In contrast to what most people probably would think Nadi was not my final destination, it was only included because it gave me the opportunity to try two new airlines and also the timetables were quite optimal.
But sure, getting a glimpse of Fiji and transiting at an exotic airport in the South Pacific a beautiful morning certainly wasn’t anything I had second thoughts about.
According to the timetable the flight from Seoul would land at 7.40 am and the connecting flight to Auckland would depart at 8.45 am.
I don’t know what the minimum connecting time is between international flights, but 65 minutes was at least a valid connection.
A rather different transit experience in Nadi
I absolutely had no idea what it would be like to transfer at Nadi airport, if there would be any transfer facilities at all.
My luggage had been through-checked (tagged with a “short connection”-tag) but the check-in agent at ICN could not issue a boarding pass. Fortunately the flight from Seoul arrived 20 minutes early, meaning I had about 70 minutes to sort everything out when I finally got off the plane.
To my delight I immediately saw signs for “international connections” which I followed and which took me from the open air pier to the terminal building.
There, first thing inside, was something that looked like a transfer desk, and behind it a security checkpoint. The desk was unmanned though, not a person in sight, so I approached the security guys thinking the desk was perhaps not in use and that I should go through security, but they told me to wait at the desk for an officer.
After two minutes an officer arrived, a very friendly and pleasant man. He asked what flight I was leaving on and I told him the 8.45 am flight to Auckland.
With only about 8-10 international departures a day this man basically knew the airport timetable by heart.
He asked me to follow him and we headed towards immigration, he told me the computer at the transfer desk was so slow it would actually be quicker to go landside and check-in at the regular desks.
For some reason I had actually accepted and completed a landing card for Fiji onboard the flight from Seoul, which I was very happy about now. I guess I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a completed one in my bag, just in case.
As the man escorted me I was allowed to use the counter for Fiji nationals with no lines at all and also the customs and the agriculture checks were much smoother and quicker when he told the staff I was just transiting.
When passing the arrivals hall I could actually see my suitcase on the belt, not particularly re-assuring they unloaded it in the baggage reclaim, but I guess they weren’t expecting any international transit passengers from the Korean Air flight.
On the other hand I can confirm the priority tag worked very well!
Interestingly I was now in Fiji and unexpectedly got an extra stamp to add to the collection in the passport.
Only a short walk outdoors and we entered the rather crowded departure hall and the man showed me to the Air Pacific business class check-in desks. Finally he asked for my baggage tag number and assured me he would make sure the bag was transferred properly. I thanked him a lot for his help, after all this had worked quite well so far.
Check-in
Two persons in front of me at the check-in desk, one of them actually being the captain from my Korean Air flight who lived in New Zealand and who was going home on the same flight as me.
The check-in process was quite slow by a young man, the main reason being he had absolutely no clue how to enter an existing baggage tag number to a reservation, I guess it’s not something they get to do very often.
He spent a good 10 minutes trying various functions before calling for a supervisor.
Eventually I was checked-in and I got a boarding pass where it correctly said one piece of checked luggage.
It was now 7.55 am, all formalities were completed with still 50 minutes to go, just had to get back airside.
A nice surprise was that they actually had a priority lane for business class passengers at the passport control, which I had certainly not expected.
Although there were several departures this morning most passengers were already in the departure lounge so the process at both passport control and security was very quick.
Pics
The Air Pacific Tabua class check-in. The man in front of me is the captain from my KE flight
Busy check-in area
Heading for security and passport control
A short introduction to Air Pacific
Before reviewing the flight I thought I should give a brief introduction to Air Pacific since the airline that isn’t covered very often.
Air Pacific is the national airline of Fiji operating out of its hub at Nadi airport to destinations around the South Pacific, obviously with a main focus on the leisure market to bring foreign tourists to Fiji.
The airline was founded already in 1947 but has grown quite significantly over the years.
Today the fleet include two Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 737-700, one Boeing 767-300 and two Boeing 747-400.
The network is quite extensive, especially within the South Pacific, and includes destinations as Honiara (Solomon Islands), Port Vila (Vanuatu), Apia (Samoa), Nuku’alofa (Tonga) and Funafuti (Tuvalu).
Longhaul destinations include Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand, and Honolulu and Los Angeles in the US.
