Fiji Airways

Sydney to Los Angeles via Fiji. 1st leg of trip with Qantas (Perth-Sydney) was cancelled due to the Chilean volcanic ash cloud grounding flights. We had booked our fare online and it was non-refundable. Air Pacific rescheduled our flight with no additional cost and were delightful to deal with. En-route the flight attendants were friendly and helpful. We observed them dealing with a variety of situations and they displayed professionalism courtesy and appropriate assistance.

BNE-NAN on a 737-700 flight was delayed by over 3 hrs apparently due to a member of the crew calling in sick. Since we had come in on another flight from MEL we had little choice but to wait the 3+ hrs at Brisbane airport. Once we boarded we were given a very warm welcome by the flight crew. The aircraft's condition was satisfactory - not great but you can do a lot worse. Once in flight we were served breakfast consisting of tropical fruits orange juice and a cupcake. I did notice that when the head flight attendant spoke over the PA he would take frequent and long pauses which made him come across as nervous. The remainder of the flight went without a hitch and upon landing in Fiji the flight crew was once again very apologetic about the delay. Overall a nice experience (3 hr delay aside) and very good value for money.

Air Pacific remains the least expensive way (usually) to travel NAD-LAX. But as noted by many others service is only barely adequate. Very few smiles no friendly words. Flight attendants appeared very bored with their jobs. (Big change from several years ago!) Economy seats are very uncomfortable for 11+ hr. (Probably okay for somebody under 30 but not for a mature person.) I don't understand their "requirement" to keep all shades shut as dawn over distant Hawaii can be spectacular and there's nobody out there to peep in! Aircraft interior appears aged with inadequate care. Customer Service (misnomer!) does not answer emailed questions (e.g. anticipated excess baggage limit/cost) despite giving that option. They also lie (or are completely ignorant of) seat selection policies assigning seats months ahead and then denying that possibility at check-in. This airline clearly has a near monopoly on their route (Qantas and Air New Zealand share the airplane and all its elements) and considers passengers as mere annoyances to collecting their salaries. Too bad. Fiji deserves far better.

I have been travelling on Air Pacific for many years mainly because I live in Fiji and the flight schedules of other airlines are not as frequent or suited. Of late I ensure that I have a meal before I board the flight and simply then try to sleep through the flight. This is because the service the meals in particular are unacceptable. Cold sandwiches on a "full service" airline? The fleet is also very old and Air Pacific have dreamt dreamliners are stuck with this old fleet. What that means is that "on our all flights meals and handsets are complimentary" spare us the headsets not worth watching or listening to. Pity that because Air Pacific is a poor representation of what Fiji is famous for - its sunny hospitality.

BNE-NAN-LAX and return LAX-NAN-BN. Worst service ever food atrocious. Smiles nowhere to be seen by any flight attendant. Seemed like it was a chore for them even if you wanted a glass of water. I would never recommend them to anyone nor would I ever fly with them again. It was not even a cheap deal. They were recommended by the Travel Agent - have changed travel agent too.

SYD-NAN-LAX return. First part of the flight was average Boeing 747 desperately needs renovation inside fittings broken sink in toilet smashed electrical and IFE problems stained curtains and upholstery seatbelt and smoking signs burnt out. Seat was quite comfortable and padded there was a flickering light above my seat cabin crew said that they couldn't turn it off. Instead they distributed eye masks but the FA refused to give me one as he thought that the light wasn't disturbing me. Even though I demanded one he refused. The food served was very poor. NAN-LAX flight at 2230 was delayed for 4 hours due to a mechanical fault and we were not allowed off the plane. LAX-NAN the already poor IFE failed to work I called the flight attendant who was rude and she said "yeah it clearly doesn't work does it?" then stormed off. She never returned to apologise for the issue that was only with 2 rows of seats. NAN-SYD the same aircraft with faulty IFE and even poorer food. A child in front was disturbing me so I asked to the flight attendant to ask them to stop. She walked off and never did a thing about it. Absolutely disgraceful product and service it is definitely not the World's Friendliest Airline and how it can be rated 3 stars is beyond me.

