes in Fiji (we actually didn’t really “change planes” but rather went off the plane and boarded the exact same A350 again three hours later) was super easy and the newly done lounge is a vast improvement over the old one. Still nothing too amazing I’d say but modern and comfortable enough for 2 or 3 hours.

Boarding for our longer leg to LA was initially delayed a bit but in the end we made off the runway just in time after all. Once again, the same nice aircraft and seat, just the crew seemed to be the slackest of the four we encountered in total. Everything took a bit longer for some reason and service wasn’t quite as polished as on the first flight. Still, we once again enjoyed our food and even got in a few hours of sleep before the excellent breakfast- bed being kindly prepared by the crew for sleeping.


And then the pre taken order for breakfast (pretty much like on Qantas J):



I’ll post details of our trip and our return flight when I get another moment between work and Jetlag recovery, hopefully soon

 

[Berlin]

After two amazing weeks in the US where we stayed in great and not so great properties of the Hyatt and Hilton chain (I’ve posted detailed reviews in the “How does Hyatt/Hilton treat you as an Elite” threads on here) and -finally- officially getting engaged with my lovely partner, it was time for our return flight.

Fiji leaves LA at one of the most busy times at LAX and there were queues of passengers everywhere. We noticed quickly that all of those belonged to other airlines and were mostly due to passengers not preparing themselves properly and therefore not having the required documentation in hand for check in- chaos ensues. We had left plenty of times and therefore were second in line at the Premium check in for Fiji airways. We had all required documents and tests nearly printed out and/or available on our phones so the process was a breeze. Not so most people around us who had very serious issues with hand written testations from their homeopath and nonsense like that. My advise to anyone: Read up properly beforehand, ideally print everything out on paper (way faster/safer then fiddling with your mobile while roaming in a foreign mobile network and also friendlier to the eyes of the poor check in staff) and have it all ready on the spot while leaving plenty (I mean plenty as in hours) of extra time here or there for unforeseen hiccups. Was it all a hassle? Yes, for sure. Was it a reason not to travel internationally? Hell no, just get prepared well in time.

Access to the lounge was a disaster once again as somehow Fiji Airways has decided that the Star Alliance lounge, operated by AirNZ, is the place to go. We, like on the way out, tried once again with Qantas who in theory should let Air Fiji business class passengers in but once again rather rudely denied us access. The fabulous new American Express lounge was also closed, unfortunately, so we ended up in the ragged disappointing Star Alliance lounge:
We arrived around 8pm and it was chockers, even hard to find a seat. Then, an hour or so later, people left on flights to Singapore and Auckland but the entire lounge went into sleep mode- bar was closed, drinks not restocked in the fridges and so on. Food choice totally miserable though the self-serve noodle bar was a nice touch (even Qantas Domestic manages to actually have someone prepare the noodles for you though, not to even talk about the likes of Cathay with their noodle offerings…). Spoons came at a premium though which is a riddle to me- just get some more spoons you morons!

I’ve been to the Emirates, Sky Team and Qantas/One World lounges before at LAX and the *Alliance one is the weakest of the all/ maybe tied with Skyteam.

When it finally was time for boarding, we first had to make it through the lengthy tunnel they connects the main part of Tom Bradley to the separated external concourse which Fiji is using. It’s better than having to use a bus or train admittedly but still a pain. The gate itself was ultra modern with Hightech facial recognition gates and neatly separated between priority passengers and the filthy rest.

Back on board we settled into the now familiar seats which are very well designed and offer lots of little nooks and crannies for one’s stuff. Fiji Airways provides a blanket which I hardly ever used as the cabins would easily go through as a Japanese or Korean airline as they’re always overheated. You get a cute little amenity kit with rather cheap “Fijian” cosmetics but a very nice pair of eye shades (they’re out of a harder, apparently “eco friendly” material than most but I like it as they don’t get so sweaty quickly) and some socks but unfortunately no pyjamas. Hot towels are provided at the start of the flight and once again shortly before breakfast and they use some smelly thing on them so that they’re super debine! A bottle of Fiji water (of course!) is already waiting at the seat and you can and for more at any time during the flight. Two champagnes later and we were cleared for takeoff from nightly LAX!

