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I flew Fiji Airways back in 2019 before the pandemic hit, it was dirt cheap at that time and I assumed it could have been due to the ongoing protests during that period which has put many travellers off from visiting, my recollection of the flights was average and nothing particularly stood out for me other than the passengers who were on the flight, as I flew them to Hong Kong, a majority of the passengers were Asian Chinese and let’s just say their behaviours were unpleasant.

On this particular trip, Fiji Airways still remains one of the cheapest carriers in the Pacific region and with the revitalisation of air travel after Covid, I have decided to give them another go but to change things up a bit and try out a couple of their fleets, in particular their Boeing 737-800, A330-200 and A350-900. At least that was the plan until they messed it all up which I will explain it a bit later. Fiji Airways has also been awarded a Skytrax 2024 award, better known in the industry as “Scamtrax”, claiming to be ahead of Qantas and Air New Zealand which I highly doubt with half of their fleet being in a rather horrible condition.

LEG 1: AUCKLAND – NADI

A few days prior to departure, I checked my booking to find some strange changes, my seat was moved on some of the sectors so I had a closer look, to my surprise I found out that they did an equipment swap on the Auckland to Nadi leg to their Boeing 737 Max 8, which I deliberately avoided booking due to my own personal trust issues, however given that I did not have much of a choice I had to simply suck it up and hope it all goes well. Fiji Airways does operate the majority of their medium/long haul fleet to Auckland depending on the demand they might change one over the other, however given that the 737-800 and Max 8 are fairly similar in passenger carriage I am not sure what particular reason there may be for the change.

On the day of the departure, check in was quick with barely a few people around, I joined the web check in queue and was asked if I had checked in via the self service machines they had placed by the queue, I said I have checked in online and they went ahead to print out the paperwork. I am not sure why they did the queue in that particular way which is rather confusing, but I was done and through security within 10 minutes.

During boarding, we got delayed boarding for about 30 minutes, and then a 20 minutes delay from the original takeoff time. No explanation was given for both instances, which I am fine with as long as the delay is not significant enough to impact our arrival time.

I have a special VGML for my booking so I get a separate meal from everyone else and get served first. My meal on this flight was dry noodles mixed with soy sauce with some mushrooms and veggies, on the side was a cup of fruits, bread roll and orange juice. Apparently they serve orange juice for all passengers with special meals, I am not sure why they do that, and they do it on all the flights, which I feel is a limitation to the options passengers can choose from, given that drinks are usually not served as a part of a vegetarian meal and this can contribute to additional wastage if a percentage of passengers are not an orange juice drinker for whatever reason, or maybe they just feel like having something else during that time, which was the case for me at times as I felt like having a hot cup of tea but I also didn’t want to waste the OJ and ended up forcing myself to finish it. I believe that they can tweak this to provide more flexibility for the passengers. In terms of the meal quality, I would say it was disappointing, both the noodles and veggies were dry, however the mushroom was juicy.

One observation I had was that they deliver meals individually even to the rest of the cabin instead of pushing a cart. I am unsure whether this is due to the narrow aisle that they aren’t able to push a cart through, but it was taking so long that by the time I had already finished my meal they weren’t even done delivering those meals. I don’t think it is a productive nor efficient way of delivering meal service, I can’t say I have seen meals being delivered in this manner so I am somewhat puzzled by it.

This flight happened to be filled with a large group of kids going to Fiji for some sort of an event, one of them happened to be sitting in front of me. The kid had reclined as soon as they got to the seat during boarding and the adult who was accompanying sitting next to them did not even pay any attention to what they were doing, I was just glad they did not decide to recline while I was having my meal and get smacked in the head.

As the new Boeing 737 Max 8 and Airbus 350-900 are both equipped with wifi on board, I went to check it out. They do provide a complimentary 15 minutes “chat” package to all passengers, but this is limited to text only and I had difficulty connecting to Facebook chat, although Whatsapp was working for me. They do offer a more extensive “Standard Web” package for general internet access that is low speed, not enough to stream any video content or to download, for USD$7.95 for the entire duration of the flight, or USD$14.95 if you want the high speed internet to watch videos/download content, which I think is a good value if you’re on a long haul route but not on a Pacific route such as Australia/NZ where the flight time is around 3 hours or so, unless having that access even for an hour or two is of great value to you personally and paying that amount is worth more than the $8-15 that they charge you for.

I did observe that their seats were slightly more worn out and abused by passengers even with a relatively low usage life, which is not a good sign given that points to a lack of maintenance or their clientele being more careless, these will eventually cost the airline, whether it is their image or money.

Leg 2: Nadi – Tokyo Narita

The A330 was/is the backbone of Fiji Airways, operating on the majority of their long haul network and has been a part of their carrier for around 11 years before the introduction of the A350, these aircraft are now being served in the majority of their Asian network while their A350 is being deployed to North America.

Given that they are in the process of phasing out the A330, they have also neglected with the refreshing of the cabin, which is evident with the seat condition and design. Although I wished they would have done some sort of a refresh lining up with the introduction of the A350 to allow their hard product to be more consistent across their fleet given that their replacement will not be complete until the early 2030s, since they do still have to wait for the building and delivery of those aircraft which is usually a few years queue on the order book of the manufacturers.

