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-   -   FJ / Fiji Airways (ex-Air Pacific) and AA, miles, awards, etc. (consolidated) (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/1436326-fj-fiji-airways-ex-air-pacific-aa-miles-awards-etc-consolidated.html)

Sunburn644 Aug 26, 2015 8:51 am


Originally Posted by JDiver (Post 25330266)
Bula! Two awards? What rationale did they offer for that? It should be two NA-S PAC North America - South Pacific awards, full stop, without ripping you off for 50,000 more miles, AFAIK!

Yeah I'll call and see.

gq_dq Sep 17, 2015 10:48 am

FJ / Air Fiji: LAX-NAN or v.v. Award space starting June
 
I could have posted this in the AS area also... but anyways, looks like Fiji is restricting award space on the LAX flights, both outbound and return, starting June and continuing through July and August. Wide open pretty much all of Mar Apr and May 2016. Just checking if this was their annual practice. Do they open back up in September?

We will be looking for availability for late Aug next year so just planning ahead.

Note that HNL-NAN and v.v. is also wide open through August, so it's just the LAX flights they are restricting.

I understand that some award routings (but not all, depending on published fare restrictions) via Australia are allowed on one single 37.5K Econ award so that is the backup.

JDiver Sep 17, 2015 11:07 am

Posted in the wrong forum; AAdvantage has been a combined program as of March 2015 (see ANNOUNCEMENT in each forum for guidance). We will move and merge as appropriate.

/Moderator

JDiver Sep 17, 2015 11:15 am


Originally Posted by gq_dq (Post 25439958)
I could have posted this in the AS area also... but anyways, looks like Fiji is restricting award space on the LAX flights, both outbound and return, starting June and continuing through July and August. Wide open pretty much all of Mar Apr and May 2016. Just checking if this was their annual practice. Do they open back up in September?

We will be looking for availability for late Aug next year so just planning ahead.

Note that HNL-NAN and v.v. is also wide open through August, so it's just the LAX flights they are restricting.

I understand that some award routings (but not all, depending on published fare restrictions) via Australia are allowed on one single 37.5K Econ award so that is the backup.

Are they actually restricting awards? Or are they not releasing awards early out because of revenue management predictions of high revenue loads? The latter is typical airline practice; those months are higher traffic from the U. S. (and they have capacity restrictions since they returned their leased 747-400s and began operating A330s.

gq_dq Sep 17, 2015 3:25 pm


Originally Posted by JDiver (Post 25440138)
Are they actually restricting awards? Or are they not releasing awards early out

Precisely what I'm also trying to determine... whether based on past experience, folks have noticed that they in fact do open up LAX space for the summer at a later time, or if summer to/from LAX is a de facto blackout period without FJ formally acknowledging it as such.

It isn't lost on me that Sunburn644 also only found HNL availability for next July.

JDiver Sep 17, 2015 3:31 pm


Originally Posted by gq_dq (Post 25441330)
Precisely what I'm also trying to determine... whether based on past experience, folks have noticed that they in fact do open up LAX space for the summer at a later time, or if summer to/from LAX is a de facto blackout period without FJ formally acknowledging it as such.

It isn't lost on me that Sunburn644 also only found HNL availability for next July.

Award seats LAX-NAN are hot commodities; they might have all been taken up, or their RM might be holding back. I'm not sure how we could tell.

But I've been on some sold out flights that left people on the ground at that time of year.

gq_dq Sep 18, 2015 11:02 am


Originally Posted by JDiver (Post 25441355)
But I've been on some sold out flights that left people on the ground at that time of year.

Then I suppose the question becomes this: "Has anyone been able to secure (Economy) award space on the LAX-NAN non-stop in any August since the deployment of the A330 / re-branding to Fiji Airways!"

cohighcountry1k Oct 3, 2015 4:38 pm

Booked LAX-NAN-AKL - said could not include DEN-LAX on same ticket
 
So I (shockingly) was able to book two biz class tickets LAX-NAN-AKL in April. The agent said that she was unable to include the DEN-LAX portion without additional miles. Is this right? Do I need to call back and insist?

Also, what are the rules on stopovers? We'd love a couple day stop over in NAN if possible. The agent said that would cost additional miles.

JDiver Oct 3, 2015 7:26 pm


Originally Posted by cohighcountry1k (Post 25514238)
So I (shockingly) was able to book two biz class tickets LAX-NAN-AKL in April. The agent said that she was unable to include the DEN-LAX portion without additional miles. Is this right? Do I need to call back and insist?