We noticed straight away that this was going to be an awesome crew and it indeed was. We were happily offered a welcome drink straight after takeoff (I went for the Bloody Mary again- gosh are they good and full on here!) and more for later while food orders were promptly taken. This particular meal service was weirdly interrupted due to turbulence which resulted in my partner having received the entire meal while I hadn’t even been given my drinks. It took the crew quite sometime to get out of that slump and I had to utilise the dreaded call button to at least get a drink. In the end, the meal was once again amazing, both very tasty but also really nicely presented:





Even the desert and breakfast options were lovely and quite varied (no cheese plate option though, unfortunately):





Finally, on our last leg from Nadi back to Sydney we were offered “brunch” options and my partner had some delicious looking chocolate pancakes while I indulged in a heated chicken sandwich- both options way better then what Qantas served on the same route in my eyes:





All in all a really well thought through cabin product in an amazing airplane. The seat felt way better than even the newest seats on Qantas or Air New Zealand and the crew was top notch. Service felt maybe a tiny bit scripted and conveyed belt-style but food and presentation was amazing. Closest airline I could think of as a comparison would probably be Emirates or Etihad and that is a huge complement for a tiny airline like this. Definitely better than Qantas, maybe not quite a SQ or QR but it felt definitely in this upper league of airlines. We were solidly impressed and would take Fiji Airways again any day, especially if this saves a few thousand bucks in Business class over the likes of QF. Highly recommended.

 

[lovestotravel]

Have to agree, QF J is nothing special and NZ is a joke.

Nice report and I'll probably give them a go next time I'm off to the US

 

[BCons]

Coming back from NAN on their A350 in June - J cabin looks really nice but looking fwd to it and the NAN lounge a bit more now. Thanks for the TR!

 

[Big John]

Excellent TR, Berlin.

Congrats on your engagement !

 

[RooFlyer]

Great TR @Berlin - you sold me on Fiji Airways! And congrats too

 

[lovestotravel]

Excellent TR, Berlin.

Congrats on your engagement !

Oh congrats on that too, I missed that part !

 

[docjames]

Nice TR and congratulations!

 

[Inlander]

Congrats and great report- very comprehensive - thanking you. Ive done Nadi -Kirrabatti- Honolulu in the MAX and LA- Nadi in the A330, food was similar with good service, will try the A35o one day! (they only have two of them)

 

[Berlin]

(they only have two of them)

Yes, unfortunately. Pretty much both doing SYD-NAN-LAX-NAN-SYD constantly. And they pretty much got lucky to get their hands on them (lucky and pretty clever, I'd say).

If Fiji really wanted to become an airline that's known beyond just the South Pacific, I'd quickly order two or three more of these babies. Or, probably much cheaper and 'good enough', at least spend some money to get the same great seating onto their existing A330s. That seat can easily compete with (/is the same as) many of the major quality airlines.

 

[Lynda2475]

I flew FJ in J NA-SYD on Wednesday night but it was a 737-Max with only 8 * J seats. nice hard product (but scary given the max's history), service wasn't that great imo, especially as took my dinner order first then failed to keep track of orders so had run out of my choice and so i was left with chicken when I wanted the beef.

But I would fly again, as QF only use older 737s.

Curious how long the points and SCs took to show up? I was on a QF flight number, on the way over points and SCs hit account by the time we landed. 2 days and still no points or SC for the FJ leg - suspect I'm going to have to put in a claim.

 

[Berlin]

I flew FJ in J NA-SYD on Wednesday night but it was a 737-Max with only 8 * J seats. nice hard product (but scary given the max's history), service wasn't that great imo, especially as took my dinner order first then failed to keep track of orders so had run out of my choice and so i was left with chicken when I wanted the beef.

But I would fly again, as QF only use older 737s.

Curious how long the points and SCs took to show up? I was on a QF flight number, on the way over points and SCs hit account by the time we landed. 2 days and still no points or SC for the FJ leg - suspect I'm going to have to put in a claim.

It took on the day 14 days until my points and SCs from FJ flight number had made it to my Qantas account. So I'm expecting something along those lines again for the way back (they aren't there yet).

 

[jpp42]

he lounge situation in Sydney is a bit of a shamble at the moment and Air Fiji gives you some vouchers which you can use pretty much only at Meccas. Qantas refuses to let you access their Business lounge as long as you haven’t booked under QF flight number which is just nasty and stingy given they were the sponsor airline themselves to get Fiji Airways set up as an Oneworld connect airline.

