Hello! Bula! Just a quick FYI, Fiji Airways had recently started a twice a week route between Nadi and Singapore. The flight from Singapore leaves on Wednesday and Saturday at around 10.40, while the flight from Nadi leaves on Tuesday and Friday at 23.00.
I am super excited about this flight since this is my FIRST PAID BUSINESS CLASS TICKET!!!! Ok, let’s start the review.
I arrived at Nadi International Airport (NAN) at around 8.30 pm, straight after a 3-hour boat ride from the Yasawa Islands, followed by a 30-minute bus ride from Port Denarau. My apologies for not taking any pictures of the exterior of the airport, the majority of the departure hall was under construction, so there’s nothing much to take a picture of. Since I was a bit early for the Singapore 11 pm flight, but too late for the 10 pm Los Angeles, the check in area was almost deserted. The business class check-in desk had no queue and I was checked in rather quickly. One thing that I’d like to mention, the Fiji representative was AWESOME! He told me that the seats at both 2J and 2K are still empty, so he offered to move me to 2K and keep 2J empty. How could I reject such an offer?
After walking through a series of construction areas, bag check, and passport control, I arrived at the main departure hall. It’s made of one large waiting area with different kind of seats, surrounded by boarding gates in between duty-free shops and/or food/drink stores.
At this time, the waiting area was rather crowded as there were two long-haul flights (LAX and SIN) and a couple short-hauls scheduled for departure. Funny enough, I saw several people whom I met at the dorms. After a quick chat and they all boarded for LAX, I headed for the Tabua Lounge. Just an FYI, Tabua Lounge can also be accessed if you have Priority Pass membership.
I didn’t spend too much time at the lounge since it was rather basic. My apologies, again, for not taking any pictures of the lounge since it was a bit crowded. Food selection was rather mediocre, consisting of rice, curry, and some roasted vegetable. In terms of drinks, Tabua Lounge offers some basic drinks selection: mineral and sparkling water, sodas, some liqueurs, and wine. To commemorate the occasion, I helped myself with some sparkling wine.
About 30 minutes prior to departure, I walked back to the gate for boarding. Boarding had already commenced, so I went straight to the business class line, got my boarding pass scanned, and headed for the aircraft.
The Service and Meal
The greeting that I received as I entered through the L2 door was standard Fijian greeting, “Bula!” with an ear-to-ear smile. The flight attendant took a quick look at my boarding pass, escorted me across the DR2 galley, turned LEFT, and to my seat at 2K.
Upon sitting, a different flight attendant stopped by to welcome me onboard and offered a glass of Fiji Airways signature cocktail. It is a mix of Fiji Rum Liqueur and Fiji Coconut Rum Liqueur, poured over Marashchino cherries and orange slices. It was fantastically refreshing and tasty.
Apart from the signature cocktail, two bottles of Fiji water were sitting in the central console cubby hole.
While we were still on the ground, the male flight attendant made his way around the cabin to distribute the dinner menu and also the breakfast form.
Also, hot towels were distributed.
Taxi to the runway didn’t take too long. The mood lighting was set and we’re ready for takeoff.
Dinner service commenced almost immediately after we took off and the seat-belt sign was extinguished. It started with canapés, consisted of local ‘Kokoda’ marinated fish in a coconut salsa wrapped with rice paper and saffron potato, sautéed onion, garlic, and turmeric salt whip. They are really good. I wish I had asked for more, they would make pretty epic snack while watching movies.
Soon afterwards, a piece of linen was set on my table and appetizer was brought. It consisted of fresh garden salad with orange dill vinaigrette and whole meal bread served with butter. I quite like dressing, but at the end of the day, they are salad.
For the main course, I selected the slow braised beef short rib with a tamarind jus, served with marquis sweet potato, green peas, and cherry tomatoes. The beef was moist, slightly pinkish, and fell apart as I dropped my fork across it. The sauce complimented the meat really well, giving it a subtle sweet and sour taste. Yes, the main course seemed rather simple, but it was cooked to perfection. If there is a word stronger than fantastic, I would use it to describe this main course. As recommended by the flight attendant, I paired my beef with Tempus Two Cabernet Merlot.
Closing the dinner service, a cheese plate and mango coconut cheesecake was brought out. I’ve always liked a cheese plate to conclude my meal. The cheesecake was good, but a bit too sweet to my liking.
After the dinner service, the cabin lights were turned off to allow everyone to get some rest. I made my bed and got a decent 4.5 hours sleep. I’ll discuss the quality of my sleep in “The Seat and Other Amenities” section.
Around 2 hours prior to landing, the cabin lights were lit, signaling the beginning of the breakfast service. I should say that I have a simple breakfast, consisting of a cup of mango yogurt, a fruit bowl, a small croissant, a coconut bun, and a plate of cheese omelet, marquis potatoes, and creamed spinach. The breakfast meal was good and I particularly liked the coconut bun.
I also want to point out that the coffee served was amazing. It was so good that I had 3 cups that morning. Moreover, look at the cup! I thought that is the best-looking coffee cup, ever!
The Seat and other amenities
As I mentioned earlier, the check-in agent hooked me up so that I wouldn’t have a seat mate during the flight. That gave me plenty of space to take pictures of and on the seat. Fiji Airways A330-200 Business Class is equipped with Zodiac Aerospace 7811 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, almost identical to SIA’s A330 regional business class.