LAX-NAN-AKL. LAX check in friendly and helpful. Agent changed our seats on NAN-AKL leg as requested. Gave us a coupon for admission to the departure lounge at LAX which was well stocked with snacks and drinks . We flew business class and had seats in the first row of the B747-400. With the seat fully reclined there was still two feet of space in front of us. The business class section was very small for this airplane. Cabin service was friendly food pretty good. Entertainment system adequate. Newspapers available. Transferring from the 747 to NAN-AKL B767-300 involved walking a few hundred feet into the terminal building where our names were checked off on a roster then carry on bags put through the x-ray and hand searched thoroughly. This seemed a bit extreme as bottles of water given to us on the previous flight were taken away from us. This caused quite a bottleneck behind us as most passengers aboard were in transit. Any duty free liquor purchased in LAX and carried was taken by authorities in Nadi. General departure lounge is surrounded by huge duty free shops and business class passengers have separate departure lounge downstairs (no elevator) where breakfast items were furnished. NAN-AKL flight was uneventful.

Worst airline ever. Food terrible service only friendly on the surface. Onboard entertainment worst ever. not even a local newspaper. Nearly could not leave from Nadi to HKG because they told us that we need onward tickets from HKG which is rubbish when you are on transfer to Macao or the mainland. They forced us to buy an expensive ticket to Frankfurt (German passport holder/2000 Euros per ticket one way on a Cathay Pacific flight) and told me I could cancel it at their counter in Hong Kong. The staff refused talking to me and others and just said we would have to buy another ticket (with time running out and only 2 flights per week that are mostly sold out for several weeks). Some couples were left behind since they did not have the necessary funds available to do so. On Spanish couple started crying - can understand. At HKG it became clear that they do not have a ticket counter in all of HKG. They sent me to Cathay Pacific (partner airline) which explained that they are not responsible which made sense since Air Pacific received the money. Contacted the handling agent in HKG (only available Air Pacific contact in Hong Kong) and told me has to send copy of ticket to Fiji and it will take 3 months to refund me.

Nadi to Los Angeles as part of a round-the-world package with Air New Zealand. Paid for Premium Economy but automatically downgraded by Air Pacific to economy. Seats uncomfortable food dreadful entertainment system sub-standard. Worst of all Air Pacific would not honour the higher baggage allowance of Premium Economy so whole trip had to be planned around this leg. Told to confirm booking 24 hours in advance a practice I thought had stopped many years ago. When I asked about an upgrade I was told a 100 FJD rebooking fee was required plus the cost of the upgrade. As flight was an hour late leaving we were confined to a small hot area with no toilets and seating for about one third of passengers for over 2 hours.

LAX-NAN-BNE. I booked the ticket for a very good price at last minute and was not sure what to expect. Check in at LAX the toughest part - I am a professional musician and fly regularly with my instrument I was informed at the check-in desk that I would have to pay $50 USD for extra equipment and gate check the instrument as the flight was full and it wouldn't fit in the overheads on a 747-400. Check in clerk got the manager who advised me they would tag the instrument and if the flight crew deemed it too large than I would have to gate check it. This was great as I never have a problem with any flight crew and I know it fits in any over head locker it's smaller than most peoples carry on bags and very precious to me. LAX-NAN was fully booked and the overhead lockers were packed I did what I do every flight and presented myself at boarding at the front of the line secured my space in the overheads and took my seat we managed to fit everyone's carryon's from the row behind me my row and the row in front in the over head bin. The food was OK entertainment system was awful but I never use them. I did manage to catch a movie when I awoke 3 hours outside of Nadi they seemed to have got the system working by then. Seats were comfortable cabin crew friendly more so than Qantas. Nadi was unorganised with 3 departing transfer flights leaving at the same time roughly with one transfer desk with two staff for everyone. I think the entire 747 was transferring. There was also another security check point after the transfer desk which I thought was strange. NAN-BNE was great on time and no problems on a 737 had an entire row to myself on a 4 hr flight! I didn't bother with the entertainment again as I stretched out and slept the duration of the flight. Got all my luggage with no problems walked straight out onto the street and into the car. Cheap good Service excellent flight crew good friendly cabin crew on time and spacious. Against - charges for equipment despite it being my carry on. Food only OK Entertainment system poor. Management staff at LAX not the best and not that friendly. Will fly with them again if they are the cheapest.