However it should be mentioned some of these destinations are only served once or twice per week.
There is also an extensive network of domestic routes between the Fiji islands operated by the subsidiary Pacific Sun using a fleet of ATR-42, Britten Norman Islanders and De Havilland DHC-6.
Air Pacific offers two classes of service onboard international flights: Pacific Voyager Class (economy class) and Tabua Class (business class).
Frequent flyers also have the option to join the Tabua Club (paid membership) providing priority reservation, check-in and baggage handling, extra baggage allowance and lounge access during the validity of the membership.
And finally a few last words about “Tabua“, a word which appears often when talking about Air Pacific. Both the business class cabin, the business class lounge and the frequent flyer club are called Tabua.
There was an interesting note about it on the webpage. Tabua is the name of a sperm whale’s tooth and is a highly regarded possession in Fiji. To give someone a Tabua is an old tradition between tribes and members of a family and the ultimate symbol of respect.
Air Pacific Tabua Lounge, Nadi
Air Pacific runs a proper business class lounge at Nadi airport. The lounge is located on the ground floor of the terminal building, straight ahead after the security check after the duty free shops.
Two friendly women were working at the reception desk, I presented my boarding pass to them, but even without it they had list of all eligible passengers departing during the day and found and ticked my name on the Auckland flight manifest.
The lounge was fairly nice with a rather modern and stylish interior and comfortable armchairs and sofas.
Unfortunately being on the ground floor (basement would be a better word) there was no view to speak of, unless you enjoy watching baggage trucks. Because of that the lounge was also slightly dark.
The drinks selection was pretty good though, a bit too early for alcohol (which they had in good supply, including champers I think) but a glass of fresh fruit juice and a large cup of coffee was just what I needed.
Food consisted of fresh tropical fruit, bread and preserves, pastries and muffins.
Nothing extraordinary but perfectly adequate for a smaller lounge and the self-service buffet was very tidy and well-maintained.
There were large signs asking passengers to use the utensils provided instead of using their hands when taking food, another consequence of the swine flu threat I guess.
I only got about 10-15 minutes in the lounge, which at the end was quite sufficient.
Pics
The entrance to the Air Pacific Tabua lounge
Sitting areas in the lounge
The self-service buffet area, drinks available to the left and food to the right where the man is standing
Boarding
I had a look around the transit hall before heading for the gate. The transit hall was surprisingly large and modern with a large selection of shops, bars and restaurants. Far more than I had expected.
The gates were located on the first floor of the terminal building where there was a large crowd of people. Busy morning with flights to Auckland, Sydney and Seoul, the latter two operated by a B747 and an A330 respectively.
Boarding started 20 minutes before departure with priority boarding for business class passengers, elderly, and passengers travelling with infants. I was one of the first passengers to board the plane.
There are proper passenger bridges at Nadi airport, but the walkways from the terminal building to the passenger bridges are entirely outdoors giving a very exotic feeling.
I was greeted at the door with a friendly “Bula” (Fijian word for hello) by a lovely Air Pacific flight attendant and directed to my seat. I had prebooked seat 02F for this flight, a window seat on the second row.
Freshly squeezed orange juice was offered in business class before departure as well as a bottle of water, newspapers and magazines.
The flight was operated by a Boeing 737-800. The load in economy class was quite light, in business class six out of eight seats were occupied, the seat next to mine being one of the empty ones.
Just five minutes before scheduled departure a baggage truck pulled up next to the aircraft with a blue suitcase that looked surprisingly familiar.
I have a large rather unusual model that is easy to recognise almost everywhere.
I was very pleased to see the bag being loaded just below my feet, the very last bag on the flight. In fact I had even packed some extra clothes in my hand luggage as I was afraid the bag would not make the connection.
Pics
Modern transit area with lots of shopping
The departure lounge
The Boeing 737 that will take me to Auckland
An Air Pacific Boeing 747 parked next to our aircraft, this one will leave for Sydney in an hour
A glass of fresh orange juice before departure
Nadi-Auckland, flight FJ 411 operated by Air Pacific
Departure: 08:45
Arrival: 11:55
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Class: Tabua Class (Business Class)
Seat: 02F
A punctual pushback at 8.45 am and we made the short taxi to the threshold of runway 20 where we were allowed to take off immediately.
