How bad is Fiji Airways?
 

Ok, loaded question to start I guess... FJ will start flying SFO-NAN in June, with connections to AKL and other cities, it becomes a viable option for getting to and from New Zealand. For my particular dates of interest, flying FJ would save US$500-750/pax across our family of 4 (so $2-3k total). While I'm sure flying NZ or UA would be better (esp as I'm 1k on UA), the $ matters unless the airline is unreliable.

I can't find much in the way of reviews on FT for them. Seems all discussions are about booking awards in J, or getting a mileage run deal.

My main concern is whether the flights actually depart/arrive relatively on time (i.e. they're not cancelled or delayed by days).

Anyone with experience with them? Maybe regular/experienced Fiji Airways fliers can shed some light?

Thanks

Flew them once SYD-NAN-LAX. Flights were fine, essentially on time from what I can recall. Kind of reminded me of Hawaiian Air actually: Pretty much normal service with a bit of an island flair.

NAN wasn't very impressive, the main waiting area didn't have air conditioning so it was warm and humid. I was able to access the Fiji Airways lounge with Priority Pass and that was more pleasant.

Have flown them a lot between BNE-NAN, NAN-AKL and once LAX-NAN. About 15 flights in total.
Only one long delay of 8hrs due to a bird strike on the inbound aircraft.
NAN airport is undergoing major renovation and is a schomozzle but if you have lounge access is not too bad.

Often there are specials that can allow you stopovers in Fiji without any extra charge for the flight (no free hotels though). This is a good way to break up with flights but if you are considering this make sure you book the night before as all flights from US land about 5am and most hotels are based on the Australian notion of 2pm checkin. They will try but you cannot count on an early arrival (even with status).

Thanks for the feedback. I now feel confident to go through with them. Our NAN layover is just under 5hrs on the outbound. We will do a 3-night stopover in Fiji on the return. Our routing is

SFO-NAN-AKL

CHC-NAN

NAN-SFO

Is it better to buy direct online or through an agent? I'm looking at restricted economy.

flew HKG-NAN-CXI-NAN-HKG with them. They are neither better nor worse than most airlines. Flights were all on time. I would not worry about flying Fiji airways

The majority of my flights were booked through a corporate TA, so I cannot really comment on that.
The one time I booked personally was direct on their website and it was easy.

Coming from CHC you should land at a reasonable time so disregard my early arrival advice BUT on the flip side your flight to the US will not leave until 10pm so you might want to think about booking an extra night so you can remain until you leave for the airport.

I have flown them domestically within Fiji. Very no nonsense service and certainly better than most LCCs. They have year round low fares ex-NZ to LAX/NAN. I wouldn't think twice about booking said flights if they were the right price.

Fijji isn't bad at all, especially if you plan on flying economy. They use new A330s with 18" wide seats, 32 inches of legroom and more recline than you'd find on UA. There's also AVOD IFE with a decent selection of content and USB power to charge your personal devices.
All flights I've ever taken with them were uneventful and on time.
Definitely worth a recommendation.

I've only ever stayed at Accor properties in Nadi during stopovers. Both the Novotel and the Mercure honored the early check-in/late check-out benefit of LeCLub Accor status without any issues. I did email in advance, though.

I'm a J flyer with them. Absolutely acceptable airline. If saving was important I'd be happy to fly with them on a family holiday in Y.

If the website is comparable in prices, always book direct. When I flew them though, it was notably cheaper to book via Priceline (regular booking, not name-your-own-price). The only glitch I encountered was that I had to contact Alaska Airlines after the fact to get Mileage Plan credit; the points didn't appear automatically even though I called FJ to add my Mileage Plan number before the trip.

Why would you think bad? They are certainly much better with an updated fleet of A330's versus the old leased-in 747's. Fijians are well known for their friendliness and hospitality. If the price is right -- book with confidence!

J/C is certainly not up to the level of NZ/SQ and others, but certainly a very comfortable and best way of traveling to NAN non-stop.

Just over 2 years ago, Fiji had to take one of their A330s out of service due to a collision on the ground in LAX (not their fault). This really screwed up their schedule for weeks, and gave people a fairly bad experience of the airline.

Even back then NAN airport was under construction - which didn't help things either!

When they don't have to deal with such problems, they're a good, and cheap, choice for getting to NZ and Australia

So far, I have been unimpressed. Fiji Airways canceled one of my flights a week in advance and rebooked me to leave a day later. Now the airline won't even provide assistance with hotels! Does anyone know the airline's policy or have a way to escalate the refund of a hotel night? Why should I have to shell out for another night in a hotel when the airline canceled its own flight. Problem is that I used credit card points for the flight so can't really do a chargeback if I were to buy a new ticket elsewhere (airline won't cancel because they are still providing a flight).

flown Fiji Air twice a year for past 12. With their brand new long haul fleet, they are now one of the best airlines across the pacific. Much better than Air NZ or Qantas but that wouldn't be hard.

Also, we always book through a travel agent. They always give us better prices than online & are able to split payments, that's part cash, part card.

It's a small airline with a small fleet after all...

A single irrop or something of the kind will have a domino effect.

Try calling them and be persistent to get booked on another airline on the original date of departure! They have codeshares with Qantas, but not sure if they'd agree. Do try though!