On this flight, a menu was given out for the meal service. For lunch, there were 3 options while dinner had 2 options, both meals have an option for vegetarian however given they only stock a limited amount on board for each meal, it would only be good for those who are flexitarian in case they do run out of the vegetarian option. As per usual, I got my VGML special meal and I got rice with stir fry mixed veges. On the side were some beans and corn, sliced peaches and a bun. For dinner I got stewed veggies in tomato sauce, a side of salad and sliced peaches and a bun. I was satisfied with both the meals served out of Nadi.

I’m unsure if it was the lack of maintenance or just old hardware but the AC charger was barely working, the IFE system is also very outdated with these aircrafts in comparison to the modern IFE systems in their newer fleet.

The service from half of the crew was friendly, the rest were rather average. They were however maintaining presence throughout the flight handing out water and collecting trash. 4 hours out from arrival, the crew turned on the lights and half hour later they started handing out wet wipes in preparation for the 2nd meal service. They started the landing check 70 minutes prior to arrival which is rather excessive, they could do it 45 minutes prior and that might still be somewhat acceptable although still too early in my opinion.

Leg 3: Tokyo Narita – Nadi

Checking in at Narita took slightly longer than usual for me due to the fact that there was an issue with my seat assignment and they needed to swap my seat further down for “operational reasons”. Those seats were later released and assigned to other passengers which I would have appreciated if they would reassign me back there once they have released them instead of putting me with another passenger where there were other empty rows such as one in front of me which I was able to quickly move to after the seat belt sign was switched off.

Our departure out of Narita was a few minutes late but mainly was dragged on by the long taxi to the runway. Once departed, meal service was stopped due to turbulence. This is the part which I think they may have been slightly overly excessive with their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), since light turbulence wouldn’t cause any issues and is a regular occurence with flights so it’s not realistic to be starting and stopping service with some light turbulence. I believe that this was introduced after several turbulence related events that caused injury to crew and passengers, however those events were believed to be caused by Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) which is rare, and is believed to be more active around regions prone to thunderstorm build up, which in this case unless their METAR or PIREP mentioned of such moderate to severe turbulence around the region, then the risk may not be that high, and as mentioned CAT is hard to predict and can occur at any time so forcasted ones are unlikely to be those. During the period where the seat belt sign was on and an extended period of no turbulence, I witnessed a passenger in frustration going to the rear where the crew were seating and asking them why they were not serving meals, and they pointed out that the seat belt sign was on and they were instructed to be seated.

About an hour after departure, the crew were able to start the meal service, given that the extremely early 2nd meal service was going to start and the late 1st meal service, I knew that there was not going to be much chance for us to sleep before being awaken again. This sector we were not given any menu, but they made an announcement through the PA system, the general meal options were fish, chicken or vege curry. Each meal were limited so they actually have certain dishes on each aisle, so some passengers on this aisle did not get the option the other aisle may be given, this is the issue that passengers will run into when going with the regular meals, but I think the limited number of certain dishes carried on Fiji Airwars are more prevalent than other carriers. Since the crew knew that the meal service was running late, they were prioritising passengers with children and take those meals from the galley to serve them rather than waiting for the trolley to come from the front, which is a good initiative from the crew. On the 2nd meal service, shortly after they started distributing the special meals, the seat belt sign came on and they had to suspend the meal service again, by the time they restarted the service I was already finishing up my meal, this further highlight the need for more discretion for the flight crew to decide whether it was safe enough to continue the service rather than suspending it with some light turbulence, but I would understand if they suspend hot drinks service during that time. The meal I got was a noodle dish with beans I believe, but it was way too spicy and given it was an early morning meal, it was not a great way to start the day off. I think there’s a revamp required for Fiji Airways when it comes to their catering, things like spiciness is very easy to adjust and since the tolerance level is so different for each person, they could easily provide some sort of a chilli sauce or spicy top up for those looking for the kick, but things that are added cannot be removed so it’s better to give the option to add on rather than not giving any option at all. The sides were a bun without any spread which is again very odd because it’s not the most ideal thing to eat dry, and the other was some sort of an apple jelly which to be honest may be the only eatable thing on that tray.

On this particular aircraft, the in flight map was not working, the remote and AC port on my seat weren’t working either. Again with their aging aircrafts, they will need to try to replace these as soon as possible for that consistent hard product across their fleet so that passengers can enjoy a fresh new functioning product. While their prices are generally lower than most, Qantas does do occassional sale fare to the same region for a similar price and they are able to provide a much better hard product experience, and a great transit option for passengers with easy access to the CBD from all the major airports over the eastern cities, compared to Nadi where public transit is hard to understand for travellers if there’s any at all, and the fares to get to the hotels nearby are extremely high, not to mention most resorts there are charging prices that you can get 2 nights on a 3-4 star hotel in Australia. If I have the option, I would go with Qantas rather than Fiji Airways just because of those few points.

