So to begin the more dull legs...
QF605
BNE-MEL
0555-0920 (ACT 0550-0910)
Checkin through to NAN without issue and without smiles (however it was 5am)
Pretty standard Qantas domestic trip so I won't go into too much detail. Don't know which plane it was, but it was one of the older 738's so nothing too special. There was some problem with the IFE so the sound was blasted over the PA until after the news.
Meal was acceptable. An odd choice of cornbread with sour cream.... or the usual musli. Service was friendly without being intrusive. The early arrival into MEL was appreciated given the short connection.
QF422
MEL-SYD
1000-1120 (ACT 1000-1120)
Up to a full 767 for this one. Poor old thing is looking very sick but did the job without too many complaints. The crew were very good on this leg given the short flight and full load. Without sounding ageist... they were mature ladies who were exceptionally good at what they did. Friendly and very efficient. Crews like that do tend to highlight the "lack of experience" of many of the DJ crews I've become used to of late.
Brunch was a bacon and egg quiche which was quite good.
Arrival into SYD was easy. The people I met off the BNE flight were delayed about half an hour so I sat tight in the domestic terminal (been a long time since I've sat at the gate!) and made a quick run over to T1 to hit the J lounge. Usual fare in there, nothing special but I always quite enjoy the SYD Intl lounge (even if it's just the business one).
FJ910
SYD-NAN
1410-1855 (ACT 1430-1920)
Boarding was ontime, but it looked like a very full load so the Y line was very very very long. The J line was empty though. I walked in to a full J cabin served by two friendly (however slow) male FA's. Seated at about 1350, pre-departure drink didn't arrive until 1420. Pushback was slightly late at 1430 with an extensive wait short of the runway before takeoff.
The service commenced not long after takeoff, however was painfully slow (as is often the case on FJ). About 20 minutes in the crew made a warm towel run, followed oddly by a nuts run without any drinks... drinks orders were then taken starting at the back of the cabin. The FA would take an order for 2 drinks, go back and make them, deliver them and then start over again. Seemed like a good way to make a simple task rather complicated!
Menus were offered for the lunch service and then taken away before orders were taken. I managed to forget what I was ordering. There were four options, a beef, roast chicken, stir fry chicken and vege lasagne. The starter was a cold fish dish (Kokoda I think) and desert came on the tray straight out (some kind of cheesecake). I had the stir fry main and it was pretty good. The beef was the same beef offered a few months ago and it was terrible back then so I assumed not much had changed.
Following the mains, a very small cheese plate was offered along with port or Baileys.
Baileys was refilled a few times, however only on request. The crew were generally friendly and helpful and happy to serve when called upon, however didn't go out of their way to offer assistance (being in Row 1 can be poor in that regard though as the crew literally need to be in your face to see if you need anything).
Arrival was very very slow (over an hour from getting off the plane and getting out of the terminal), however I had to wait for the two economy passengers to catch up. They were on the upper-deck which was packed (as was economy section 1, I didn't look any further).
I'll upload a few photos over the next few days when I have a chance to download them.
Novotel Nadi
Shuttle was waiting when we walked out and quickly ran us into the hotel. The Novotel is a perfectly adequate hotel for a transit stop, but not a lot more. It will be interesting to compare the Raffles next week. Stayed one night, however paid for two so the room was available during the day. This seemed to cause confusion however eventually got through.
Dinner at the restaurant was fine, however overpriced (as expected at a chain hotel). Drinks were also fairly expensive by Fiji standards, however this was avoided by buying duty-free beer and vodka on arrival (it is very cheap).
FJ822
NAN-(CXI)-HNL
2359-1030
Checkin was fairly painless. The lady wasn't full of smiles at the start however got a little more chatty as she was checking us in. No problems with the Y pax using the J line and all bags were tagged "Priority". I asked at checkin if I could buy an extra lounge pass (read on below) however was told that it's very quiet so i should be ok and I won't need it. All in all, easy checkin (but again slow! Fiji time is still going strong).
The airport is empty at this time of night (the 747 to LAX was rolling as we walked in so the only flight of the night is the little 73H to HNL) and customs was very quick (and oddly friendly). Unfortunatley, the lounge staff were a little more difficult to deal with. We have 2 J pax (SG & WP) and two Y (both NB) and it took a lot of work to get them into the lounge. On handing over the boarding passes we were quickly told "you two can stay, but you two have to leave now". My fault, forgot out status isn't on FJ boarding passes. I explained our status, whipped out my WP and (this was always going to be the problem) advised that J pax two has only just gotten SG and has no card. This wasn't going to cut it and one of the Y pax was told "you must leave, only one of you can come in". I tried to reason that there was nobody in here so maybe they could waive the rules (I count one American pax) however no joy. In the end I paid FJ$50 cash for the one extra passenger to join us. Still good value and I guess technically correct given we were bending the rules, however I'd hoped for a little flexibility.
Should be boarding the HNL flight shortly and I'll do my best to report back (with some photos) in the next few days.
Vinaka!
BTW I think all trip reports involving FJ need to start with Bula!