Nice trip report. I wanted to make one comment here on how lounges work. It's not Qantas that is refusing Fiji passengers in exactly, it's Fiji Airways that is refusing to pay whatever fee the lounge operator (on behalf of Qantas) wants to charge them. (In the case of the codeshare flights, this is separately managed by Qantas themselves as the marketing carrier.) The same applies at LAX - the reason you couldn't access the Qantas lounge is solely because Fiji Airways themselves didn't agree to pay whatever amount Qantas and their operator is charging. I say, "Qantas and their operator" because depending on the situation, it's really a third-party operating the lounges, and the price charged by these behind-the-scenes companies (such as Sofitel) is part of the equation too.

As with any commercial negotiation, there can be bad guys on both sides and I have no knowledge as to whether Qantas is overcharging what should be its partner. But I want to make it clear that the decision of which lounge to use when Fiji is the marketing carrier, is made primarily by Fiji Airways and not anything "nasty" by the lounge operator themselves.

 

[Berlin]

But I want to make it clear that the decision of which lounge to use when Fiji is the marketing carrier, is made primarily by Fiji Airways and not anything "nasty" by the lounge operator themselves.

Not quite. While I understand the commercial deals in the background, unfortunately for Qantas they are members of an alliance and have committed to follow this alliance's rules, as a matter of fact Fiji as a "Oneworld connect" partner was sponsored by Qantas itself to become a "Connect" member.

And this is where things get tricky, as the below rules CLEARLY indicate that Business class passengers, even with a Fiji Airways flight number on their ticket, should get access in both Sydney and Los Angeles (very last row).



The above list is confusing enough (and hard to find in the depths of Oneworld's website) but as a customer, I couldn't give a toss about the background deals between airline operators. Qantas benefits from being a Oneworld member, so they have to keep their part of the deal and stick to the rules published- you can't have it both ways.

And with the above (and anecdotal stories of the Qantas lounge being used in LAX, depending on the check in staff's mood of the day) I strongly suspect that it's simply educating and training the staff properly. At the very least don't give a customer some attitude as I experienced in both Sydney and LAX. Not on.

 

[SYD]

Unfortunately, the Oneworld Connect (FJ one and only member) is a dog’s breakfast for Lounge access but you’re totally correct that FJ J PAX are entitled to QF J Lounge access in SYD regardless of QF or FJ code. Unfortunately, the OW website hasn’t caught up with the QF J lounge reopening - so can’t confirm using the Lounge Finder search.

Was the SYD QF J Lounge open when you flew out or was QF still only operating the 1st Lounge? During that period, J PAX on QR, CX and others were also refused entry unless they were OWE (or flying in 1st) and normal OW rules apply.

I‘m seriously looking at another Bula route to the US. I can see options In J with QF codes to SFO and back from LAX for around $6k but probably need my TA to book it!

 

[drron]

When we flew FJ J on a QFF award in December 2019 we were allowed access to the QF J lounge in SYD. Both OWE but as by the chart that counts for diddly squat.

 

[Berlin]

When we flew FJ J on a QFF award in December 2019 we were allowed access to the QF J lounge in SYD. Both OWE but as by the chart that counts for diddly squat.

Given you were on a QF award, were you booked on QF flight number? The fact that we had booked through Fiji on FJ flight number was the "reason" the J dragon (and apologies but she was indeed a dragon towards us...) denied us entry.

 

[Berlin]

Was the SYD QF J Lounge open when you flew out or was QF still only operating the 1st Lounge? During that period, J PAX on QR, CX and others were also refused entry unless they were OWE (or flying in 1st) and normal OW rules apply.

Both lounges were open but still no luck.

But saying all that- the Amex lounge was perfectly fine and we got vouchers for free Meccas from FJ as well So pro reason to not consider FJ to fly to the US. As a matter of fact, the A350 is such a nice airplane and the J seats are way more comfortable than even Qantas' new J seats in my eyes plus food so much better too, I will most likely book them again for another trip next year.

 

[SYD]

Given you were on a QF award, were you booked on QF flight number? The fact that we had booked through Fiji on FJ flight number was the "reason" the J dragon (and apologies but she was indeed a dragon towards us...) denied us entry.

Unfortunately QF award flights are issued with an FJ code. Which is a PITA for QF status PAX in whY departing from Oz - especially WP who miss out on lounge entirely - let alone the QF 1st In SYD/MEL…

However, it is possible to book paid flights on FJ all the way to the US on QF codes - looking at that right now to bypass the current outrageous trans-PAC J fares at the moment.

 

[drron]

Given you were on a QF award, were you booked on QF flight number? The fact that we had booked through Fiji on FJ flight number was the "reason" the J dragon (and apologies but she was indeed a dragon towards us...) denied us entry.

No we were on the FJ flight number.