The crew were very present throughout the night and I found them to be fairly good on this particular flight, the only issue was that even after informing them of my change in seat they didn’t note down and kept delivering my meal to the guy sitting on my row who seemed to be rather confused. It was also difficult to sleep on this flight and it wasn’t the most comfortable way to sleep in an economy seat regardless. After the meal service I did open up my window shade slightly more as with some other passengers, but some lady sitting in the middle section was giving a nasty look and told me to put it down, which really offended me given that it was broad daylight and everyone was awake, and it wasn’t even because it affected her trying to sleep but she just decided that she wanted to be in the dark. If people want to control the shade, they should pick a window seat next time and they can do whatever they like with it, but it is damn rude to be telling people what they can or cannot do with theirs.

Leg 4: Nadi – Auckland [Business Class]

Originally this flight was supposed to be operated by their flagship A350-900, however they have done an eqipment swap a few days out again, this time to their leased A330-300, which is the only stretched variant they have on their fleet, but their hard product would be consistent with their A330-200. I bid for the upgrade through their Bula Bid program, under the assumption that I would be trying out their new flagship business class but after the equipment swap I forgot to cancel my bid and ended up paying an additional NZD$355 for it, while it may still be cheaper than the regular full price fare, I still do not believe it to be worth it for the hard product and length of flight.

Nadi Airport has 2 dedicated Business Class check in desks, however there was some issue with a passenger checking in and another family checking in on the second desk so it took longer than I would have liked to get checked in. We were given fast track pass however the immigration lines were not clear and we initially had to queue up with the general lines until our boarding pass got checked before we were let through to fast track, which in comparison was a breeze and we were able to get through in a few minutes.

As a Business Class passenger, I was also given access to their lounge, I have been to their lounge prior using priority pass, looking on their website they do sell it to normal passengers as well but the price is rather steep, at nearly $100 which I don’t think is worth it unless you have a very extensive transit time and assuming they allow you to stay for that long in the lounge. The Fiji Airways lounge is located a floor below the boarding and is somewhat in the middle of the terminal so there was no view or natural lighting. Given that it was early morning, they have a selection of breakfast options available both hot and cold, while it is not super extensive it was just enough for a quick meal before getting on board a flight. With many flights departing early morning, the lounge was also packed and it took 2 rounds for me to find an available seat, which was also an issue with other passengers.

Our flight was delayed by half an hour or so along with other flights, which I overheard by someone who may be working within the airline that the inbound flight got delayed departure from Hong Kong due to some incident, which through the PA system we were only notified that it was due to “operational reasons”. Once on board, I was greeted by a lovely flight attendant who also offered to store my luggage but I didn’t need it since I wasn’t carrying much anyway. A pre-departure beverage was offered, champaign, water and orange juice was offered, I went with an orange juice while my seat neighbour started devulging on 2 glasses of champaign before we even took off, which was rather brave for an early morning flight, but hey it’s 5pm somewhere right.

After departure meal orders were taken, since I had a vegetarian meal order I asked whether that was loaded or would that be the option from the menu since they do have one on it, they told me that they would check but when it came it seemed to be different from the menu so I assume it’s a separate item. I cannot exactly say what it is but the main item was the pancake/waffles with some weird stuffing, it was not a good meal as it was way too salty and I didn’t really enjoy it. The sides were a bun with butter and jam, and a bowl of fresh fruits.

After the meal service was over, I decided to put down the seat to flat bed mode to see what it is like, the cubby hole for the leg is very tight and with the seat mechanism going in and out I find myself having to adjust my leg quite a bit, and once fully flat I had to put my leg side ways, granted I have my shoes on and without it could make it better but I still feel like it would be tight and definitely not ideal for people who sleep straight, you’ll probably need to lay on your side with your feet laying horizontal to get a more comfortable sleeping position. As I have mentioned these hard product are very old so a refresh is definitely a welcoming sight for passengers flying with them in the future.

The seat itself comes with a large screen, 2 small storage cubes under it, on the left is a shared magazine and headphone storage area, under that is what I presume a water bottle storage however the crew left them on the storage closer to the seat, on the right of the screen is also a coat hook. On the seat just to the right is a seat control and IFE remote, while on the left is the table and cocktail stand along with some storage under there.

Conclusion

Fiji Airways is a good option for travellers looking for more flexibility in their scheduling given that the lower fares are fairly consistent on most of the dates other than peak periods. As long as you are not setting a high expectation then it’s a decent enough airline to fly with, especially around Asia given that they do operate their aging fleet compared to the North American routes.

Fiji Airways also have scheduling where you may be required to transit overnight, while it may be a good option for travellers looking for an extra destination to tick off their list, be aware that prices in Nadi are generally higher than many other cities and you will have to pay a premium for private transit options, and the majority of the resorts are priced between $500-$1000 a night.

Nadi is also not the biggest city in Fiji, that will be Suva which is the capital and you can either opt for a 4 hours drive or a flight. The Nadi township is very small and there are limited attractions around the area, so do be aware of that when choosing your layover.