Also, what are the rules on stopovers? We'd love a couple day stop over in NAN if possible. The agent said that would cost additional miles.

1) Air Fiji would have to offer an unconstructed fare between DEN and AKL for you to use only one award on that trip; insisting would not help.

2) Awards do not allow stopovers; to remain in Fiji longer than 23:59 you would have to split the award. I'm afraid there's not so much to do in the vicinity of Nadi, though there is some diving not far (but anyone flying on would certainly not be diving), some hiking and raft or kayak trips, etc.

Now if I did have a late afternoon / evening long connection, I would take a taxi into Nadi town and dine at the very nice Chef's, the Restaurant (if it's still open) or Flavio's. If I had a significant layover and wanted to purchase Fijian souvenirs, I'd taxi to Jack's of Fiji. (Both venues are owned by the same family, as is another nearby OK restaurant, The Edge café, that serves mostly Indian food, and shop outlets in Suva, the capital, and elsewhere.)

Jack's of Fiji: http://www.jacksfiji.com/aboutus.cfm

gq_dq Oct 7, 2015 12:03 pm


Originally Posted by gq_dq (Post 25444938)
Then I suppose the question becomes this: "Has anyone been able to secure (Economy) award space on the LAX-NAN non-stop in any August since the deployment of the A330 / re-branding to Fiji Airways!"

FJ just started releasing award inventory for Sep 2016 on the non-stop both ways with zilch in Jul and Aug (and most of June). So looks like those looking for Jul and Aug space from LAX will be SOL.

Sunburn644 Oct 8, 2015 1:32 pm


Originally Posted by gq_dq (Post 25441330)
Precisely what I'm also trying to determine... whether based on past experience, folks have noticed that they in fact do open up LAX space for the summer at a later time, or if summer to/from LAX is a de facto blackout period without FJ formally acknowledging it as such.

It isn't lost on me that Sunburn644 also only found HNL availability for next July.

Yes I would have preferred routing through LAX (and flying J on the A330 lie flats ) but another 22 hours in Hawaii isnt so bad... ;)

The agent couldnt see anything into LAX

kingstontoon Nov 9, 2015 7:52 pm

Just out of curiosity... I wanted to book HKG-SYD-AKL-NAN-CXI in business for 35k miles, but two agents told me it would have to be two awards as there is no published through fare for HKG-CXI. In the end, I only booked HKG-SYD-AKL-NAN for the 35k, and will decide whether to visit CXI later. Idly browsing the Fiji Airways website, however, I can put in HKG-CXI and it'll offer me a fare, both ways, all on Fiji Airways metal. As a former USDM member, where "published through fares" didn't seem to matter on long distance awards, can anyone say whether the agents were correct? Would I need to be on Fiji Airways metal all the way for the 35k award, or should it actually be acceptable using my booked CX-LA-FJ routing.

P.S. Still no luck getting any agents to find ANY Fiji Link flights with availability :(

esls79 Nov 21, 2015 3:48 pm

I have a confirmed AAdvantage award a one way NAN to LAX on May 30, 2016. I have an AA record locator and called FJ and they informed me I cannot select me seats ahead of check in without the FJ information- is this new or a standard operating procedure?

I then got the FJ record locator and called back up and they still cannot do advance seat assignments on non FJ booked tickets as of October 31, 2015 I was informed.

Is there any hope for an advance seat selection or am i out of luck on this one?

cohighcountry1k Nov 30, 2015 4:18 pm

A follow up to my post above. I called back today to see if I could book another ticket on my same itin (LAX-NAN-AUK, AUK-SYD-NAN-LAX). They had availability in coach on the outbound and biz on the return. So that's three AA awards on Air Fiji on the same flights and routing!

Earlier I was unable to book the DEN-LAX portion as Air Fiji did not publish a fare. Well, the agent today asked me if I wanted to add the US domestic portion. So no I've got that added to all three tickets. Not sure what happened there and am so glad something did so I don't have to buy the domestic hops.

All in all, I've heard that US-NZ is almost impossible to book. I've had a great experience and feel really lucky! Now if only AA allowed a stopover in NAN!

JonNYC Nov 30, 2015 4:39 pm


Originally Posted by cohighcountry1k (Post 25792820)
... if only AA allowed a stopover in NAN!

You could treat yourself to one for a pretty tiny amount (especially in economy) of miles-- the miles don't get any more valuable over time! :)

Congrats in any case, glad it all worked out so well!


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