Interestingly we took off in the opposite direction of where I landed an hour earlier, but I guess the calm wind conditions made it possible to use any direction, probably appreciated by the crew since there are not a lot of taxiways to use.
We crossed the island of Viti Levu providing some more nice sceneries, but afterwards there was just water to be seen during the remaining three hours to Auckland.
Pics
Safety demonstration video
Nice view of Fiji minutes after take-off
Meal service
A breakfast service was offered on this flight by the lovely flight attendant serving business class.
A nicely decorated trolley passed through the cabin and the meal trays were handed out containing a plate with fresh fruit. Passengers could then choose yoghurt, muesli and cereals from a basket.
The flight attendant also had a bottle of champagne on the trolley (Grandin was the brand) and asked me if I was interested.
I rarely decline a glass of bubbles, but somehow I was still rather tired so I just asked for half a glass. The FA suggested mixing it with some orange juice, so that’s what it ended up being.
A second run was made in the cabin with an excellent selection of pastries, coffee, tea and more champagne, and finally the FA came to my seat and asked me if I was ready for my hot meal.
As no menus were distributed I had no idea what the breakfast service would be like, but with the bread rolls, yoghurt, fresh fruits and pastries being rather filling I was actually already quite full, but still gave the hot meal a try.
The hot meal was a spinach omelette, a sausage, potatoes and mushrooms. Not bad at all!
My table was cleared and the FA asked me if I wanted some more coffee, but I declined as I wanted to get some rest onboard.
I told her I had arrived on the Korean Air flight from Seoul and had already spent ten hours in the air (just like the KE captain, who was also in business class).
She was somewhat surprised to hear that, it’s certainly not the most common connection, but she fully understood my need for some rest and wished me a good sleep and told me not to hesitate to ask if I needed anything.
Pics
The very nicely decorated trolley and the lovely Air Pacific flight attendant
Fresh fruit, bread and yoghurt
Coffee and danish
Hot breakfast
Seat and comfort
Business class had two rows with proper business class seats in a 2-2 configuration.
Although not longhaul seats in any way I found the seats very soft, comfortable and spacious, I got an hour of sleep onboard without any problems.
The seats had a very decent seat pitch of 48” and I believe the same seats are used on the wide body aircrafts B767 and B747, although the seat pitch may differ slightly because of the different aircraft set-ups.
The cabin also had a very attractive interior with dark blue seats and light blue fittings, it created a very relaxed and pleasant atmosphere onboard.
The was also an inflight entertainment system available in business class.
I never made any use of it since I needed to get some rest during the flight, but there were 10 movies and some documentaries available to watch according to the inflight magazine. No AVOD though, but I found it adequate for a three hour flight.
If I remember correctly economy class only had a movie on the overhead monitors, so that’s a major advantage of flying business class.
The Boeing 747 aircrafts have a slightly better system with 21 channels.
Pics
The business class cabin on the Boeing 737
The Air Pacific business class seat
The seat controls
Air Pacific inflight magazine
Arrival in Auckland
Landing was made 10 minutes ahead of timetable at 11.45 am on runway 23L.
Sitting on the right side I got a nice although grey view of the Auckland region, downtown Auckland and the Sky Tower were easy to distinguish.
On the tarmac a Boeing 747 from Qantas was parked which I was a bit surprised to see at Auckland airport. I later found out it would depart for Los Angeles in the afternoon, I actually didn’t know Qantas operated NZ-US flights.
We got a last “vinaka” (thank you in Fijian) from the flight attendant as we disembarked into a cold New Zealand.
Pics
Approach to Auckland
Just landed at Auckland airport
A bit surprised to see a Qantas B747 at Auckland
Conclusion
In conclusion a great flight on a very nice airline.
The transfer in Nadi after all worked quite well due to the very helpful man. I made the flight and so did my bag, I even got time for a lounge visit.
The very friendly female flight attendant in business class really made every possible effort to make a nice flight for us, and she managed to create a very warm and relaxed atmosphere onboard.
The seat was very comfortable with decent legroom and the food was very good as well. I would love to try Air Pacific on an evening flight to see what their dinner service is like in business class with wine and a three courses meal, I’m sure the experience would be a delight!