Upon arrival at my seat, a nicely-designed pillow is placed neatly on the bottom cushion.
The seat cover is made of leather and there was a small fabric sheet lining the headrest.
There's, of course, plenty of leg room. My seat had 3 windows!
Looking at the seat amenities more closely, I found lots and lots of storage space. I couldn’t even use them all.
On my left, I could find a power outlet and a USB port to charge my electronic devices
On the left beside my head, there’s a reading light and headset jack unit.
I played around with the sliding privacy barrier since I wouldn’t need this during the flight.
Below my right armrest, I can find the IFE handset.
Flipping the right armrest up, a fairly intuitive seat control panel is located.
Right beside the monitor, there’s also a coat hook.
The seat also has a foot rest.
The literature provided on business class cabin is pretty much the same as economy, consisting of Lomalagi duty free magazine, Fijitime magazine, and the safety card.
The Amenity Kit was distributed while we were still on the ground. The kit comes in a fabric bag, about the size of an iPad mini. It contains the basics: eyeshade, ear plugs, socks, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. I quite like the design of the eyeshade, although it doesn’t have the most comfortable material. The toothbrush is also pretty cool as it is made of wood.
A flight attendant stopped by again, distributing the blankets. There were 2 types, one is the type that was also distributed in economy class and the other is one that was supposed to be the comforter. One thing that I want to talk about is the comforter. I think that this comforter doesn’t breathe very well. For sleeping, I lined the seat with half the comforter and used the other half as my blanket, so I pretty much wrapped myself like burrito. I had about 4.5 hours of sleep during the flight and I was soaking in sweat when I woke up.
The amenities in the business class lavatories are quite considerably better than the regular lavatories. Few things that I notice, the paper towel is softer and thicker, and the soap and lotion are provided by Pure Fiji and quite nice on the hand.
The IFE Fiji Airways A330-200 appears to be flying Panasonic eX2 system. Each passenger has a monitor, roughly about 14” or 15” in size. I found early enough that the monitor is not a touchscreen monitor, so all control and selections were done with the handset. The headset was also quite comfortable, although it didn’t eliminate outside noise that well.
The entertainment selection in business class is very much the same as economy class. Fiji Airways provides 44 movies, of which I could easily select 3 or 4 movies. Selections of TV shows were also available.
As an avgeek, I particularly like airlines which provide short videos about the airlines and/or the destination, to name a couple: Air France and Fiji Airways.
There were only 4 languages available: English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Japanese.
To Summarize
Being a red-eye flight, it is hard to judge the attentiveness of the flight attendants, but my every interaction with the flight attendants during boarding, meal services, and deplaning, were met with a smile. It might have been a Fijian thing, but the flight attendants were very polite, warm, and welcoming.
I have mixed feeling about the seat. The seat cushion is a bit on a hard side and gave some pain to my butt, but the seat in general is quite a nice space. The seat comes with amenities that you need such as power outlet, USB ports, good size monitor, coat hook, and plenty of storage space.
The IFE system is great. It is quite responsive with great selections. Definitely enough to keep passengers entertained for 10-12 hours, should they decide not to sleep. The headset is also comfortable.
All in all, flying Fiji Airways Business Class was an absolute pleasure and a fantastic experience.
See more
Verdict
Fiji Airways
9.3/10
Cabin9.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi9.5
Meal/catering9.0
Fiji Airways Tabua Club Lounge
7.8/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering7.0
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Services8.5
Nadi - NAN
8.3/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0
Singapore - SIN
9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
Being a red-eye flight, it is hard to judge the attentiveness of the flight attendants, but my every interaction with the flight attendants during boarding, meal services, and deplaning, were met with a smile. It might have been a Fijian thing, but the flight attendants were very polite, warm, and welcoming.
I have mixed feeling about the seat. The seat cushion is a bit on a hard side and gave some pain to my butt, but the seat in general is quite a nice space. The seat comes with amenities that you need such as power outlet, USB ports, good size monitor, coat hook, and plenty of storage space.
The IFE system is great. It is quite responsive with great selections. Definitely enough to keep passengers entertained for 10-12 hours, should they decide not to sleep. The headset is also comfortable.
All in all, flying Fiji Airways Business Class was an absolute pleasure and a fantastic experience.
2 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
I was a bit surprised by the bed. i had always thought that FJ flies fully flat seats, and when i tried to set up my bed, i found that it was an angled flat. While sleeping on a full flat bed would be nice, the angled flat wasn't that bad.
It was 9.5 hours heading east and just over 10 heading west due to the headwind.
Thanks for sharing this exotic report! Reports on Fiji Airways are rare in general so it's great to see one. I love the Fiji Airways livery--one of my favorites! The Business class cabin looks very nice despite not having full flat seats. The seats do look a lot like SQ's regional seats. Too bad they were a bit on the hard side. Overall it looks like you had a great flight. Thanks for sharing!
Great report, FJ is a great little airline. It reminded me of a trip I did a few year ago when the A330 were first put into service between SYD and NAN. You should also cover the bar codes of your boarding pass as they contain your personal information and can be easily read by any basic scanner....
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8 reviews
9 Comments
It was 9.5 hours heading east and just over 10 heading west due to the headwind.
You should also cover the bar codes of your boarding pass as they contain your personal information and can be easily read by any basic scanner....
http://www.ausbt.com.au/first-look-inside-air-pacific-s-new-fiji-airways-airbus-a330
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